"I think that the Internet is going to be extremely important. Information about collections and designers’ philosophies will become accessible across the world, independently of the physical location of stores or showrooms. A designer label’s website will have the same role as a catalog at an exhibition — not a replacement for the actual confrontation with the garments, but an introduction or reminder. However, information on the Internet has to be presented properly. Not in the current playful mode like a computer game, but seriously as a new classic means of information. We are currently working on an extension of our website, including information on the fabric for each garment, etc. This will then function as a professional lookbook for the press when they need to order outfits for photographic shoots, and also as a source of information for the wider public, i.e. information on where the items can be purchased. The Internet has given us the opportunity to pass on information directly to the consumer, without detours or interim interpretations"

"These old systems of classification — couture, prêt-à-porter, street fashion — are no longer applicable. The boundaries have dissolved, the categories no longer exist in their pure form. The currently most influential designer labels use elements from all three categories to make up a single whole. They have taken over the inspirational role which used to be reserved for couture and then, starting in the 1960s, street fashion, and are driving the fashion machine on. The dressmakers who used to copy and reinterpret Dior in the 1950s have been replaced by industrial companies from every price bracket, from chains like Gap or H&M to the high end labels. These absorb the impulses generated by creative labels and then make huge global business with it. This is where direct influences will become visible, season after season."

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But it definitely had its redemptive elements in the early shows, notably in its conversion of Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons from intellectual shroud-maker to a designer of fresh, realistic and, yes, feminine fashion. Yohji Yamamoto stuck to his Oriental sword, but interjected a new, if occasionally awkward body-defining wrapping. And Thierry Mugler ponied through the Sixties with a luridly nostalgic collection that makes one wonder if Stephen Sprouse — who triggered the whole Sixties revival — hasn’t unleashed a monster on the world.

COMME DES GARCONS — who would ever have thought it? Fashion intellectual samurai Rei Kawakubo went ingenue for spring, neath and the well-crafted dresses of which Mugler is capable, which render hourglass curves without kitsch or vulgarity.

YOHJI YAMAMOTO — Like Kawakubo, he’s obviously made an attempt to go beyond the cerebral somberness of so-called vanguard Japanese fashion, a look for which retailers had lost affection — not to mention sales — by last season. Accordingly, there is a new, richer color palette and an attempt to pull fabric in closer to the body. Unfortunately, Yamamoto’s drapes, cowls and wraps are not always flattering, particularly when they sag beneath the derriere. This is a collection, in fact, that might have benefited from being shown with its collective backs against a wall, as there’s nearly always some distracting detail in the rear, including a ducktail bustle and long rear-zippered flies. There is also a heaviness in much of Yamamoto’s use of longer lengths.

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"The scene at Comme des Garcons boutique should be videotaped: it’s better than any Candid Camera episode. Customers seem confused and more than a little curious: they look, touch, and look again — then stand back to figure out what to do with these complicated Japanese pieces. With only one large dressing room in the boutique, anyone trying on clothes is watched to see how to handle these things."