Fashion 88 : Frivolity Keynotes Paris Designer Previews

Another week of high chic starts Sunday in Paris, as designers show their spring-summer haute couture collections to private clients and members of the press.

Will Paris sizzle? Judging from these exclusive preview sketches, the frivolity of the past few seasons will indeed continue into spring. And the renewed worldwide interest in couture clothing may get an even bigger boost than before.

Plunging necklines, wide-leg pants, sizzling colors and mad mixes of prints will spice the runways of this once-staid bastion of upper-crust style.

Prices will be astronomical, as they always are for couture, but a bit less intimidating than in previous years. That’s because prices of European ready-to-wear have hit new highs, closing the once-huge gap between the cost of off-the-rack clothes sold in fine stores and those that are cut and custom-fitted to the client’s body.

Christian Lacroix, the hottest ticket of the moment, is showing a deep-decolletage blouse with full-leg pants.

Valentino plants a bustle in front of his high-neck, body-contour dress.

Karl Lagerfeld, for Chanel, shapes what he calls a “black point d’esprit tulle, chiffon and lace short evening dress.”

And Emanuel Ungaro says his pouf-shoulder, deep-dish-neckline bodice is teamed with a very short, side-drape, multicolor skirt.

Not talking is Yves Saint Laurent. But his embroiderers are.

They’ve reportedly said YSL has them working overtime to create a kind of “luxurious glamour not seen since the 1940s.”