Ford’s design adieu

Paris â€”  ON Sunday, Tom Ford said goodbye to his design career -- for now -- when he presented his eighth and final collection for Yves Saint Laurent. As usual, every detail was perfect. (He is a notorious Virgo.) The statues on the grounds of the Rodin Museum were bathed in a sensual red light, and guests were greeted by YSL boys with slicked-back hair, pressed suits and red neckerchiefs.

Inside, the museum was thick with the scent of Opium, the classic YSL parfum. There were flutes of chilled champagne to sip and red banquettes to sit on. Bianca Jagger and Princess Marie Chantal of Greece were there. Harvey Weinstein, in Paris to promote the European release of “Cold Mountain� and to complete an animation project with Paul McCartney, took a seat next to Roman Polanski. Also in the front row: the designers Stella McCartney and Valentino, who said of Ford, “It is a pity that he leaves the world of fashion, and my hope is that he should come back.�

There were all the makings of a cocktail party where people could have mingled well into the night. But the show had to go on, even if no one wanted it to, because it meant the end.

Ford reached back into Saint Laurent’s archives for his Chinese theme, sending out a burgundy silk Mao jacket over a crimson lingerie satin pencil skirt with lace on the sides, and purple velvet peep-toe shoes on red-lacquered, curved wedge heels. The shoulders of a jade silk jacket resembled pagodas. Coats came in blue and silver Asian jacquards, or in fur shaved into a diamond pattern. But it is the splendid gowns that are most likely to be remembered -- slinky, sequined cheongsam styles in cherry blossom prints with trains that lingered as the models walked.

On the way down the runway to take his bow, Ford, dressed in a red velvet smoking jacket, stopped to hug Gucci President and Chief Executive Domenico De Sole. In the last decade, the two men -- De Sole as the financial whiz and Ford as the creative director -- orchestrated the turnaround of the Gucci brand. They also acquired financial interests in the businesses of Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquiere, and advised them on a daily basis. They leave the Gucci Group together in April.

As Ford walked back up the runway, he smiled and acknowledged Weinstein, perhaps a nod to a future in Hollywood. He has said that he is interested in directing a film.

Later this week, it is expected that Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, Gucci’s parent company, will announce that not a boldface name like Ford’s but instead Stefano Pilati will take over at Yves Saint Laurent. A team of three unknowns is also expected to design Gucci.

Runway renaissance

From rich, couture-like details to the masculine-feminine mix, the ready-to-wear season ending here this week has been characterized by a renaissance in the French design aesthetic, though ironically not at the hands of many French designers. In his second collection for Lanvin, Israeli-born Alber Elbaz designed cocktail dresses replete with a gamine’s satin bows, chiffon ruffles and rosebuds, worn with antique brooches or multi-strand flower necklaces fastened with ribbons in the back. For the garcon, a black velvet, double-breasted tux dress was pinned with a white flower, and black satin tuxedo-styled riding boots had white cuffs around the top.

Most interesting, though, were Elbaz’s convertible looks, such as black satin shifts with filmy organza coat-vests that were removed on the runway with the help of a few dashing dates. In another great moment, a model in a short black strapless silk dress reached back to unloop a train from between her shoulders -- two looks in one.

Valentino too was mining Gallic style when he put sable jackets over lovely white lace shirts with men’s ties, black pencil skirts, zigzag patterned stockings and rhinestone-rimmed aviator glasses. The look also brought to mind the aggressive chic of the late photographer Helmut Newton. It was sexier territory for Valentino, and it worked when it was done in subtle ways. But when the bare midriffs and the bra tops came out, it became troublesome. This season’s gowns were not his best either, save for one in red taffeta, a strapless hourglass silhouette with a rose on each hip.

With models wearing forks, spoons and measuring cups dangling from the sides of their wigs and crinoline-filled hoop skirts in ethnic-looking florals, while dragging shopping carts down the runway behind them, John Galliano’s show seemed as if it could have been assembled at Cost Plus World Market. Coke cans and water bottles hung from corsets, and the designer’s signature newsprint was splashed on a suitcase on a model’s head. It was a feast for the eyes that will probably be reduced to a print on a net T-shirt or cocktail dress when it hits the stores.

At Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs spun a winter fantasy, down to the snow-dusted runway encased in blocks of ice. With a fitch fur collar and cuffs, a red-and-green tartan coat went from lumberjack to princess. Red velvet knickers were worn with a yellow cardigan with a flouncy lace collar. As in a fairy tale, ermine fur trimmed the neckline of a frothy pink short chiffon dress with a big pink bow on the derriere. The LV monogram was splashed on velvet or fur handbags, and shoes were just as tempting -- tartan spectator pumps or short brocade boots with fur around the ankles. These clothes may be too saccharine for some, but Vuitton’s customers seem to like that.

Stella McCartney’s collection was more uneven. On the plus side were ponchos and matching handbags in a multicolored Shetland Fair Isle that incorporated woodland critters into the patterns. The shoes were better than ever: an animal lover’s fake leather wedge-heel cowboy boot and sporty mesh ankle boots. But overblown putty-colored puffer coats were experiments in volume gone wrong.

McCartney still has a lot to learn, but from whom? In her show notes, she thanked “two people without whom it might not have happened ... Domenico and Tom.