Shanghai Daily news

To the sound of loud, mood-setting music and under the glare of flickering lights, French avant-garde designer label ``BICHEdeBERE'' hit the runway in the riverside area of Pudong on Tuesday night as the closing show of Shanghai's first Fashion Week.
BICHEdeBERE creates exclusive handmade jewelry and original clothes for women who dare to be different. Its sense of audacity has an increasing appeal to younger clients. Clothes recede into a background in this collection. Jewelry and accessories are the key. The dresses are simplified into three colors: black, white and red. Against the various textures of different fabrics, the oversized jewelry gives an architectural grandeur to the silhouette. Hats are a focal point of this presentation. Unlike most designers who take gloves as a winter necessity on their runways, BICHEdeBERE makes imaginative out-of-proportion headgear to define its mood and look. Whether in or out of the big tent in Pudong, Fashion Week is now an important launching pad for designers who want to show off their new collections or for companies intending to raise brand-consciousness among customers. Many international brands are jostling one another in their staging of fashion shows or in promotional extravaganzas as they vie for attention. Victoria Beckham will fly in this afternoon to endorse the Swatch diamond timepiece and to judge the 2004 Elite Model Look International finals. Also today, the Armani fashion empire will announce a new store at CITIC Square. Tomorrow, Gucci has the grand opening of its flagship store at the Shanghai Center. Naomi Campbell breezes into town next Tuesday for the opening ceremony of a modelling school. The parties and the gossip that will ensue as the week goes on are just an added bonus. French ready-to-wear brand ``Guy Laroche'' jumped on the bandwagon with its new collection last night on the rooftop of the Shanghai Art Museum. Whereas BICHEdeBERE brings us back to an era of ancient mystery with its luxurious accessories, Guy Laroche offers a much more subdued version of dignified fashion for the socialite set. It romps through different textures of elegance. Guy Laroche's evening gown features chiffon and a velvet backless top with strings of lustrous pearls. Purple satin with asymmetrical cuts gives a sexy and dramatic silhouette. Its business wardrobe completes a stunning look with a touch of sophistication. Black striped suit adds a smart edge to feminine appearance. A T-shirt studded with Swarovski crystals also catches the eye. Standout from the collection is a spectacular patterned silk scarf used as a hip body-hugging top with tiny pearl button securing the back. Here scarf is not merely a cloth to shield out chills. It's a fashion statement to personalize your look that puts you in the limelight. Fur brings an air of playfulness to the in-vogue tweed suits while maintaining a ladylike elegance. Guy Laroche opened his own house of couture in 1957. He maintains that ``fashion should be wearable.'' After he died in 1989, Michel Klein took over the designing. Later, Alber Elbaz (now the designer for Salvatore Ferragamo) and Laetitia Hecht also worked for the label. Guy Laroche hopes to set up 100 stores on Chinese mainland in the next five years.