"I am big! It's the pictures that got smaller!" "Sunset Boulevard" kept running through my head while I was watching the Miu Miu show. So did the image of Joan Crawford in that mink coat in "Mildred Pierce."

I wonder if the starlets in the front row -- Mila Kunis, Hailee Steinfeld, Jennifer Lawrence -- recognized the style references to their distant cousins. The coats with supersize shoulders, and pretty 1940s-style dresses embroidered with delicate flowers or birds. The pencil skirts with flounce details at the hips and vampy suede pumps. The cat's eye sunglasses, fur stoles and barrel curl updos. They were all period pieces.

The total look is probably too costumey for most, but it made me homesick. It was the last show of the month-long runway season, and I was ready to head for the Hollywood Hills. 

-- Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS:

Miu Miu fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

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Photos: Looks from the Miu Miu fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Marc Jacobs threw himself a fetish ball on Wednesday morning, complete with working elevators front and center to bring models up to the runway from the backstage below.

It made for an eyeful of earthy delights at the early hour of 10 a.m. -- crocodile handcuffs, headbands with harlequin masks, patent leather corset belts and Peter Pan collars.

There was an outfit and accessory for every fantasy: the bodacious bellhop (uniform-like suits and LV monogrammed caps), the French maid (tweedy black dress and an ostrich feather duster), the school girl ("conversational" silk crepe dresses in whimsical stiletto and mask prints and strappy Mary Janes), even the dominatrix, starring none other than Kate Moss in hot pants, sucking on a cigarette. 

Besides working with the finest furs and silks, Jacobs also played with unusual materials, just like he did with his namesake collection in New York. Who else would do a black rubber lace dress? It actually looked great. So did a green clipped Mongolian lamb jacket with a "car paint" bodice. and a glossy red "python" pailette skirt the color of lipgloss.

It all made for a fun romp around the runway. And Jacobs could be onto something. Luxury fetish clothes and sex toys are probably a growth market.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS:

Louis Vuitton fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

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Photos: Looks from the Louis Vuitton fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli showed a collection that hit many of the season's trends, but in a rather bland way.

The color palette was neutral (black, blush, navy, black) with pops of fall's favorite oxblood, mustard yellow and bottle green. The designers started with a new kind of soft suit in double cashmere, composed of a cardigan jacket and flared skirt. Details included knit insets and decorative studs, a play on those studded shoes from spring that are still selling like hotcakes.

And lace, was there ever lace--both Chantilly and laser cut leather lace, with floral appliques or geometric designs. Feather and chevron motifs were also in the mix, and handbags came in patchwork snakeskin.

Much of it was very pretty, but the edginess that typically takes Chiuri and Piccioli's collections to a modern place was missing.

-- Booth Moore in Paris 

PHOTOS:

Valentino fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

RELATED:

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Photos: Looks from the Valentino fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

This has been the fashion season of the Twitter-fueled rumor mill. A few days ago, it spread like wildfire that Sarah Burton, the creative director for Alexander McQueen, would be designing Kate Middleton's wedding dress. Burton's people emphatically denied it.

Which is too bad, because she would have been an amazing choice from the look of the snowy white dresses in her fall collection, inspired by an Ice Queen and her court.

The show was held at the Conciergerie, which was the antechamber to the guillotine during the French Revolution, holding thousands of prisoners, including Marie Antoinette. It was also the site of one of McQueen's most memorable shows, where live wolves walked the runway.

So it was suitably eerie. And from the first look, a white handwoven degrade tweed coat that dissolved into fur at the hems and shoulders, it was clear that the late designer was there in spirit.

Burton continued to play with tweed and checked velvets as the collection took a dark turn. Armor-like black dresses, traced in zippers, were fitted with elaborate harnasses and hardware evoking torture devices, and worn with bondage boots. Coats cinched the waist, in woven and studded velvet.

