Jean Paul Gaultier carries the crown of Paris’s most Parisian designer, with his glamour-fuelled creations often echoing the hallmarks of the city of light. With the Eiffel tower racing up stocking legs in his Haute Couture show for Fall Winter 2010-11, this latest outing proved this point with a patriotic fervour and a playful kitsch. Held within the Rue St Martin showroom of the Gaultier HQ, the event began over an hour late as guests waited for the most esteemed invitees to arrive, including actress Catherine Deneuve and model/human rights advocate Liya Kebede.

Appearing from behind thick velvet drapes, Gaultier’s models sashayed down the runway with a coy, affected air – some with a cigarette holder delicately perched between polished fingers. Each girl wore a variation on a dramatic tied turban, pleated and knotted in a stiff loop at the forehead – fanning out like deep-sea coral or a towel wrapped around freshly washed hair. Upon their feet were dangerously high heels with a double stiletto heel, as ankle boots panelled with crocodile and pumps in satin or burnished patent leather.

The couture notes read like a reel of exciting stories, from “The affair is in the sack” to “Enter the phantoms” and “Parisian Psycho”, and Gaultier dressed his woman ready and raring to embark on such adventures. Recalling the heady hey-days of Jazz era Paris, he sent out a cavalcade of bare legs with snappy buttoned and zipped skirt suits in soft leathers, polished cotton and suiting wool. Shoulders bowed out and jutted to a sharp corner on short bombers, and shawl neck coats fell in luscious leather pleats to the knee. Fox and mink shawls wrapped around the bust and pencil skirts hugged tight to the hips in rich velvet or fell in degradé maribou feathers.

Several dresses and coats lost the slick-scuba fit of the tailoring and explored the loose batwing shape of the manta ray, cocooning at the knee in soft tones of coppery pinks, blacks and one jumpsuit in encrusted gold. Sheer silk lay over metallics and lace, creating a floating tuxedo cape and a hooded dress in striped fur, and Gaultier’s signature cone-bra and lingerie detailing was ever present. Pops of acid colour were seen in a lime green halter dress with matching mink-trimmed wrap, a violet silk jumpsuit with a jewel-encrusted peak shoulder, and chartreuse, vermillion and turquoise accents on cut-away shoulders and the ubiquitous turbans.

If the passing parade of alluring garments was not enough, Gaultier added further spice to the mix with the entrance of Dita Von Teese half way through the 48 looks, entering in a floor length pleated gown and stripping down to an elaborate skeleton corset. For his second trick, he sent the final outfit “La Mariée” out on Yue Zhang, a violinist from the National Opera of Paris who played her way down the glossy catwalk.

Returning for his bow with the scantily clad Dita, Gaultier closed off a sultry and smooth presentation that evoked a bygone era of excess. His fabulously dramatic eveningwear harked back to a decadent age while keeping one foot firmly in the future – with exquisite craftsmanship in unexpected finishes and fabrics that channeled the Gaultier signatures into a rather classy affair.

The Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy was transformed into a blacked out amphitheatre for the Dior Homme show on Saturday afternoon, its floor a gravel pit encircled and intersected by an inlaid wooden runway. A harsh contrast to last season’s bright, airy setting in the Carreau du Temple, the Fall Winter 2010 presentation was blanketed in a bleak darkness, with an industrial “halo” of Thierry Dreyfus‘s lighting rigs looming above the arena.

Entitled “Coal”, the show was an inspired study of the monochrome, and Kris Van Assche worked in total looks of black, ecru, grey marle and charcoal. On a base of crisp collared shirting and cuffed trousers in either pleated volumes or straight legs, Kris showed an extensive range of luxurious jackets and coats in many different shapes but unified in their cashmere, leather and wool fabrications with a languid fluidity.

Peak collared trenches and pea coats ended with unexpectedly pointed hems, blazers wrapped around the chest and continued into scarves, and a dinner jacket was given a third lapel in contrasting fabric. Self-striped silks and cottons created a textural highlight in more formal pieces, and flashes of silver came stitched into shoulder seams, on tie stripes and from long zippers on hooded coats and blousons.

Almost bare of accessories, the looks were worn with a low dress shoe, sometimes laced with a monkstrap over, and several floor-length coats swept aside at the waist to reveal a leather bag hooked to a belt loop (seemingly keeping a Bible safe).

Choosing Parisian technicians Mode F to develop his soundtrack for both the Dior and Kris Van Assche shows this season, Kris was able to engage personally in the process through their intuitive methods, to create the pulsing power beats of both his shows (listen in the video below). Odile Gilbert gave the models messy, textured hair – adding a boyish charm to the heavy, masculine collection – and Aaron de Mey delivered with clean, simple Dior makeup.

Taking the helm in the wake of a revolution at Dior, Kris has proven himself – creating the world of an intelligent and contemporary gentleman – a modern traveller. The slick production was a testament to the house and to Kris’s ongoing realisation of their vision, subverting their classic codes to redeliver fashionable, elegant garments in unexpected, luxurious ways.

Show Details:

MUSIC: MODE F

PRODUCTION: EYESIGHT

HAIR: Odile Gilbert

MAKEUP: Aaron de Mey