10.7.97

Fashion designer spreads the Net that much wider

By Hilary Alexander in Paris

YVES Saint Laurent, the master of French "computer-couture", put hemlines on-line in Paris yesterday.

Eight hundred people saw his new haute couture collection unfold in the Salon Imperiale of the Hotel Inter-Continental.

Another 15,000 around the world, many of whom had not even bothered to get dressed, logged on to http://wmlive.com/fashion/yslonline to watch the show from the privacy of their own homes.

Many thousands more are expected to "surf" YSL couture in the next few days, says Laurent Munnich, co-founder of World Media Live, the Paris-based company that has developed the Yves Saint Laurent website.

Saint Laurent first went on the Internet in July last year to feed the international fashion-frenzy with photo-packages from all his collections, including couture, ready-to-wear, menswear and accessories with news-hits on shop openings and stock arrivals.

Yesterday, however, marked a technological breakthrough in the reproductive quality of a 45-minute fashion showing transmitted live and in colour on the Net, using the latest computer technology called the Xing StreamWorks Player that allows instantaneous reception of audio/visuals on all the most popular browsers.

Although other household fashion names, such as Christian Dior, Gianni Versace, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy and Thierry Mugler, now have websites, reproduction of images from their shows is rigorously guarded by copyright agreements and generally restricted to six photographs per collection.

Yves Saint Laurent is the only couturier to give the Net unrestricted access.

Nan Kempner, wife of a New York financier, said the collection was "unparalleled perfection with not a wasted stitch. This really proves that less is more."

If unadulterated luxury can ever really be simple, this was it. The show opened with a full-length coat of burnished Russian sable. Sable and mink caressed the hems and necklines of faultlessly-tailored, Prince of Wales check day suits and exquisite velvet dinner gowns. Feathered plumes wafted from perky velvet Renaissance berets; gauntlet gloves were trimmed with mink.

Jackets were slimline, contoured into the waist or marked with peplums; skirts a neat pencil just above the knee.

For evening, the silhouette was more fluid; a slither of velvet or satin from decolletage to the floor; occasionally spilling into a soft, blouson effect below the waist. Fabrics in silk brocade, silk faille, cashmere, satin and jacquard were used to highlight the mastery of cut.

The largely subdued palette of jet, Rembrandt-brown, jade, bronze and ruby enhanced the mood of restrained opulence.

The French haute couture season for autumn/winter l997-98 ends today with showings by Chanel, Christian Lacroix and Thierry Mugler.