Then, the fog lifted and out came angelic-looking gowns in fraying organza embroidered with pearls. One of the most extraordinary pieces had a bodice made from pieces of bone china. And the finale gown, with it's enormous tulle skirt, seemed to carry the model down the runway, as if on a cloud.

It was quite an impressive second collection for Burton, and a terrific prelude to the upcoming McQueen exhibition opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in May.

But mostly, when the snow queens rounded the runway to applause, it was nice to see a happy ending at the end of a very dark fairy tale.

--Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS:

Alexander McQueen fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

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Photos: Looks from the Alexander McQueen fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

Isabel Marant and Vanessa Bruno represent the two poles of Parisian chic. If Marant's brand is all sexy swagger, Bruno's is bohemian sweet. Both designers sit in the contemporary price category, meaning their pieces are generally less than $1,000, which has made them all the more appealing to women the world over in search of that je ne sais quoi.

This season, Bruno's collection was full of romantic tunic dresses, peasant blouses and chunky knit sweaters, worn with clog boots and knit hats for a look that was deliciously disheveled. More polished but no less relaxed were high-waist trousers and textured coats, which would play just as well on Melrose, where the designer recently opened a boutique, as in the Marais.

-- Booth Moore 

Photos: Looks from the Vanessa Bruno fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times

On the runway at Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld went from the spring-summer show's manicured gardens, to the mean streets, steaming asphalt and all.

With the Cure's "The Forest" on the soundtrack, Stella Tennant set the tone for the glam grunge collection, opening the show in a terrific-looking salt n' pepper boucle cape over a red cardigan, black silk crepe leggings and biker boots.

The silhouette was relaxed, schlumpy even, which meant loose-fitting jeans with houndstooth cuffs, or distressed leggings, under Chanel's signature boxy houndstooth jackets or long, chunky knit cardigans.

Trousers were rolled up over low-heeled black satin pumps (which made me want to start rolling up my own pants immediately). They were worn with cropped cardigans over long blazers, for a cool layered look.

Continuing down the rough road, sweater knit dresses had a gravelly texture, and black leather-and-lace jumpsuits a certain mademoiselle-meets-mechanic appeal.

If there was a weak link it was eveningwear, which didn't play much of a part in Lagerfeld's post-apocalyptic vision, except for a few short dresses in graying leaf prints, with puffy short sleeves.

The new bag was a tougher version of the 2.55, sans quilting, and with a chunkier chain. And fans of Chanel cosmetics will be interested to know that the new nail polish shade for fall is a metallic gray called "Granite."

-- Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS:

Chanel fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

RELATED:

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Photos: Looks from the Chanel fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavss and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

I stopped by the Longchamp showroom to check out the wares, because I'm a fan of the brand's classic foldable nylon Le Pliage totes, especially when I travel. And I was delighted to hear there will be a Longchamp store opening in May at South Coast Plaza.

The store will be stocked with summer bags then, including a Mexican-blanket-stripe beach tote that is part of the line designed by Kate Moss. But for fall, Longchamp is working a country theme, with the new suede Balzane satchel and the suede-fringed Imperial cross-body bag.

For the city, there's a patchwork ponyskin tote and a tromp l'oeil version in nylon. See if you can tell which is which.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

Photos, from top: Balzane cross-body bag, Balzane satchel, Balzane suede-fringed Imperial cross-body bag, patchwork ponyskin tote and tromp l'oeil version in nylon. Credit: Longchamp

Dogged by rumors for months now that he is on his way out at Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati showed a stellar fall collection that should quiet the naysayers -- at least for now.

The clothes were wearable, but they also had attitude, beginning with pieces in Prince of Wales check, including a new, longer-length, double-breasted blazer, a baseball jacket with knit insets and skirts with flyaway pleats.

Pilati echoed the 1960s sentiment that's been blowing across the runways this season with low-belted jumpers trimmed in perforated leather.

But the white evening looks with gold chain link details, on the other hand, had the kind of born-in-Hollywood glamour that is timeless. A white halter gown with skinny gold chain straps was stunningly sexy, and an oversize feather chubby, worn over white flared pants, pure hedonistic fun.

