Haute couture shows autumn/winter 2001
Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion
Cut class: Saint Laurent shows off fine tailored retroThe great Parisian house of Yves Saint Laurent has two very different faces. One is the newly Guccified ready to wear line, now designed and symbolised by the Texan fashion pin-up Tom Ford. The other is the haute couture collection, still designed by the great couturier himself.
Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion
Evening coat returns as a sheer frillLike becoming a movie star, or winning Wimbledon, owning an haute couture dress - the price tag of which can nudge six figures - is a fantasy that one eventually grows out of. Nonetheless, there are some collections so gorgeous that for a split second, large scale bank robbery seems a rational option.
Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion
Star turnIt is not often that Donatella Versace and John Galliano find themselves overshadowed. But at the Paris haute couture shows at the weekend, the talk was of one designer only: Merthyr Tydfil's Julien Macdonald.