| Paris fashion week: Marc Jacobs brings back camp at Louis Vuitton Tiger stripes and mandarin collars vie for Paris catwalk attention with lurex jersey knits and Chinese silks"It's just camp. To take something from nature and to make it into stylish clothes: that's total camp," said designer Marc Jacobs backstage after his Louis Vuitton show on the final day of Paris fashion week.Camp as envisaged by the French luxury powerhouse today came in the form of a collection inspired by Donna Summer, seventies disco, chinoiserie and tiger stripes. A black marble effect catwalk, stuffed tigers and tasselled disco curtains set the scene. It was as abrupt a departure from last season's ultra tasteful Bardot-meets-Mad Men look as it is possible to get.Fringed crystal flapper dresses, lurex knitted jersey dresses, pantsuits in yellow, rust and purple colour blocks were set off with wide sequinned cummerbunds. A white trouser suit worthy of a Studio 54-era Bianca Jagger had an giraffe printed on its back. Tassels, shimmer, billowing decadent sleeves and animal motifs fought for attention, sometimes on the same outfit. The finale look was a pair of shiny tuxedo trousers and shimmering zebra stripes painted onto the model's body replacing actual clothes.Jacobs quoted US writer Susan Sontag in his show notes to explain how this off-taste would marry with luxury clothing only the wealthy can afford. "Camp taste is by its nature possible in affluent societies, in societies capable of experiencing the psychopathology of affluence," she wrote in a 1964 essay. It is an interesting theory but is it likely to convince those who don't want to spend a fortune on a sequinned panda top?Taste aside, business at Louis Vuitton is booming. LVMH, which owns the label, reported a 53% rise in first-half profits this year. A 13th workshop is being built in southern France to cope with the global frenzy for the label's bags. Expansion in China is fuelling this demand – which could explain the Chinese influence. Models carried black lace fans wearing Chinese-inspired pink glittery jackets, while purple silk Chinese pyjamas had mandarin collars and black tassels hanging from them.Paris fashion weekFashionFashion weekMarc JacobsFranceImogen Foxguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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