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Skin colours and classic McCartney tailoring at breezy show in Paris
Laura Craik02.10.08
The future looked peachy at Stella McCartney's show in Paris today, opening with a raft of oversized jackets, loosefitting trousers and jersey vest tops in palest blush peach.
The show notes referred to the colour as "flesh", though it is doubtful whether London model Jourdan Dunn would have agreed. She modelled a cute blue chambray mini dress with a cutout detail.
You have to hand it to Stella: once upon a time, she was a lone pioneer of the jumpsuit, until the rest of the fashion world caught up. Yves Saint Laurent might be the godfather of the all-in-one, but jumpsuits have long been an integral part of a McCartney collection and for spring 2009, there were plenty to choose from. A peach specimen whose loose cut took its origins from the trenchcoat was one of the quirkier ones, while a shorts suit in emerald green parachute silk was one of the more wearable. There was even a jumpsuit for evening, modelled on the classic black tuxedo.
For those customers for whom jumpsuits will always be an eccentricity too far, there was much else to get excited about. Tailoring is one of McCartney's particular strengths, and for spring, her jackets ran the gamut from oversized and mannish to cropped and boxy. Colours evoked a happy summer holiday: sea green, seashell pink and sand.
For every structured, origami-influenced strapless evening dress in grey shantung silk, there was its polar opposite: a slouchy cashmere jumper, or a breezy T-shirt dress. It is this inclusive approach to dressing that has won over so many fans. You might not be able to work the black elastic bandage dresses or the sequined catsuits, but a baggy cashmere jumper? Easy.
At this stage in her career, McCartney has identified her winning formula and is sticking with it - as have all the savviest designers this season, a credit crunch not being the best time to experiment.
There was good news for fans of big pants, too: the swimwear was full of them.
