NEWS/FEATURESARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017

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Fash

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PARIS: A labyrinth and a scented secret garden led to Christian Dior’s enchanted collection Monday — the hugely anticipated couture debut from new designer Maria Grazia Chiuri.

The collection in Paris’ Musee Rodin kicked off Paris’ week of spring-summer couture shows — the fashion industry’s ideas factory spanning four days and 24 collections.

Star guests including actresses Kirsten Dunst, Diane Kruger and rapper ASAP Rocky marveled at a gargantuan magical tree constructed inside the venue, decorated colorfully with beading, lights and philosophical quotes.

Perhaps inspired by the decor, Dunst moved beyond fashion to talk to The AP about female empowerment.

Here are some highlights Monday:

DiorFairytale music conjured up a sensu-

ous, magical atmosphere at Chiuri’s spring-summer show that didn’t fully translate to the couture.

Taking over the creative reins of such a historic house as Dior is a daunting task, and so who can blame the talented Italian-born designer for playing it a little safe?

The fi nely executed styles — fl oppy hoods, smooth signature peplums, feather tiaras, delicate sheer black animal masks and butterfl y chok-ers — were pared down on sometimes minimalist silhouettes.

The tulle and silk velvet gowns strongly evoked a fairytale or black-magic theme echoed by the forest decor and “Thought Tree” glistening with Tarot cards and gold coins.

The binary palette — of mainly white and black, with fl ashes of satin red and forest green — highlighted a fairytale morality of good and bad, produc-ing some of the show’s most beautiful looks.

Dunst, whose latest fi lm “Hidden Figures” features the untold story of three African-American women working at a racially discrimina-tory NASA in the 1960s, said there was no better time for the movie to come out.

SchiaparelliPopstar Kylie

Minogue and actress Thandie Newton were front row for Schia-parelli’s couture feast — held in the old Place Vendome atelier-apartment of fashion icon Elsa, who died in 1973.

Once the place where writer Jean Cocteau and artist Salvador Dali mingled, on Monday fashion insiders were presented a spring-summer show that revisited the design house’s shock-ing pink as well as art deco and 1930s designs.

The show channeled the Asian styles that the eccentric couturier would wear

Above and below:

Models display

creations by Georges

Hobeika, Schiaparel-li, Christian

Dior, Iris Van Herpen and Ralph and Russo during the 2017 Spring/Summer Haute

Couture collection on Jan 23, in Paris.

(AFP)

Georges Hobeika

Schiaparelli

Georges Hobeika

Christian Dior

Iris Van Herpen

around the famed apartment — includ-ing silk Japanese kimonos and Chinese hanfus.

The signature “lobster dress” — infl uenced by Surrealist Dali — was revisited with inserts alongside mens-wear jacket silhouettes that riffed on geometry.

Iris Van HerpenBlurring the lines between fashion

and art, Dutch Wunderkind Iris Van

Herpen’s cerebral couture collection explored imperfections and “gaps” in fashion and in science.

The catwalk of short-circuiting lines

of electricity was lit patchily so that the eyes of the spectator had to keep read-justing to focus in on the 16 organic, diaphanous creations.

It had fashion insiders initially look-ing bemused as they tried in vain to take photos of the show.

But they soon realized this was art.

Ralph & RussoRapper Nelly and Dunst hit the

eclectic Ralph & Russo couture show that revamped the bygone glamour days of the 1950s.

Silken full skirts in white and pastel

shades successfully sparkled down the runway worn on models with sharp, Asian-style bobs. But the 55 styles felt incongruous as a whole.

Uber-minis of the 1960s sexual revo-lution met with designs that showcased the clubbing visor and exposed midriff of the 1990s.

Also:SYDNEY: American rock star Bruce Springsteen, who supported

Hillary Clinton during the re-cent presiden-tial election campaign, said on Sunday his band joins a global “new resistance” against US President Donald Trump.

“It feels a long ways

away, but our hearts

and our spirits are with all the millions of people that marched yesterday, and the E Street Band, we are part of the new resistance,” Springsteen

told reporters in Perth, at the beginning of his Australian tour.

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WASHINGTON: Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Madonna “ought to be arrested” for telling the crowd at the women’s rights march in Washington that she’s “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

During an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Monday, Gingrich said Madonna is part of “an emerging left-wing fascism.”

In a statement Sunday on Instagram, Madonna said she was trying to express there are two ways to respond to Donald Trump’s election: with hope or with outrage. She said she hopes to effect change “with love.”

Gingrich says Madonna changed her tune because “she now understands she’s at risk.” (Agencies)

PARIS

Schiaparelli

Ralph and Russo

Ralph and Russo

Ralph and Russo

Georges Hobeika

Schiaparelli