Stars sparkle on and off catwalk

By Kerstin Gehmlich Fri Oct 5, 7:55 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Golden stars and large sequins sparkled from dresses at Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent as designers Karl Lagerfeld and Stefano Pilati presented youthful collections for two of France's most established fashion labels.

Staying true to a fashion house's legacy is a tricky business for designers, who have to add their own edge to a label while remaining faithful to the brand's history.

Italy's Pilati carries a lot of weight on his shoulders at Yves Saint Laurent, where he was appointed in 2004. Lagerfeld, approaching 70, is used to the task, having designed for Chanel for more than 20 years.

On Friday, the German designer brought out models in Chanel's trademark tweed jackets, but worn over long shifting dresses covered in stars or combined with tight denim skirts.

"Chanel -- to me that's just haute couture," supermodel Claudia Schiffer said at the show for spring-summer 2008 collections, adding that she still liked to wear Chanel outfits that dated back 10 or 20 years.

Schiffer and other front row guests including actress Kirsten Dunst and singers Lily Allen and Courtney Love watched as models presented sporty striped V-neck tops and light pastel-colored blouses held at the waist by a black ribbon. One girl wore a small leather wallet attached to her ankle.

"Coco Chanel was the spokeswoman of the modern woman," Lagerfeld said of the label's founder, who died in 1971. "(The brand) continues to incarnate the development of the modern woman," he said backstage. "(Now) it's up to me to lift people up into the stars."

SPARKLING STARS AT YSL

At Yves Saint Laurent, Pilati presented models in sleek oversized vests, parading them out beneath giant white balloons in Paris's glass-roofed Grand Palais exhibition hall.

French actress Catherine Deneuve said Pilati had respected Laurent's inheritance while adding a new edge to the label.

"He has done the impossible thing," she told Reuters at his show late on Thursday, in which Pilati showed high-waisted fuchsia skirts and tunic-style dresses covered with stars.

"He is bowing to the spirit of what Yves Saint Laurent did. He got into the job with a lot of modesty," she said.

The bespectacled Saint-Laurent, born in 1936, ruled the French fashion scene from the age of 21 until his retirement in 2002. This year, he was awarded the title of Great Officer in the Legion of Honor.

Pilati, born in 1965, sent out a girl in a tight knee-length skirt covered in triangular-shaped sequins in pink and turquoise. Other models presented dresses cut close to the body around the shoulders and the front but floating out in the back.

"When I think of Yves Saint Laurent, I think of dark elegance," burlesque artist Dita von Teese said at the show. "It's very special what (Pilati) has done. He's staying true to the brand but also brings new life to it."

Valentino leaves ready-to-wear in red carpet style

By Anna Willard Wed Oct 3, 1:29 PM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Designer to the stars, Italy's Valentino unveiled glamorous gowns fit for any young starlet on Wednesday in his last ready-to-wear show before retiring after 45 years in fashion.

Models in bright cocktail dresses and long gowns in his signature red, or with polka dots and ruffles, glided down a mirrored catwalk before twirling in front of the cameras.

Party music accompanied the show, with the models dancing at the end and guests rising for the obligatory standing ovation.

One of the undisputed kings of fashion, Valentino will retire in January after a final haute couture show and hand the reins to relatively unknown designer Alessandra Facchinetti.

"This is the one before the last and I want to do my best, and why not?" the 75-year-old Valentino asked.

"I am full of joy and a little emotional of course, and I am very strong because as I told you ... I leave the room, but the room is still full."

His departure follows the sale of his Valentino Fashion Group to the European private equity group Permira, which industry insiders have said want a younger, more innovative designer to help it expand to new markets.

Anna Piaggi of Italian Vogue thought it was time for a change, saying Valentino needed some new ideas.

"It's boring," she said after the show. "It's not good, it's not modern. Why do we constantly say it's beautiful? Why?"

IRREPLACEABLE

Valentino's signature scarlet evening gowns have long made him a hit for red carpet events, where he has dressed famous names like Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Audrey Hepburn and Julia Roberts. His conservative style still attracts many fans.

"It's very definitely the end of an era. Valentino is irreplaceable," said Hilary Alexander, fashion director at Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"He understands his customers, he has a respect for women and a lifelong appreciation of beauty."

Valentino is widely ranked alongside Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld as the last of the great designers from an era before fashion became a global, highly commercial industry run as much by accountants and marketing executives as the couturiers.

"We were a bit disappointed. We thought he might carry on a bit longer," said Ken Downing, fashion director at upmarket U.S. store Neiman Marcus.

Lagerfeld said he also regretted his competitor's departure.

"I'm not very happy," he said after his own show. "He's on top form, he should continue."

Lagerfeld, whose name is now owned by a private equity company Apax Partners, presented a youthful collection for his own label, which took inspiration from the 1980s. Models paraded on a rainbow-striped runway in short ruffled skirts or trousers of black see-through tulle.

Lagerfeld, who also designs for Chanel, edits books and who is approaching 70, said he had no intention of slowing down.

"The number of contracts I have, I'm like a man with a death sentence," he said.

Christian Lacroix, another firm fixture on the Paris fashion scene whose label was sold in 2005 to a privately held U.S. investment company, used headwear to give his collection an extravagant theme.

Hand-painted silk caftans, cutaway swimsuits or floaty dresses were teamed with printed scarves wound around the neck and piled up on top of the head.