Christian Lacroix

PARIS, October 6, 2006 - Christian Lacroix painted the bleachers in the courtyard of L'École des Beaux Arts in a fresh coat of emerald green, then hung a leafy limb above the runway for his show, "Wild Journey". Since coming back into Ready-to-Wear (after having completely skipped it for two years) he's been experimenting with how best to package the elements of couture in a more affordable wrapper. This season the solution was in the prints: black and white circles, navy and crimson hearts and stars, floral designs and exquisite embroidery-like filigree spiked up with the glitter of sequins. Black lace trimming and cascades of jet beads gave way to all out embroidery that streamed down blouses and filled out a series of bathing suits, some cut out to near bikini proportions. For evening, an emerald satin dress was wound with tiers of curving ribbon. The models trouped along as best they could, though that was no easy task given that they were wearing stilettos with strange looking wooden slab heels. What was up with the pompoms?

If the truth must be told, it was the boys that got some of the best accessories - dangling gold chains, necklaces of black jet bead and garnet-colored crystal. As for their psychedelic print blazers, they looked as if they had passed the Bohemian world of London in the 60s and crashed out elsewhere.

Backstage Lacroix had little to say about his work. Then again, he's the kind of self-effacing nice guy that leaves the talking to others.