Paris Fashion Week

Travelling to the 19th arondismont for a sneak preview of Paris' new contemporary art centre Le 104 Cent Quatre was a bit of a treat for us and a coup for McQueen who secured it as his show venue. He added stuffed wild animals and a giant representation of the globe, projected with moving images of the sun and the moon, as the backdrop. Beneath his signature sculpted tailoring, with a tiny torso enhanced by exaggerated fold and tucks in the cloth, second skin pants, and towering shoes with shards of crystal for their heels, McQueen was making a statement about man and his conquering of the natural world, and in particular the industrial revolution, the Victorian Era and Charles Darwin. Nature featured, with light embroideries of meadow scenes over flesh-like net, faux wood prints like dŽcor from Meisen porcelain and 'specimen jar' dresses, with silk flowers trapped below a fine gauze, a transparency theme he began in Milan with his menswear. Then there was man's assault on nature, with acid colours and prints of crushed crystal, and Eiffel tower prints that through McQueen's scissor-sharp cuts appeared to have passed through a kaleidoscope.