Dior blooms in Paris

Paris was in full bloom on Monday, as Christian Dior designer John Galliano opened the city's fall-winter 2011 haute couture collections with a hothouse of petal-covered gowns and tulip shaped skirts in a riot of colours.

Bouchra Jarrar delivered clean-lined looks in blue, black and ecru for her second couture collection under her signature label. Where Dior was an explosion, Jarrar was all self-restraint and rigour. There was nary a sequin in sight.

Lebanon's Georges Chakra made up for that, pouring kilogrammes of sparkles onto red-carpet-ready gowns in glimmering metallic fabrics.

Galliano is a man of many skills. Beyond his brilliance as a designer, he's got erudition, strut and attitude to spare. But a green thumb? Galliano's just someone you wouldn't peg as being a master gardener.

But his immaculately tended flower garden of a show proved the contrary — at least metaphorically. Full ballerina skirts in baby pink tulle shook like wind-rustled roses, and a rainbow of applique petals in feather-light chiffon enveloped the nip-waisted Bar jackets.

Galliano also fielded cocktail dresses in cream and navy Delft porcelain print, with upside-down tulip shaped skirts in Ceylon blue. Sheath dresses in mohair and boucle were a like a field of wildflowers in bloom. The ballgowns were massive concoctions of petal-shaped tulle, chiffon and droopy lengths of silk — one hand-painted with an oversized peony.

The models wore cones of cellophane, like bouquet wrapping, on their upswept hairdos.

"I loved it, I want to be every flower in Galliano's garden," actress Jessica Alba told media.

Bouchra Jarrar

For a haute couture collection — where sequins are practically de rigeur — the Jarrar show was remarkably short on bling. Slim panels of gold lamé were the only thing that shone on the collection, a tour de force of understated elegance.

Jarrar, a relative newcomer to the rarified world of Paris' made-to-measure couture collections, delivered clean-lined sheath dresses with plunging V-necklines and pretty cap sleeves. Short dresses had cutaway vents that exposed a swath of skin or a hidden panel of gold lamé.

Georges Chakra 

There's no missing the Chakra woman. In body-hugging goddess gowns in metallic fabrics bedazzled with sequins and rhinestones, the Lebanese designer's girl could inadvertently blind you from a mile away.

Chakra looked to old-school Hollywood glamour for his collection of high-shine looks that were all but begging for the red carpet.

Alexandre Vauthier 

Wonder Woman got a hard-edged make-over, swapping her unitard for sheath dresses with plunging V necklines and dangling sleeves that were today's super-heroine's answer to the cape.

Vauthier, another rising talent who's attracted A-list fans, served up dresses black, white and purple knit jersey, punctuated by gold belts and cuffs. From sharp shoulders dangled long sleeves that swung with an I'm-about-to-save-the-world kind of jauntiness.