Bold, simple flashes brighten Paris Fashion Week

CAR WRECK prints embroidered with glass shards, aerodynamic forms frozen in motion -- Hussein Chalayan's Spring collection, titled "Inertia," captured the chaos of a week when the global economic crisis was hurtling out of control and Washington was stalled trying to fix it. Cypriot designer Chalayan, the artistic conscience of Paris Fashion Week, was commenting on the accelerated pace of modern life in his show, which ended with a literal crash -- a shattering of wine glasses set up on a cocktail bar at the top of the runway.

By Booth Moore

October 5, 2008