Paris Fashion Week watch: Givenchy, Chloe and Kenzo collections

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  Givenchy's Spring / Summer 2015 ready-to-wear fashion collection. AP

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  Gaby Aghion, the founder of fashion house Chloe. AFP

Givenchy goes Balkan

In front of a celebrity-filled front row including singer Ciara, actress Juliette Binoche and North West, the one-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Tisci went Balkan.

With graphic and tight-filling silhouettes– in black, white and brown – the Italian-born designer took traditional Eastern European dress and fused it with hints of seventies disco.

Sunday’s aesthetic – which was overall aggressive – marked a return to the gothic-infused dark musings Tisci built his career on, after brushes with softer looks in recent seasons.

It was all in there: thick lacing on knee high boots, constructed collarless Balkan jackets, exaggeratedly high-waisted A-line skirts, beaded bodice dresses, Orthodox-style crosses, and even large Balkan jewelry served up on a beige sparkling disco fleece.

Eclectic cultural fusion is Tisci’s strong point.

A long, square Ottoman-style jacket, with dense fabric and thick embroidery, got nicely shaken up with black and white stripes popular during the reign of pop group Abba.

Chloe founder remembered

Chloe dedicated its collection to the influential Gaby Aghion, who founded the house in 1952 and died Saturday, aged 93.

Aghion will be remembered for pioneering the concept of ready-to-wear clothes and has been credited with coining the very phrase “pret-a-porter”.

In 1956, together with Jacques Lenoir, she put on the first ready-to-wear show, reportedly at a breakfast at the fashionably intellectual Cafe de Flore.

Aghion also has a great eye for talent, with Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld owing a lot to her: she poached him in the 1960s to design at Chloe, under whose fashion direction the house became one of the biggest brands of the following decade.

A message in the program notes honored her legacy and praised her “free spirit and independent resolve”.

Chloe’s Grecian 1970s looks

The seventies-infused Chloe girl this season looked like she could jet off at any point to the summery Greek islands.

Knee-high lace sandals set the Grecian tone immediately – with a Balkan-looking dress that came in fluttery lace and sexily revealed the skin.

The classical musing continued in a loose-fitting square brown dress that looked like a tunic with traditional embroidering, reminiscent of traditional Greek island-style.

But the most feminine looks were found in an earthy ochre silk top which billowed voluminous ‘70s folds over the breast – or, elsewhere, in the long, hanging column silhouettes.

Was designer Clare Waight Keller channeling the majestic Caryatids that hold up the Athens Parthenon?

Kenzo is low-key and stylish

It was a low-key, yet stylish, collection that met Kenzo’s guests on Sunday morning.

The calm vibe was most probably welcomed by the bleary-eyed fashionistas, many of whom clutched coffee before the show.

Silhouettes were soft: either long with giant billowing Asiatic pants – white, black, blue or printed – or with boxy torsos with circular, often flared sleeves, and flared A-line skirts.

The graphic shapes, Oriental yet abstract, merged East and West, as is now the common theme from designers Carol Lim and Humberto Leon.

Denim was one new addition to the Kenzo universe.

It was seen in an industrial-looking, soft boxy shirt-coat, with on-trend eyelets. (The utilitarian theme has been on high rotation this season.) And elsewhere, on a neat, dropped, kick skirt.

There was a lengthy, white stripy shirt that looked so relaxed, it was almost an invitation to crawl back to bed.

Celine’s subtle twists

Phoebe Philo worked her minimalist magic to produce a relaxed collection – with diverse ideas on show.

Ballgown-like ruffled fringing on dress hems contrasted softly with sporty shoulders.

A pendant around the neck or on a waist belt – delicately accessorised an angelic white enveloping gown.

While lattice work – such as square-shaped pieces of buttoned-down fabric – on sleeveless tops added the signature fashion-forward twist.

Despite the varied styles – there was cohesion in the subtle Philo touches, which gave this collection an abstract lift.

But the nicest looks were surely the flowery feminine print dresses with bits of divergent fabric placed or inserted almost haphazardly on the long floaty pre-War silhouette. They had a nice, snipped-away feel.