Pilati also scored in the accessories department, showing boots and kiltie loafers with wedge soles for day, and strappy gold sandals with wedge soles for evening. The ones studded with colored cabochon stones may just be the best runway shoes of the season.

--Booth Moore in Paris

PHOTOS:

Yves Saint Laurent fall-winter 2011 runway collection photo gallery

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Photos: Looks from the Yves Saint Laurent fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times

The Chloe label's heyday was the 1970s, so it's understandable that designer Hannah MacGibbon keeps going back there.

Except this season, she didn't add anything new to the look. Snakeskin print shirtdresses, trousers and tie-front blouses were handsome enough. But like the colorful patchwork poncho and chunky heeled sandals, they seemed as if they could have come straight from a Melrose Avenue vintage shop.

Not even the bucket bags looked new. They were almost identical to the ones Coach did in the 1980s.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

Photos: Looks from the Chloe fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times

 
A girl moves into a new place and never really finishes unpacking. Her whole apartment is her closet, with handbags and shoes strewn everywhere. In one room are the trappings of her uptown persona, in another the trappings of her downtown persona. And her lover, he rides a motorcycle.

So went the story behind Bruno Frisoni's fall accessories collection for Roger Vivier, a balance of good girl (the python "Palace" pump with metal heel) and bad (the "Black Crow" flats with black feathers and a crystal buckle).

Frisoni also flirted with the 1970s, designing chunky-heeled "Bad Penny" loafers with perforated heels, and flats in a mustard-yellow-and-purple-cube print.

The classic Miss Viv handbag went rock 'n' roll, with chain-and-stud trim, and the "Metro" style was made over in mink.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

Photos from top: Crystal Palace pump, Palace Black Python pump, Black and Gold Spider pump, Bad Penny loafers and the Metro bag. Credit: Roger Vivier

Just the other day, I was passing by an Issey Miyake Pleats Please! store here in Paris and wondering who still wears those 1990s-era, tightly-pleated polyester pieces?

Well, someone has been paying attention, namely Stella McCartney, who began her collection with similarly sculpted, micropleated tops and dresses creating weightless volume through the sleeves, and signaling McCartney's intention to explore a top-heavy, V-shaped silhouette.

Mannish overcoats and jackets with exaggerated shoulders could be a hard sell, but they looked new with flat loafers or Beatle boots.

What won't be a hard sell are tromp l'oeil gold foil-print dresses, cream turtleneck sweater dresses, and an elongated, gold bomber jacket.

For evening, this season's favorite polka dots came out to play, hand-embroidered and floating on coquettish, transparent tulle dresses, with inserts of point d'esprit adding a touch of surrealism. With polka dots seen on at least a dozen runways for fall, these were my favorite.

The accessories were spot-on too, namely ankle boots and pumps with decorative gold zippers stretching all the way down the heels.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

Photos: Looks from the Stella McCartney fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.

At Celine, Phoebe Philo continued to preach her minimalist message, through precisely cut clothes with a 1970s bent.

Sharp coats and close-fitting turtlenecks were worn over two-tone pants slit at the ankles, and good-looking high-heel loafer pumps.

There was a graphicism to colorful sweaters and patchwork fur coats. And a sense of naturalism, too, beginning with the autumn color palette (brown, orange, gold), through to the woodgrain print blouses, skirts and pants that brought to mind similar styles in Rodarte's spring collection. 

Philo played with texture on sleeveless tops and skirts with vertical strips of tonal color that brought to mind tree trunks, and with a black dress, which was anything but basic in a stiff, scuba-like material that achieved subtle volume.

This collection wasn't a revelation, but more a continuation of what has come before. And sometimes that's just fine.

-- Booth Moore in Paris

Photos: Looks from the Celine fall-winter 2011 runway collection shown during Paris Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson and Peter Stigter / For The Times.