Amazonian color, dramatic silhouettes hit the Paris runways

PARIS (AP) – Amazonian color and exaggerated silhouettes reigned at Paris Fashion Week shows, as actresses Abbie Cornish and Emily Robinson joined it-girl Olivia Palermo on the coveted front row seats.

Here are the highlights of the spring-summer 2018 ready-to-wear collections on Saturday.

ELIE SAAB’S AMAZON FEVER

Models, including Cindy Bruna, second from right, and Martha Hunt, right, wear creations for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Elie Saab always adds a little bite to his creations – and this season, the Lebanese designer evoked the verdant Amazon – in all its danger, wildness and tropical vivacity.

Saab used the vivid colors of the forest to show off his daring designs.

Saturday’s flesh-baring collection opened with a frayed mini-dress in python with a dangerously plunging neckline. The python motif morphed into a floor-length Charlie’s Angels dress with diaphanous neck scarf and giant, retro circular shades. That established a 70s-theme that infused much of the 61-look collection.

Foliage and leaf shapes made up the bodice of one beautiful dark green cinched-waisted gown, with a sheer silk skirt frayed to look like creeper tendrils.

A Cerulean blue peaked-shoulder tuxedo mirrored the shards of blue sky in between trees, and a loose safari jacket in blinding Cadmium yellow evoked the sun.

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MUGLER’S ROBOTIC CHIC

David Koma, the talented Mugler designer, showed off a hyper-kinetic vision of women in Saturday’s graphic, angular collection that riffed on the robotic.

A dark, structured corset sported trompe l’oeil lines that exaggeratedly cinched the waist on an android-looking model with slicked back hair. Her pants tapered out at a circular jutting waist that gave the look a clever, off-kilter quality.

“His minimalist and sophisticated styles with metallic details constitute the new timeless wardrobe of the Mugler woman,” the house said in its notes.

Koma’s designs became more fluid as the show progressed – with loose acid-yellow and flame red silk gowns making an appearance. Still, the floaty gowns were stylishly truncated at the top, as if the shoulders had been slashed by a guillotine.

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ANDREAS KRONTHALER FOR VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Vivienne Westwood’s other half, Andreas Kronthaler, her Austrian former fashion student, certainly brings ideas to the table as the house’s principle designer.

Gleaming boxers’ trophy belts, 18th-century prints, flame red head sculptures and colorful men’s’ swimming trunks sound like they shouldn’t all be in the same sentence – but they all mixed together in Saturday’s wacky fashion spectacle.

Color and prints were the only unifying themes.

A fluid printed silk dress was worn with pale blue knitted rugby socks and colored sneakers with a frothing voluminous tongue. The socks and shoes showed off Kronthaler’s clever eye and sense of humor – they perfectly evoked the style of an 18th-century nobleman though the medium of contemporary clothing.

A well-known 18th-century oil painting – a pastoral featuring tigers, stags, rhinos and swans – appeared on several street-wise dresses as a flurry of color and busy movement. And one thick, tight-fitting dress in gray and black looked almost like Renaissance peasant garb.

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THE YVES SAINT LAURENT MUSEUM

To coincide with Paris Fashion Week, the much-anticipated Paris Yves Saint Laurent museum is finally opening its doors.

The project has been years in the making, and was initiated by the late designer’s former partner Pierre Berge, who died in September at 86.

Housed in the revamped 5 Avenue Marceau, where the famed French couturier designed his work from 1974 to 2002, the museum will host a special retrospective of Saint Laurent’s fashions. The iconic YSL women’s tuxedo will be included, as well as other famous boundary-pushing creations such as the Sahara jacket, the jumpsuit and the trench coat.

The designer, who died in 2008, was also an avid art lover. His vivid Mondrian dress, which shook the fashion world in 1965, will also be showcased.

“Trailblazers and fighters, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge were tireless. This museum is an example, the result of a long labor of conservation,” French Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen said. “They both shared … the same urge to push back the borders of creativity.”

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SUPERMODEL CINDY CRAWFORD

For over two decades, Cindy Crawford’s chiseled looks have been almost synonymous with the luxury watch brand Omega.

Now, it’s time for the 51-year-old supermodel’s children – and their equally sculpted faces – to follow in their mother’s footsteps.

At a Friday night event, Crawford introduced her teenagers Presley, 18, and Kaia Gerber, 16, as OMEGA’s newest ambassadors. Gerber, a debuting model who bears a striking resemblance to Crawford, has already made a splash walking the runway for top houses such as Fendi and Chloe.

The family was joined by Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann.

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Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K

A model wears a creation for Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented in Paris,Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Designer Vivienne Westwood, right, is joined by Andreas Kronthaler at the end of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented in Paris,Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A model wears a creation for Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented in Paris,Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Model Sara Sampaio wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Models wear creations for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

A model wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Model Candice Swanepoel wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Model Winnie Harlow wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

A model wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Model Cindy Bruna wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Model Candice Swanepoel wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

A model wears a creation for Elie Saab’s Spring-Summer 2018 ready-to-wear fashion collection presented Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017 in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

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