DESIGNS ON CELEBRITY

By Kate Betts/Paris

YOU KNOW THOSE MOMENTS JUST before the Oscars when the TV reporter predictably asks the starlet, "You look fabulous--who are you wearing?" Judging from the scene at the spring 2005 Chanel ready-to-wear show in Paris last week, the question designers now need to answer is "Who's wearing you?"

The atmosphere easily rivaled the show-biz frenzy of Oscar night, with hundreds of photographers and TV crews swarming into the Carrousel du Louvre, where Nicole Kidman sat with her favorite director, Baz Luhrmann. They had come to promote the Chanel No. 5 commercial they had made together, which will debut in theaters and on TV before Christmas. As a tribute to the Chanel-Hollywood hookup, the runway was covered in--big surprise--a red carpet. At either end, banks of paparazzi strained to snap a precious photo of the star, seated in the front row in a black couture jacket, a white satin scarf tied coyly around her neck.

After 20 minutes of chaos, the voice of Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld piped up on the p.a. system, begging the photographers to "please have the kindness to move off the podium. If not, the press and Mme. Kidman cannot see the clothes, and it's not very nice."

It may not be very nice, but it felt inevitable. This is a fashion season in which commerce has triumphed over art, directors like Luhrmann and Robert Altman are making fragrance commercials, and celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Mick Jagger, Sofia Coppola and the Presley family (Priscilla, Lisa Marie and her daughter Riley Keogh) are mingling with the press at private dinner parties in Milan and Paris. The clothes--fabulous as many of them are--often seemed secondary to the loud whir of the celebrity p.r. machine.

Even without celebrities, the message is clear: Move the merchandise. This season more than ever, designers in Milan and Paris woke up and smelled the cafe au lait. Dior's star designer John Galliano created a standout show, which featured a parade of eminently buyable sculpted jackets (a big hit in the spring collections), boxy handbags and jeweled platform shoes. Galliano's runway, for once, was more about clothes than theater.

Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga, normally known for avant-garde creations like skinny legging pants and deconstructed negligees, sent out a beautifully commercial collection of military-inspired blazers trimmed in gold braid and punctuated with brass buttons. "I wanted to be more grownup and more luxurious," he said.

Even Helmut Lang, who last week sold the remaining stake in his company to majority owner Prada, went commercial, with a collection of fresh cotton suits and sexy draped and knotted jersey dresses inspired by Greek togas. Viktor & Rolf, the Dutch duo who launched their first perfume, Flowerbomb, with the cosmetics giant L'Oreal, gave the safari jacket and the tuxedo a feminine edge with ribbon trim.

Several runways pointed toward Africa; Gianfranco Ferre showed an uncharacteristically wearable collection of animal prints. And in Milan, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, inspired by a recent trip to Botswana, presented one of their best collections in many seasons, with snakeskin coats and zebra-striped chiffon dresses. They're on a commercial roll; several days later, the company announced in its latest annual report double-digit growth in both profit and sales.

But no one could match Chanel. In addition to hosting Mme. Kidman, Lagerfeld overloaded the runway with 99 models, including vintage strutters Naomi, Linda, Shalom and Amber. Each sported some rendition of the house's iconic tweed jacket, now cut in soft pastel colors, or a whiff of an evening dress in beaded chiffon. Nobody knows better than Lagerfeld that fashion is not about art but about selling clothes. Indeed, it may cost the house of Chanel millions of dollars to pull off the whole Kidman campaign. But why pinch pennies? At a trunk show at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City last spring, the brand pulled in $3.1 million in a single day. Now that's the kind of nice behavior everyone appreciates.