Britain's Chalayan plays waiter at Paris fashion show

PARIS, Sept 30, 2011 (AFP) - British designer Hussein Chalayan played the liveried waiter at his own Paris fashion week show on Friday, handing out champagne glasses to models in a mock art-gallery setting.

Hussein Chalayan playing waiter / Photo: Pixel Formula

Young girls took turns staring at a giant lit screen, pretend-sipping from their glasses -- where webcams concealed in the base projected coloured images of their lips onto the screen.

"They don't really understand what they're seeing," the Turkish-Cypriot-born designer told AFP after the show. "It's like contemporary life. A lot of people are participating and not really understanding what they're participating in."

On stage a black-waistcoated Chalayan stood incognito in his uniform alongside two hooded guards -- so convincingly that many of the fashion crowd failed to recognise him until the end of the show.

His spring-summer look for next year, modelled to the sound of a choir, showcased white pants under jackets with ample, fluid pleats at the front or back.

Hussein Chalayan SS 2012 / Photo: Pixel Formula

Monochrome jersey dresses and bermuda shorts gave way to faded Japanese-style landscape prints with the odd flash of colour. Cuts flattered the hips without hugging the body.

Touches of pink and light yellow lit up little skirts in see-through cotton, there were silvery shorts, capes that flowed out of the top dresses, coloured embroideries on black or white.

Asked about the thinking behind the eclectic line, Chalayan said he wasn't trying to innovate at all costs.

"I've been doing this for so long, I've developed a style. I care more about getting the clothes onto people that the applause."

"The newest element is the mix of craft and minimalism," explained the designer, who has just launched a second line with the stated aim of giving more people "access to crisp, graphic clothes."