Over ten years ago Alexander McQueen explored in his “It’s a Jungle Out There” collection (Autumn/Winter 1997-98) the theme of vulnerability and the relationship between predator and prey. Yet the ideal of woman he presented during that catwalk show was very different from the Thomson’s Gazelle theme that had originally inspired that collection. His “gazelle” was indeed a much more terrifying presence, a sort of strong and disturbing femme fatale. 
Last Friday Alexander McQueen played again with the animal theme and he did so in his usually terrifying way. The dichotomies of McQueen’s world - beauty/horror, predators/preys, shock/spectacle, fragile women/women as aggressors - came back throughout the collection. The video projecting in the background images of the Earth and his stuffed animals surrounding the models weren’t mere references to endangered animals and ecological problems, they were in fact used to call to mind Charles Darwin's survival theories and their impact on our society. 
This theme was reflected throughout the collection: his signature orthopaedics leather corsets were worn as amazons’ armours; skinny trousers became second skins, turning the models into snakes; aggressive wood prints gave a sculpture-like quality to some outfits. Nude mini-dresses hiding ethereal lemon or red flowers and flapper-like dresses added a touch of beauty to McQueen’s horrific vision of life that soon re-emerged. 
A scary skull - McQueen’s constant reference to his memento mori imagery - appeared on a delicate white dress and, little by little, his models turned into terrible androids imprisoned in rigid dresses and crystal-encrusted catsuits while the wood-prints changed into futuristic and colourful prints and into apocalyptic trouser suits and dresses with prints of what looked like human spines, echoing a dystopian future and a world populated with alienated and cruel people. 
There were no grand guignol displays, but behind the surface cruelty was latent: the heads of the models were trapped in nets, their hair plastered on their faces as if they were corpses that had been left to float in the water with a plastic bag on their heads. 
There was definitely no utopian desire of exorcising the pain of the world in this collection, but McQueen's post-apocalyptic vision - though less dramatic and theatrical than his previous collections - surely featured some striking designs. 
But while McQueen was left to explore his dystopian universe, Karl Lagerfeld concentrated on the optimism (and that’s rare in times of financial crisis…) of still being behind one of the most admired, coveted and healthy fashion houses on the planet as he proved with his luxurious clothes for both women and girls. 
Bringing inside the Grand Palais the Chanel building located since 1921 at number 31 in Rue Cambon, Lagerfeld brought back the spectacle that had been missing throughout September at the various fashion weeks. The very apt soundtrack to the show was Madness’ "Our House" that gave a younger, more ironic and lighter mood to the show. 
Chanel’s trademark tweeds, cardigan suits and bows were still there, and black, white and gray was the base palette for the various outfits, but as usual Lagerfeld reinterpreted them in a younger and more modern key, sometimes decorating them with long and excessive necklaces. Then there were long tiered skirts, the shortest bolero jackets, pencil skirts, huge ruffled sleeves, rubber bras and swimwear, silver-pink lame dresses, evening gowns with cascades of flowers, sexy marabou-feathered shoes and those bags. 
Lagerfeld turned the iconic shopping bags of the maison into real luxurious black and white leather bags and was also inspired in the design of his accessories his by music, a theme that was also evident in his Autumn/Winter 08 collection when he was inspired by organ pipes. For next Spring Lagerfeld has in fact launched ironic guitar-shaped quilted bags. 
Madame Coco might not have entirely approved of Lagerfeld's vision of her designs, but this is the Third Millennium and there is definitely the need of a healthy dose of fun and, well, rock in our lives.
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