As Paris braced for the debut at Chanel, three talented designers caught plenty of attention: Miuccia Prada with her apron at Miu Miu; 
Coperni with regenerative chic, and Thom Browne for an alien moment in Karl Lagerfeld’s old mansion. 

Miu Miu: Class struggle through aprons 

Leave it to Miuccia Prada to catch everyone off guard at Miu Miu. In a season devoted to demonstrations of opulence, she celebrated women and their work.

 
The key garment in the show, the apron, seen in dozens of variations. Cutting them into backless dresses with tea-towel bras or tiny tanks; or covering theme with studs and mini mirrors. Reducing them to carpenters’ aprons, like industrial cummerbunds.   
 
And opening with rough cotton aprons worn over coalminers’ donkey jackets or scuffed leather jackets – a Miu Miu classic must-have – paired with thick pants and hefty boots. Factory floor fashion.

Varying the mood from housewife to housemaid, with floral wrap dusting coats or house dresses – made in pretty prairie flower prints.
 
In a co-ed show, actor Richard E. Grant marched in workers’ pants, cable knit jumper and leather apron like a dandy foreman in a car plant. Other guys appeared in ruffled aprons, in distressed leather that looked like it came from the backseat of an old Ford Zephyr.
 

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While the cast’s hair was all frizzy, brillo-like, harassed even, and taken from 1950s photos of housewives in little floral aprons. 
 
“Aprons are so deeply rooted in our history. An apron says you are working, which is already a good thing. The apron is my favorite piece of clothing in general. It contains the difficult life and pain of women in history – from factory to home. In fashion, we talk too much about glamor and rich people. But we must recognize that for most people life is very different, and difficult. It was the moment to address this,” said Miuccia, surrounded by a score of mobile phone-wielding editors.
 
A hint of class struggle throughout. Guests sat on tables, as if in a factory canteen. Albeit, with a good dollop of sauciness – housewives in semi-sheer aprons the better to reveal lingerie.  All the way through to an all-black series made of see-through lace. Playing on Luis Buñuel’s “Diary of a Chambermaid”, where Jeanne Moreau takes her revenge on a provincial killer in this satirical anti-bourgeois classic film.
 
“I put all my passion in this show, and I was really scared. But it seems to have gone well!” she smiled, evidently content with her chutzpah and unique ability to pull off high-wire runway risks.
 
Plus, coming after her stellar Prada show, a reminder that Miuccia Prada remains the single most influential designer in fashion again today.
 

Coperni: Regenerative fashion rules, ok?

Coperni staged another fashion first Monday lunchtime in Paris, presenting a collection based on garments that nourish the skin.
 

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Based on the concept of regenerative fashion, a capsule of three looks were made of stretch fabrics containing prebiotics and probiotics, a 100% bio-based matrix that actually repairs and aids skin.
 
Created with HeiQ skin care, the leggings, tops and tanks in this capsule are called Coperni C+, forming the basis of a cool and precise collection staged inside the Pompidou Center.
 
Coperni designers Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant are famous for their theatrical displays – from spray painting Bella Hadid live, to featuring robotic dogs. This season, they concentrated on the idea that “fashion should nourish women too,” explained a visibly moved Meyer backstage.
 
On top of their regenerative pieces, they showed slimline technical track jackets with priestly collars; windcheaters inverted into mini cocoon skirts; and some perfectly cut mannish blazers worn with hotpants.  Models wore a trio of great rawhide biker jackets that were in fact produced from mushroom leather. And some dramatic new long skirts with double-front zips, revealing lots of leg.
 

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The cast speeding around the circular set – their feet covered in “sticky-socks,” great new sandals that looked like they had grown bio-morphically on the cast’s feet.
 
Accessories also played on the idea of wellness, with amulets, earrings, pendants, and even a bag – made of jade or lapis lazuli. Most wore ergonomic belts and mobile phone carriers, adding to the sense of busy career gals on their way to gym or work. Emphasized by the soundtrack: Kate Bush lustily singing “This Woman’s Work”.
 
The cast – with hair jelled back and then twisted up into small spikes – clearly loved the clothes, which made sense since they looked spruce, chic, sporty and often beautiful.
 
An excellent collection, and a salutary lesson in the benefit of self-editing and fashion discipline.
 

Thom Browne: Aliens in Karl’s old mansion

The aliens are coming, the aliens are coming, and they have landed in Karl Lagerfeld’s mansion and gathered up some great clobber by Thom Browne.

“Close Encounters of a Third Kind”-theme music opened this show, Dr Who’d theme ended it. The first model appeared in an extraterrestrial green head. She wore one of Thom’s classic gray flannel suits, except it had grown six sleeves and as many legs.
 
The whole basis of Browne’s aesthetic is the retro gray corporate suit. But hang it all, he gets a lot of mileage out of that. Cutting this season some beautiful mini jackets in all sorts of fabrics, which he clearly developed himself with real love. Degradé sapphire tweed; mint green cotton stripes; pale gray seersucker.
 

He played with gusto his classic broad four-stripes logo. Turning what looked like knee socks and boxing boots into great new suede boots. And he still loves a cricket theme – with some fine county cricket blazers and beautiful intarsia sweaters.
 
With each model carrying tiny panels with LEDs emitting the number of their look, Browne went into overdrive. Layering with abandon: white shirt, club tie, wee jacket, coat or varsity jacket – all in one look.
 
Too much is never too much in the world of Thom Browne, who enjoyed loud applause at the finale. Before his guests exited to find two “Twilight Zone” be-suited models sitting on a podium in the 17th-century courtyard, guarded by three extraterrestrials.
 
Karl, one suspects, would have loved that image too.