PARIS: Soirees merged from night to day as design houses showed off color-rich creations in Friday’s instalment of celebrity-filled Paris Fashion Week. Belgian designer Christian Wijnants’ collection took inspiration from the Middle East.
It was prints galore for Wijnants as his guests were treated to the silks and decorations of the Ottoman Empire.
The talented Belgian designer evoked the floral motif found on fine Ottoman and Persian ceramics — that also adorns manuscripts and miniatures — in his diaphanous array of fluttery, lightly-colored printed silken gowns.
There was great thought behind the deceptively-simple collection.
A loose blue embroidered coat had a shimmery finish like the glaze on pottery. And a beautiful jade green dress had an Eastern feel with its swirling multitudinous layers and long fine neck scarf.
At several points, an Arabic text print covered the bust. Flashes of the West — like denim dungarees — added a fun contrast.
American model and actress Emily Ratajkowski posed ahead of the Nina Ricci show in a checked brown 70s-style suit taken from its fall collection.
But for spring, designer Guillaume Henry channeled suits of a different nature: The military.
It was a theme that spoke to the show’s venue: The former French military hospital, the grand Hotel des Invalides, which is now home to France’s Army Museum.
Meanwhile, the great mysteries of nature and Iceland were touchstones for Issey Miyake in its Paris show.
Loose silhouettes — the display’s principle style — hung from the shoulder featuring hazy images of the Icelandic landscape.
The blurred motifs were created by baking printed glue on the fabric, sealing the fashion house’s reputation for cutting-edge clothes-making techniques.
Elsewhere, fabric panels of colorful checks folded haphazardly across the torso used a brown hue taken from a natural mud pigment. To end the show, squares were pieced together, creating a dark, geometric fabric that evoked light reflecting on volcanic Icelandic rocks.
Middle East-inspired collection hits the runway at Paris Fashion Week
Middle East-inspired collection hits the runway at Paris Fashion Week
6 planets will parade across the night sky at the end of February
NEW YORK: Six planets are linking up in the sky at the end of February, and most will be visible to the naked eye.
It’s what’s known as a planetary parade, which happens when multiple planets appear to line up in the sky at once. The planets aren’t in a straight line, but are close together on one side of the sun.
Skygazers can usually spot two or three planets after sunset, according to NASA. Hangouts of four or five that can be glimpsed with the naked eye are less common and occur every few years. Last year featured lineups of six and all seven planets.
When will they be visible?
On Saturday, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye if clear skies allow. Uranus and Neptune can only be spotted with binoculars and telescopes.
What time is optimal for viewing?
Go outside about an hour after sunset and venture away from tall buildings and trees that will block the view. Look to the western sky and spot Mercury, Venus and Saturn close to the horizon. Jupiter will be higher up, along with Uranus and Neptune.
How to know if you’ve spied a member of the parade?
“If it’s twinkling, it’s a star. If it is not twinkling, it’s a planet,” said planetary scientist Sara Mazrouei with Humber Polytechnic in Canada.
The parade should be visible over the weekend and in the days after. Eventually, Mercury will bow out and dip below the horizon.
At least one bright planet is visible on most nights, according to NASA.
Glimpsing many in the sky at once is a fun way to connect with astronomers of centuries’ past, said planetary scientist Emily Elizondo with Michigan State University.
Ancient astronomers used to make sense of the universe “just by looking up at the stars and the planets,” Elizondo said, “which is something that we can do today.”
