Paris Fashion Week Spring 2013: The season closes out with a new check at Louis Vuitton, bees at Alexander McQueen and more summer fur at Miu Miu

Editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra rounds out the Spring 2013 season with her review of Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen and Miu Miu.

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Experience has told us that a Louis Vuitton collection usually follows a similar theme to the one Marc Jacobs explores for his own label. This season was no exception. Marc Jacobs zeroed in on graphics for Spring 2013, but where he mostly riffed on stripes back in New York, for Louis Vuitton it was all about the Damier check. Traditionally in a brown/beige checkerboard, Louis Vuitton’s Damier has seen recent popularity in a white/grey print for summer totes. So why not take that as a hint loyalists might be ready for more?

Showing, punctually, in a tent at the Musee du Louvre, Marc Jacobs had artist Daniel Buren create the set: a bank of four escalators that the models descended and ascended in pairs. They wore checks in yellow/white, beige/white, green/white and more. There were big checks, little checks and checks in between. They came on ‘60s car coats, boxy jackets over midi skirts and column gowns with patch pockets. The shiniest pieces were cover in what Jacobs promises are the tiniest sequins ever produced to give a metallic fluidity. Texture came from a flock-like pile similar to dense carpeting.

This is the first Vuitton collection not to feature the LV monogram. An interesting test. But then, unlike the regular folk who buy the odd Louis Vuitton bag, maybe the brand’s wealthier clothing customer doesn’t need a logo to show her status?

And onto the next show. Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen has a thing for bees, at least for now. Contoured jackets and bustiers came in gold and black honeycomb jacquard and pants and skirts were an airy honeycomb lace. Gold bumblebees were woven into another jacquard and jeweled bees looked as if they had landed on wide collars and cuffs. Hooped evening gowns were a bit Scarlet O’Hara for my taste, but to each her own. When I left her showroom this afternoon, I spotted Burton in a black tent dress and red flats—typical attire for a soon-to-be fashion mom.

Meanwhile, has Miuccia Prada not heard of global warming? Or maybe she was reaching out to the southern hemisphere with the fox stoles in her Miu Miu Spring 2013 collection?

Emma Stone, Dianna Agron, Amanda Seyfried and Chloe Sevigny were perched in her front row, captivated by the skirt suits topped with the now ubiquitous boxy jacket that is a must-have for Spring 2013. Along with them were sheared pink minks and long fox stoles, some of which had a splotchy circle in a contrasting colour. Even more puzzling, some of the furs were worn with sandals that looked suited for the beach. But as a colleague pointed out, Prada’s wrong is always right.

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