Adieu to sober Paris Fashion Week

Nine days after Dior dismissed its flamboyant star designer John Galliano in a shock announcement that coincided with the start of Paris's ready-to-wear displays, the City of Light's marathon collections wrapped up Wednesday with a kinky fetishist collection from another fashion luminary, Marc Jacobs, that set tongues wagging that he could be the one to replace Galliano.

The former Dior designer was fired amid allegations he hurled anti-Semitic insults at a couple while drinking at a Paris bar and after a video circulated on the Internet showing a visibly drunk Galliano say "I love Hitler" in a separate altercation at the same bar.

The news was deeply upsetting to industry insiders, and many were quick to come to his defense, saying Galliano's multi-ethnic-inspired work of 15 years with Dior had proven him not to be a racist.

The whole saga was like a wet blanket thrown over the Paris shows.

The sense of relief was palpable after Elie Saab, the last big-name show on the Paris calendar. Fashion editors, journalists and stylist beat a beeline out of the show, glad to have put what was generally agreed to have been an uninspired season to bed.

Still, Wednesday saw one of Paris' strongest fall-winter 2011-2012 collections, Jacob's handcuff-wearing fetishist display for bag-maker Louis Vuitton.

The hourglass-shaped coats and bustiers-as-outerwear struck a vaguely Dior-like note, reviving speculation that the American superstar might be tapped to succeed Galliano.

Other persistent rumors would have Riccardo Tischi of Givenchy or Haider Ackermann, who has his own eponymous label, step into Galliano's immense shoes. Both Vuitton and Givenchy are owned by Dior parent company LVMH Moet Hennessy, a not insignificant detail which would appear to shore up the speculation.

The Paris-based luxury conglomerate also owns Galliano's signature label, throwing its future into question. Galliano-designed collections for Dior and his eponymous John Galliano label were shown to the press and buyers in solemn displays last week that had some in tears. What would happen next was anyone's guess.

The disgraced designer himself is rumoured to be in rehab in Arizona.

Other shows Wednesday included a star(let)-studded display from Prada second line Miu Miu, dramatic fares for power dressers at Elie Saab and an unintentionally amusing international debut from Turkey's Arzu Kaprol.

Top fall trends to emerge from Paris' catwalks over the past nine days included colorblocking, patchwork, wool coats with oversized fur sleeves and what's perhaps the world's classiest looking but most infuriating garment to actually wear, the cape.

The City of Light gets a respite from fashion until late June, when the spring-summer 2012 menswear collections hit town.

For now, though, the fashion world will crawl into bed and try to sleep off the past week.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.