Viktor & Rolf wow crowds; Gaultier goes ethnic

As the soundtrack of industrial racket clanked overhead, the model, Kristen McNameny, appeared in her tent-like incarnation at the top of the runway. She waddled over to a rotating platform, set into the middle of the catwalk, and Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren started stripping off layer after layer, like the skin of an onion or Russian stacking dolls.

Wearing their trademark plastic-framed nerd eyeglasses, the designers transferred each removed layer first maxi-greatcoats and oversized fox fur coats; then lighter parkas hung with swinging drawstrings onto another model, who then walked the catwalk.

After McNameny was pared down to a strapless bustier, the pair repeated the process in reverse: stripping the other models and piling the layers back on to the formerly eyebrow-less top model. The crowning look was an oversized bustle in stiff tulle that was stripped off an evening look and hung round McNameny's neck, like an oversized collar on her industrial refrigerator-sized greatcoat.

It was a novel exercise, and the crowd of fashion insiders many of whom had sat through more than 100 conventional shows in New York, London and Milan over the past month hooted enthusiastically.

But the spectacle itself distracted attention away from the clothes, which were basically big, bulky and black. (Though it must be said, they were remarkably engineered: Enormous when they were peeled off McNameny, Snoeren and Horsting transformed them into a model-tiny size through a system of zippers and drawstrings.)

Vivienne Westwood

Would-be Prince Charmings sporting painted-on mustaches bravely shouldered layer upon layer of chunky oversized blanket coats, hole-riddled sweaters, scarves and shawls on their tiny frames. In keeping with Westwood's hallmark excess and irreverence, the rarely matching layers were a hodgepodge of competing prints and clashing colors, with zany accessories piled high.

Mammoth plastic flowers the size of a dinner plate dressed up (or weighed down?) some of the looks, while one model was saddled with not only an oversized backpack but also a huge leopard-print tote. Multicolored strands of ticker-tape were worn in guise of a scarf with a 1950s style cocktail gown whose skirt was overflowing with pink tulle.

The top-heavy looks were worn over printed leggings or draped, satiny jodhpurs.

In a backstage interview, Westwood said she had been inspired by the characters in Grimm's fairy tales Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Prince Charming in his Ceylon blue tights.

“I wanted them to look really exotic as well as looking like they just stepped out of the Black Forest,” the madcap, carrot-topped designer said in her distinctive drawl.

Exotic, maybe, but not as fun as usual. The models were stony-faced and their stilettos tapped out an almost military beat as they marched down the catwalk. With the exception of one model who was chatting on a cell phone as she walked, the show had less of the zany, anarchic spirit that usually overflows at a Westwood display.

Still, perhaps keeping the clothing in the background was exactly the point of the exercise.

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