Middle Aged Model Wows Paris

Middle-aged model wows Paris

Paris Fashion Week 2011












Ines de la Fressange on the catwalk for Karl Lagerfeld's Spring/Summer 2011 Chanel collection. Photo: Reuters

Karl Lagerfeld adds weight to the trend of unconventional models by choosing Ines de la Fressange, 53, for the Chanel catwalk

Spare a thought for the tall, slim, young and conventionally beautiful. These are hard times for them, with Paris fashion week declaring them very last season. Ines de la Fressange, 53, who was Chanel's house model during the 1980s, returned to the Chanel catwalk, 21 years after parting ways with the Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.

Lagerfeld has until now been unrepentant in his preference for slender, young models. Last year, Lagerfeld dismissed the "size zero" debate as the concern of "fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television".
Lagerfeld's decision adds to a diverse vision of beauty at Paris fashion week. Lucy Yeomans, the editor of Harpers Bazaar magazine, welcomed the move, saying: "When the fashion is really excellent, it looks even better on older models, because they have more presence. The clothes take on personality, and that is a huge part of what fashion is about." On Saturday night, Jean Paul Gaultier opened and closed his show with Beth Ditto, the voluptuous Gossip frontwoman. Her final lap of the catwalk, during which she sang an a cappella version of the Ike and Tina Turner song River Deep, Mountain High wearing a tulle-trimmed corset, brought the house down.

The success of the British designer Phoebe Philo, who returned to the fashion frontline in 2009 after taking a break of nearly three years to spend time with her children, has made her something of a heroine to her many female fans. At the helm of Celine, a brand which had been gathering dust, Philo has brought back a calm, practical take on fashion and reaped phenomenal success. In her first season, the number of North American stockists for the brand increased from one to almost 40. Yesterday's show in the Tennis Club de Paris was one of the week's hottest tickets, with the audience keen to see whether Philo would stick to her minimalist aesthetic from which most designers have this season jumped ship in favour of 1970s and 1980s references and bold colour. Her answer was to move to a more loose-limbed, fluid, colourful look in which the balance tipped away from the 1990s Helmut Lang shapes she referenced last year and towards the North African-influenced elegance of chic Yves Saint Laurent silhouettes.

White, cream and sand dominated, and there were still pieces of almost monastic simplicity - lots of boat necklines and tunic shapes, and a long-sleeve navy jumpsuit with no visible seams or fastenings, for instance - but wide pyjama silk trousers were emblazoned with tuxedo stripes in emerald and cobalt, while a burgundy leather T-shirt was worn with electric blue trousers. To judge by the applause, Philo's radar for what women want to wear next was once again right on target.

Guardian News & Media