Facchinetti’s haute couture debut pays tribute to Valentino

Alessandra Facchinetti's haute couture debut for Valentino in Paris yesterday was met with rousing applause by the audience along with a warm embrace and a "Viva Italia!" from fellow countryman Giorgio Armani. The young Italian - who replaced founder Valentino Garavani when he retired earlier this year - had been nervous in the lead-up to the show after her ready-to-wear debut for the Valentino label in March received a mixed reception.

However Facchinetti's first haute couture outing – supported by Armani and his niece Roberta, and actresses Patricia Arquette and Camilla Belle in the front row - was a sleek and courtly affair in the mould of Valentino but with touches of contemporary chic, such as sculpted hems and subtle bubble skirts. Facchinetti's debut was "small but perfectly formed" declared the Daily Telegraph's Hilary Alexander. The International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes judged the overall effect "fresh and pretty" but noted that there was "nothing to challenge Valentino's classic concept that fashion should be a gift to women, wrapping them in a pretty parcel of finery".

Highlights of the 36-piece show held in the chandeliered salons of the Valentino headquarters in the Place Vendome were an acid-lime strapless dinner gown, a hand-embroidered opera coat and a long, red silk chiffon ballgown in homage, of course, to Valentino Red.

A more irreverent tone pervaded Jean-Paul Gaultier's show, whose climax was a bridal gown with a large cage-like veil trailing behind. Curiously the designer described the dress as "the ultimate stage in women's liberation”. According to Gaultier, "women feel so free nowadays that they are wearing cages again”.