PARIS: Amazonian color and exaggerated silhouettes reigned at Paris Fashion Week shows, as actresses Abbie Cornish and Emily Robinson joined it-girl Olivia Palermo on the coveted front row seats.
Here are the highlights of the spring-summer 2018 ready-to-wear collections on Saturday.
Elie Saab’s Amazon fever
Elie Saab always adds a little bite to his creations — and this season, the Lebanese designer evoked the verdant Amazon — in all its danger, wildness and tropical vivacity. Saab used the vivid colors of the forest to show off his daring designs.
Saturday’s flesh-baring collection opened with a frayed mini-dress in python with a dangerously plunging neckline. The python motif morphed into a floor-length Charlie’s Angels dress with diaphanous neck scarf and giant, retro circular shades. That established a 70s-theme that infused much of the 61-look collection.
Foliage and leaf shapes made up the bodice of one beautiful dark green cinched-waisted gown, with a sheer silk skirt frayed to look like creeper tendrils.
A Cerulean blue peaked-shoulder tuxedo mirrored the shards of blue sky in between trees, and a loose safari jacket in blinding Cadmium yellow evoked the sun.
Amazonian color, dramatic silhouettes hit the Paris runways
Amazonian color, dramatic silhouettes hit the Paris runways
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
