Post-apocalypse sirens, 'Mad Men' wives in Paris

PARIS - From sirens of the apocalypse to sixties chic housewives, picture perfect on the arms of their "Mad Men," Paris had something for everyone on day one of the City of Light's fall-winter 2010-11 ready-to-wear displays Wednesday.

Gareth Pugh, Britain's angel faced bad boy, served up post-apocalyptic man-eaters in bulky, nuclear holocaust-ready motorcycle jackets and leather leggings, while designer Marco Zanini's collection at Rochas looked as if he'd raided the closets of Betty Draper, Joan Holloway or one of the other sixties glamazons from the hit series "Mad Men."

Glamazons of another ilk ruled the catwalk at Dries Van Noten, where the Belgian designer once again earned his stripes as a critical favorite with a collection that seamlessly wove together elements culled from such disparate sources as 1950s-era couture, military gear and menswear.

Emerging French designer Anne Valerie Hash sent out a feather-light collection of layered looks in opalescent jewel tones.

Limi Feu, the daughter of Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, went oversized, with a collection of voluminous black pant suits and bulky dresses. Wide cuts and menswear-inspired looks also had the run of the catwalk at Croatian-German designer Damir Doma's debut ready-to-wear collection.

A mood of nostalgia permeated the Paris shows, which run through next Wednesday and were supposed to include a catwalk display by British designer Alexander McQueen. The show - always among the most highly anticipated on the Paris calendar - was scaled back into a small, private presentation after the designer's death by apparent suicide last month.

Paris' shows move into day two on Thursday with displays by two red hot French houses, Balmain and Balenciaga, as well as emerging Indian showman Manish Arora and brooding Californian Rick Owens.

ROCHAS

The soundtrack - "Crimson and Clover" playing, on a loop, over and over - and the towering bouffant hairdos set the tone for the unapologetically old-school bourgeois show, which paired sheath dresses with swingy coats and pencil skirts with little cardigans and skinny belts.

"Mad Men" costume designers, look no further.

Designer Zanini, who was showing his third collection for the label, used color with abandon, pairing robin's egg blue with a bruised plum hue, emerald and leopard, beige and yellow, with plenty of Lurex and gold lame accents. Even the elbow shields on snugly cardis were in gold lame.

Dainty gloves, glittery stacked heels, horn-rim sunglasses and structured handbags topped off the smart looks.

With "Mad Men," a whole generation of young TV viewers is getting a crash course in glamour, 1960s style. And with fall-winter collection, Rochas - the once-faltering label known largely for its perfumes - looks primed to swoop in and snatch up those eager young buyers.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Who else could take a long, lean skirt in sumptuous floral-print duchesse silk, pair it with an oversized, sleeveless sweatshirt and make the mismatched ensemble the height of chic?

Forever the magpie, Van Noten weaved disparate elements - from rough canvas fabrics in military drab to fancy, matador-style silver embroidery - into a gorgeous, toned-down collection.

"We started with '50s and '60s couture, the beautiful shapes, and also looked at other garments, menswear, military uniforms and mixed them together in a rebellious way," the genial designer told The Associated Press in a backstage interview. "You get the same elegance, but in a really different way."

Models with deliberately unkempt hair wore drab pants cut wide through the hips and pulled tight through the calf with a row of straps. Trench coats were shorn of their sleeves and smart camel blazers looked as if they'd borrowed their own sleeves from a toreador jacket, sparkling with silver sequins.

An indigo stain spread down one bottle-shaped cocktail dress with a nipped waist, making the floral silk look as if it had been on the receiving end of a bottle of India ink. (In fact, it had. Van Noten said his team brushed on layer after layer of indigo paint onto the silk.)

Gray sweatshirts topped off the silken skirts.

"I wanted to show, 'look it's only a sweatshirt with a pair of gloves, but it looks so chic and beautiful,'" Van Noten said.

Leopard-print scarves, chunky crocodile heels and gloves in butterscotch leather added an extra touch of ladylike class to the looks.

GARETH PUGH

When the apocalypse comes, we're all going to wish we'd stocked up on Gareth Pugh.

The desinger continued to plumb the depths of the dark side with a collection of finely pleated leather leggings and bulky coats that looked sturdy enough - and imbued with sufficient attitude - to weather even the bitterest nuclear holocaust.

With their foreheads smeared with charcoal dust, models skulked the catwalk in wide-cut pants and leather bomber jackets with dangling flaps or tiny turtleneck dresses hung with a web of fine metal chains. Second-skin padded leather leggings were paired with A-line shearling coats embellished with vertical stripes.

Needless to say, nearly all the looks were in head-to-toe black.

In a backstage interview after the show, Pugh told The AP he had a man-eater in mind when creating the collection.

"It was this idea of a siren, a dangerous woman who is very seductive and attractive and kind of lures in men and dumps them, like trash," Pugh said with a laugh, adding that the show's several male models - some sporting mesmerizing, ultra wide-legged pleated pants - were the "accessories."

American designer Rick Owens, himself a purveyor of post-apocalyptic glamour, said he saw Pugh as "a kindred spirit."

"I really respect his vision," Owens told The AP from his front-row perch, adding sarcastically, "but how many black outfits can you actually absorb?"

DAMIR DOMA

Monastic and deliberately unsexy, the Doma woman was shrouded in oversized layers of nubby wool and oatmeal colored gauze. Wide-cut, asymmetrical sleeveless vests were paired with impossibly low crotched harem pants or layered over short tank dresses in see-through cheesecloth. An ankle-length tank dress had a hood built, oddly, into its hem. A vertically challenged model in a cocoon coat and harem pants looked like an ambulatory ball.

And as if to emphasize just how unsexy the collection was meant to be, Doma - whose menswear collections have won critical praise - paired the looks with flat black sandals and black socks and decked out some of the models in John Lennon-style round metal framed glasses.

ANNE VALERIE HASH

The talented French designer's delicate collection was all about layered transparencies.

Slouchy cropped pants and raw-seamed jackets with see-through paneling were layered over straight-leg pants in shimmering translucent polyester in jewel tones. Abbreviated cocktail dresses in the same opalescent fabrics had delicately draped bodices and short pleated shirts that shone like deep sea jellyfish.

Highlights of the airy collection included a cropped kimono jacket in multicolored sequins that shone darkly and a silken jumpsuit that walked the fine line between dressy and casual.