Paris haute couture season ends with Hollywood-style glam

PARIS, France - Belgian designer Serkan Cura ignited the catwalk on Thursday, marrying Hollywood's golden era with Gaultier-style oomph as Paris fashion week's haute couture shows drew to an end.

The Turkish-born Cura, who trained in the atelier of Jean Paul Gaultier, liberally used feathers, tiny bustiers and nude-coloured corsets but maintained a sexy silhouette with pinched waists often the order of the day.

Classic numbers included gowns in black and white festooned with feathers and trim, reminiscent of the days of Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth - a bow to unabashed feminity but with a touch-me-not feel.

A black peekaboo gown ended from the waist downwards in feathers with a split skirt but the repertoire also ran to catsuits with a modern deconstructed twist.

Contemporary trends also featured with sizzling bustiers - perhaps a nod to Gaultier? - and a micro mini dress in silver reminiscent of Paco Rabanne's metal dresses that were emblematic of the Swinging Sixties.

A highlight of the current season was Chanel's airy look for the Spring-Summer 2014 collection with models sporting tennis shoes and pastel shades.

But no ordinary tennis shoes would do for head designer Karl Lagerfeld, who commissioned bootmaker Massaro, a century-old fashion house responsible for creating the iconic black-and-beige shoe synonymous with Chanel.

"It has to be light otherwise couture's image will be dated," Lagerfeld told reporters after the show on Tuesday.

Serge Carreira, a professor at Paris's famed Sciences-Po university and an expert on the luxury industry, said "romanticism and lightness were the keywords of this season".

Carreira said this was accompanied "by a certain sobriety with just a hint of subtle exoticism with the hats of Schiaparelli, Gaultier's butterflies and the African motifs of Valentino."