Stars sparkle on and off catwalk

By Kerstin Gehmlich Fri Oct 5, 7:55 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Golden stars and large sequins sparkled from dresses at Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent as designers Karl Lagerfeld and Stefano Pilati presented youthful collections for two of France's most established fashion labels.

Staying true to a fashion house's legacy is a tricky business for designers, who have to add their own edge to a label while remaining faithful to the brand's history.

Italy's Pilati carries a lot of weight on his shoulders at Yves Saint Laurent, where he was appointed in 2004. Lagerfeld, approaching 70, is used to the task, having designed for Chanel for more than 20 years.

On Friday, the German designer brought out models in Chanel's trademark tweed jackets, but worn over long shifting dresses covered in stars or combined with tight denim skirts.

"Chanel -- to me that's just haute couture," supermodel Claudia Schiffer said at the show for spring-summer 2008 collections, adding that she still liked to wear Chanel outfits that dated back 10 or 20 years.

Schiffer and other front row guests including actress Kirsten Dunst and singers Lily Allen and Courtney Love watched as models presented sporty striped V-neck tops and light pastel-colored blouses held at the waist by a black ribbon. One girl wore a small leather wallet attached to her ankle.

"Coco Chanel was the spokeswoman of the modern woman," Lagerfeld said of the label's founder, who died in 1971. "(The brand) continues to incarnate the development of the modern woman," he said backstage. "(Now) it's up to me to lift people up into the stars."

SPARKLING STARS AT YSL

At Yves Saint Laurent, Pilati presented models in sleek oversized vests, parading them out beneath giant white balloons in Paris's glass-roofed Grand Palais exhibition hall.

French actress Catherine Deneuve said Pilati had respected Laurent's inheritance while adding a new edge to the label.

"He has done the impossible thing," she told Reuters at his show late on Thursday, in which Pilati showed high-waisted fuchsia skirts and tunic-style dresses covered with stars.

"He is bowing to the spirit of what Yves Saint Laurent did. He got into the job with a lot of modesty," she said.

The bespectacled Saint-Laurent, born in 1936, ruled the French fashion scene from the age of 21 until his retirement in 2002. This year, he was awarded the title of Great Officer in the Legion of Honor.

Pilati, born in 1965, sent out a girl in a tight knee-length skirt covered in triangular-shaped sequins in pink and turquoise. Other models presented dresses cut close to the body around the shoulders and the front but floating out in the back.

"When I think of Yves Saint Laurent, I think of dark elegance," burlesque artist Dita von Teese said at the show. "It's very special what (Pilati) has done. He's staying true to the brand but also brings new life to it."