DUBAI: British-Moroccan model Nora Attal is racing from show-to-show at Paris Couture Week and has walked the runway for an enviable list of luxury labels over the past few days.
Attal took to the Dior runway in a fantastical ensemble by the French fashion house on Monday, showing off a leather dress with cutouts and feather details.
The styles on show also mixed the old and the new, with lightweight materials giving some of the black dresses a diaphanous air, Reuters reported.
Skirts adorned with feathers, touches of velvet or lace were subtly structured to add volume; belted jackets came with exaggerated, bouffant sleeves.
A day later, Attal took to the runway for Chanel, showing off a demure buttoned-up look in the fashion house’s first hate couture collection since Karl Lagerfeld’s death earlier this year.
His successor and former right-hand woman Virginie Viard — who admitted that she spent more time with him than any other person — recreated one of the legendary designer’s libraries inside the Grand Palais, where Lagerfeld staged his shows.
The British-Moroccan model walked the runway for Dior. (AFP)
The bibliophile — who died in February aged 85 — is estimated to have owned up to 350,000 books, AFP reported.
In a rotunda worthy of the British Library, Viard — a book lover herself — sent out a sleeker, more restrained and more classically Chanel collection than the master delivered in his final years.
Nods to Karl were everywhere from the models wearing their hair in ponytails echoing his white powdered mane, to a series of dresses adorned with Lagerfeld’s signature starched collars and cuffs.
The two-tone bowed shoes evoked the court dandies of Lagerfeld’s favorite century, the 18th, with patent slippers adding another touch of boudoir glamor, according to AFP.
The discreet Viard — who did not talk to reporters — appeared briefly on the first floor of the set at the end to acknowledge the applause.
She did, however, put her own mark on the clothes.
A four-pocket belted trouser suit and coat spoke of a purer less flashy marriage of street style and couture in the future, as did some gorgeous retro silk bathrobe and pyjama pants combos.
As Chanel said later, the library theme was also about Viard writing her own new page in fashion history.
White buttons and models in bookish glasses were also prominent as were all the Chanel standards of tweeds and Lagerfeld’s sparkling highly-embroidered sequined pieces.
