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Bold, vibrant colours in floating fabrics with daring cuts. Emanuel Ungaro's Spring/Summer 2007 collection is all that and more.
The label's superbly confidant designs were the first to grace the catwalk on Thursday night at Dubai Fashion 2007, held at the Joharah Ballroom, Madinat Jumeirah.
Short dresses, gathered crepe and single sashes are 'in' this season, if the work of Ungaro's designer Peter Dundas is anything to go by.
The Norwegian artistic director uses weightless materials, such as parachute silk, to great effect and has infused his collection with butterfly motifs and animal prints.
From a sea of sequins to broken mirror bodices, as the models strut by billowing yards of chiffon in their wake, the audience is rendered breathless by the imprint left behind.
Triumph
Still, there was odd uncertainty. Among them was a sequinned slip of a dress with a back so low there was no room for modesty — or underwear.
However, fluorescent lime and fuchsia creations, black-and-white feather ensembles, metallic leathers and accentuated feminine curves make this a triumph of a show.
Dundas, who cuts a fine figure of a Nordic man dressed in black, says the inspiration came to him during his first winter show for Ungaro.
He says: "I was just imagining a field of butterflies flying around you and that's what I wanted for this collection. I wanted these butterflies for their colour, for their lightness and for the fact that they fly as well."
In addition, he admits: "I am quite obsessed with movement. When I fit clothes, I ask the models to walk to see how the clothes move and how the body moves in the clothes as well."
Stars
When I ask him how he wants people to feel when wearing his clothes, he answers: "I want them to feel like stars, quite simply. I am accommodating a certain type of woman.
She already has that type of personality — somebody who dares and likes to seduce, and somebody in tune with their senses, so what I am doing is just embellishing that persona."
Up next is Christian Lacroix displaying an unfettered imagination in his ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2007 collection. From the sublime to the ridiculous, the message is one of fun and abandon for the ultra stylish.
While the majority of designs are pure delights to behold, there are a couple of truly outlandish combinations that very few on the planet could get away with.
The worst offender is a yellow and white jacket over pink, knee-length trousers – quite an unsightly colour combination, particularly when topped with a red wig.
Graceful
But it's the highlights that remind us why Lacroix is among the front runners in the fashion industry. A sensational yet simple ensemble is made up of graceful white satin trousers topped with two diamond panels in black and silver sequins, tied with just one thin strap across a naked back.
Bows feature heavily adding detail to floor-length glamorous numbers while ruffles and layers bring frills and thrills of nostalgia.
Marie Martinez, director of haute couture, says Christian Lacroix is perfect for Dubai.
"Middle East women love to dress and they are not afraid of wearing colour, jewellery and make-up. Mr Lacroix loves this clientele. Each time he meets Middle East clients he is really interested because they are all very beautiful. For us it's really perfect and it is why they love Lacroix."
Backstage banter
There's just an hour or two to go. In the calm before the storm, all kinds are milling around backstage as racks of luxurious clothes hang lifelessly, waiting to be filled.
It is unusually quiet in the dressing room but for behind-the-scenes personnel checking lists and passing the time with idle chit-chat. Next door, in "the green room", it's a different picture.
Seated at numerous round tables are made-up models with immaculate hairdos, speaking a raft of different languages.
Visually, it's a constantly moving picture. Skinny muses stalk around with the angular limbs of newborn giraffes. Very occasionally they nibble from plates of miniature finger food from the buffet.
Everywhere I look, people are in conversation, drawing on cigarettes in the countdown to show time. I take a deep breath — from the relatively fresh air by the door — and head towards a table to my left where a group of statuesque beauties are gathered ...
Model talk
Nataliya, a 20-year-old model from Moscow served as clotheshorse for all the different designers throughout Dubai Fashion 2007.
"Emanuel Ungaro is my favourite because I like the colours — they suit me," she says. Speaking of the work, she says: "We spend the whole day preparing for the show; for rehearsals, for make-up. We come here at 8am and go back to the hotel at 10pm. It's tiring but I am happy that I am taking part."
Monja Wolf, 25, from near Frankfurt, in Germany, is one of the many wearing a red wig for the Christian Lacroix show. "I am wearing two dresses tonight and they are very nice, very colourful and very comfortable," she says.
"Valentino is my favourite because it is very feminine, very simple and timeless. You can wear it in 10 or 20 years and it will still be up-to-date."
The hair stylist
Back in the dressing room, I find French hairdresser Sebastien Quinet taking pictures of himself to while away the remaining hour.
He tells me: "It's not like in Paris because we do just a few days here. It is more relaxed but we have to work very quickly because the shows are very close together and we have to change hair from one show to the next in one evening."
Despite being a hidden essential for the show, Quinet proves he has picked up a thing or two from the models as he happily poses uninhibited for the camera. And all the while, the show draws ever closer.
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