Show and Tell

Victor and Rolf, now those guys know how to put on a good show. The catwalk Spring/Summer collection at Paris Fashion Week was no exception. Despite the peachy cream pastels and Disney princess satins sashaying down the catwalk there is a sinister side to the designers' collections. They can tap into the gothic and macabre with black lace trimmed gowns just as easily as they conjure up pretty teen idol pink bandau. This only makes them the more fascinating as fashion designers. They know there is always a dark side to the most beautiful and ornamental.

I remember visiting their exhibition at the Barbican a few years ago and being both absolutely riveted but at the same time slightly repulsed by the huge china dolls dressed in their designs. I thought it was the best fashion exhibition I had ever attended due to my sheer reaction. Many exhibitions can be enjoyable but slightly forgettable, this one however stuck in the memory. They elicit such a strong feeling of a childhood in a epoch of grand opulence set in the face of austerity. They throw in hints to the French revolution and severe Victorian age.

The models were like mini Marie Antionette's attending their prom in 1985. The duo have clearly been influenced by a mixture of the cocktail dress and fifties sweetheart glamour. I liked that the design house have chosen to champion the choker. The 90's necklace is having 'a moment'. A stand out piece from this year's show was a peach trench with frilly a - line detail at the knee. Beautiful tailoring and a sense of the ostentatious make it all the more appealing. And if you are anything like me you enjoy fashion which is sweet but likes to dance in the dark.