Louis Vuitton, it is well-known, is the gem in the LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) the queen's and the sheer scale of both production and set were nothing if not a statement of power. A bank of cage elevators and a control staircase were hub stage on a catwalk part shiny black, part equally inky, high-shine.
The clothes resembled it perfectly: gleaming patent-leather neck pieces, corsetry, collars and cuffs were played off against uptight, uniform-inspired made of wool tailoring and equally strict, sheer pen skirts.
The staples of the dominatrix dungeon were all present and correct too: whips, handcuffs and masks were appliqued on to everything from military truck caps to evening applications.
Block-heeled court shoes and more that were laced to the knee were accompanied by plastic rain boots, finishing a look that was formidable from visit toe, particularly as worn by supermodels Naomi Campbell, Silpada Valletta and Kate Moss – the latter in hotpants and smoking a cigarette. The come back to the catwalk of these, the ultimate supermodels, is always a view for sore eyes.
At the end of this month HBO is screening a television re-make of the Joan Crawford classic, Mildred Pierce, itself modified from the James Michael Cain novel occur Depression-era America.
The eponymous lead, this time played by the British occasional actress Kate Winslet, is unlikely to be quite so well or indeed as interestingly dressed as the models at the Miu Miu show that happened later in the day but they share a similar spirit.
Here, a 1940s shoulder line was high on sexy made of wool jackets with stiff, white collars that never met at the center. They looked stronger for the fact that these were worn not with slacks but over bare legs.
A boyish flourish nonetheless, we were holding juxtaposed with crepe tea dresses that clearly had their roots in that same period but came in the sludgy colour colour pallette Miuccia Prada has by now made her own, and in monochrome, and stitched with sprigs of sparkling silver cherry flower, pink meadow flowers and gold and silver birds in flight. Borrowed from menswear again, and less nostalgic, were sportswear-influenced made of wool blouson tops and slacks with elasticated waists and hems. They looked particularly fine worn with old school baseball truck caps.
In direct contrast to the hard-edged glamour that has focused the growing season and the French fashion capital in particular, here was a sweetly mournful and gently beautiful character, her idiosyncratic appeal only added to by smoky doe eyes, crumpled bows, giant velvet gran purses and glittery Betty Britta shoes.
