Jean-Paul Gaultier: Family Affair!

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER'S show was a family affair. Proceedings kicked off with a gaggle of toddlers and young teens sprinting down the runway, dressed in miniature black ensembles and sporting huge afro wigs.

It was a parade of trendy young things off to church in their Sunday best - the twist here being the voluminous, skirt-like gabardine shorts (which provoked a mild tantrum when they slipped off one of the younger models), and a series of straps and harnesses that cinched in waists and embellished jacket lapels.

When the grown-ups emerged from backstage we saw more of the same, though straps, belts and harnesses came in increasingly elaborate varieties and were accompanied by striped shirts and shiny Chelsea boots in white and red.

Paper-thin trenchcoats and blinging gold zippers linked together with dangling chains spiced up outerwear and clingy, tailored trousers and pencil thin ties gave a nod to the Mod movement, which was also referenced in the huge target symbol that formed a luminous backdrop to the show.

It was not entirely clear how the two-tone check prints and Sixties influences connected to the criss-crossing straps of the parachuting gear, but there was a sense of carefree enjoyment to the collection, perhaps a result of its references to family, the good old days and safety equipment - the trappings of physical and emotional security.