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TAPE_NUMBER: EN0003 IN_TIME: 11:13:04 LENGTH: 06:09 SOURCES: APTN RESTRICTIONS: All No access Internet, Music rights must be clearedNo re-use/re-sale of Chanel Show without clearance, contact Chanel Press Office on 00 33 1 42 86 28 00 FEED: SCRIPT: xfa Story: Paris Haute couture pt 111 Date: January 18th/19th Location: Paris Irish Hat designer, PHILIP TREACY, presented an unusual Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2000 collection in Paris yesterday (January 18th) Hatsonly shows are very rare in the High Fashion world and certainly Treacy's, at the Hotel George, was an original one Londonbased milliner Philip Treacy has come a long way since his first show in New York, in April 1997 Soft spoken and private, Treacy is nonetheless a true daredevil in the design world His chapeaux embrace fantasy and surrealism Born in County Galway, Ireland, in 1967, Treacy studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin before winning a scholarship to London's Royal College of Art in 1988 The spunky originality of the creations at his first shop in Elizabeth Street, London grabbed the attention of designers like John Galliano, Valentino and Karl Lagerfield, with whom Treacy has collaborated on Chanel's couture and readytowear collections for the past six years Today, Treacy works with such new fashion blood as Alexander McQueen and Bella Freud Among his private clients are Anjelica Huston and Jerry Hall Small, colourful, and more theatrical than wearable, Treacy's hats were shown in Paris on Tuesday with outfits donated by many Haute Couture designers for the occasion Treacy once said that a good hat is like a modern and cheaper form of cosmetic surgery Not that supermodel NAOMI CAMPBELL needed it Her appearance at Treacy's show marked her first in Haute Couture this season Over at the Bois de Boulogne, fashion kaiser KARL LAGERFELD presented a very '50's collection with light pastel colours for the house of Chanel And on hand to admire the veteran designer's work were films stars CAROLE BOUQUET, CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG AND KRISTEN SCOTTTHOMAS What they saw will not shake the world apart, but were splendid Chanel styles: the classic pink tweed suit with a pleated skirt, lavender and navy kneelength suits with flared, and wrapped skirts Fitted or boxy jackets, sometimes fastened with gold and pearl Chanel safety pins looked traditional yet wonderfully uptodate Long taffeta jackets and longer skirts had something of the ridingoutfit look of last century, but also a less uptight taste of the good old 1947 New Look The almost anklelength organza skirts couldn't look lighter, and an occasional evening gown in square silky panels fairly bobbed by Colours from hot chartreuse or amethyst to flame red trotted jauntily round the ring and up on a platform And if the frilly miniskirted ballerina in pink was a bit fey, the icy tones of charmeuse satin in biascut dresses showed off the Lagerfeld knowhow Absolutely perfect for a fashion fan would be the long almond green dress with sparkly fieldflower embroideries crawling up the skirt And to close the riding ring's gala gallop were a puffy strapless iridescent pink motherofpearl taffeta gown and the ivory taffetaclad bridal gown both fluttering with ostrich feathers as were many of the other outfits in the lively show Like John Galliano showing for Dior this week, Lagerfeld dared to flout the conventions of haute couture, presenting a range of odd, even raggedy costumes on the runway Some thought this irreverence brilliant But it's even harder to show fascinating wearable clothes than junkheap attractions While the likes of Galliano and Treacy are firmly established in the upper echelons of fashion, Paris is also about showcasing new talent on the world's biggest fashion stage This year all eyes were on the Russian duo of VLADIMIR SERERDIN and SERGUEI VASILIEV who were making their haute couture debut It' s a far cry from their days at a Moscow design school ten years ago when they could only dream of Paris fashion But slowly and surely from inauspicious beginnings, they started making clothes combined a Russian taste for decoration and folkoric knit with the flamboyance of a Versace, selling to stores and creating costumes for the theatre and opera Even before their first show hit the runway on Monday (January 17th), Paris had a taste of their work in the windows of Maria Luisa, a designerlabel mecca at 2 Rue Cambon The duo who are already firm favourites with Moscow's well heeled shoppers, put on a show designed to grab the headlines An array of outlandish head gear such as knee length blonde wigs often was the order of the day as their clothes took a back seat to bizarre and funny visual gimmicks SHOTLIST: VS BACKSTAGE PREPARATIONS SEREDIN AND VASILIEV SHOW ; VS MODELS BEING MADE UP ; WS SEREDIN AND VASILIEV ; SOT SEREDIN (LEFT) AND VASILIEV (RIGHT) ; HIGHLIGHTS SEREDIN AND VASILIEV SHOW ; HIGHLIGHTS CHANEL SHOW ; KARL LAGERFELD ON STAGE AT END OF SHOW ; VS BACKSTAGE PREPARATION PHILIP TREACY SHOW ; SOT TREACY ; HIGHLIGHTS TREACY SHOW (BEGINNING AND ENDING WITH NAOMI CAMPBELL ; TREACY ON STAGE WITH CAMPBELL ?