Fashion's generation gap on show in Paris

By Rachel Sanderson

PARIS (Reuters) - The generation gap was on show at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday with collections from Esteban Cortazar, the 23-year-old new designer at Emanuel Ungaro, and Karl Lagerfeld, the 74-year-old maestro of French fashion.

Lagerfeld, presenting his own name collection ahead of showing his Chanel creations on Friday, unveiled a show of mannish tailoring and lots of black, two styles emerging as strong trends for next fall.

But he maintained the aloofness that has helped Lagerfeld's career outlive his rivals and kept him at the top of his profession for decades.

Quizzed by reporters after the show whether he ever paid attention to fashion critics, Lagerfeld replied: "I don't read them," and remained ever impenetrable in his dark sunglasses.

At Ungaro, the body language of Cortazar, the youngest designer to lead a fashion house, could not have been more different.

Before rapper Eve in the front row, the Bogota-born, Miami-raised son of an artist and a jazz singer ran a lap around the arena-shaped catwalk at the end of the show, signaling to the audience he was wiping his brow with relief.

"It was amazing. I just want to run around and hug all my friends," Cortazar told Reuters backstage, still mopping sweat away from his face.

To Lagerfeld's directional show of darks suits and long, structured skirts, Cortazar -- who was also scheduled against top fashion names Givenchy and Christian Lacroix -- offered an alternative as far apart as their birth dates.

"LOVELY INTERPRETATION"

His show underlined the adjustment houses face with new talent when their established designer moves on.

While not revolutionary in fashion terms, his collection was classically attractive featuring soft feminine draping in a palette of a milky grey punctuated by splashes of fuchsia.

Material, whether wool or silk, was piled into sumptuous folds around models' necks or gathered up at the hemlines.

Motifs of exotics plants or pebbles patterned flimsy, barely there dresses aimed at the winter cruise crowd or those in warmer party climes such as his native Florida.

"For a first collection it was a lovely interpretation of the house of Ungaro," Ken Downing, the fashion director of U.S. department store group Neiman Marcus told Reuters. "Congratulations to him."

History has shown it is not easy for unknowns to take over from the "greats" and new faces at old houses have been a feature -- and a difficulty -- of this fashion season, reaching its end in Paris this Sunday after New York, London and Milan.

Cortazar's entry at Ungaro comes after the house burned through four designers since its founder left in 2005.

Gianfranco Ferre, whose eponymous designer died suddenly last year, presented an uneven collection in Milan last week after the designer assigned to take over quit a month before the shows because of "creative differences" with management.

Valentino, the most closely watched show in Paris this week, is another transition story. Alessandra Facchinetti will on Thursday parade her first designs since replacing Valentino Garavani who retired in January.

Facchinetti already knows too well the humiliation that can come with taking over from a maestro. She was ejected from the top creative job at Gucci after only two seasons when she failed to fill the shoes of Tom Ford.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

A model presents a creation by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his Fall/Winter 2008/09 women's ready-to-wear fashion show in Paris February 27, 2008.

A model presents a creation by French designer Christian Lacroix as part of his Fall/Winter 2008/09 women's ready-to-wear fashion show in Paris February 27, 2008.

(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)