Julien's uncertain future

It was the show they didn't want us to see. When Didier Grumbach announced last week that catwalk shows were "collective suicide" because they too easily allowed the high street to counterfeit designers' ideas, no one expected the fashion industry to react so swiftly.

Yet luxury goods group LVMH, one of the most powerful players in the industry, last night staged its Givenchy couture show almost behind closed doors, allowing in only a fraction of the world's press and buyers currently in Paris for couture week.

"It was a decision made at the highest level of Givenchy's management yesterday," said a spokesperson for Julien Macdonald. "They haven't given us any reason. It's not even Julien's decision - it comes from above him."

But was the decision based on counterfeiting worries, or was it a simple exercise in damage limitation? This was, after all, Macdonald's last couture show for the house before his contract expires. The press hasn't been kind to the Welsh designer since his appointment in 2001: was this parent company LVMH's way of ensuring negative coverage was kept to a minimum?

There is no such thing as freedom of speech in the fashion world. Write something negative about a show and you are banned. But as Grumbach knows only too well, there are ways and means of seeing shows - and they don't all involve sitting on a small gilt chair. The internet ensures that images are available to everyone in a matter of hours.

It was puzzling that so few were allowed to watch the show, because it was rather accomplished in places. True, there were a few too many lace doily effects reminiscent of granny's sofa covers, but it was far from Macdonald's worst attempt at emulating the grace of Hubert de Givenchy over the last three years.

In a white cocktail dress tied at the waist with a heavy black velvet bow, the spirit of Audrey was alive and well, while a deftly-cut cream trench coat also looked elegant. Strongest was a white suit with a scalloped bolero jacket and pleated skirt. Evening wear came in pale sherbet colours such as peach and lemon, with Macdonald using his feted knitwear techniques to produce light-as-gossamer bodices. Liv Tyler, the face of Givenchy perfume, watched from the wings.

No one was clear whether this really was Macdonald's last show for Givenchy. "Nothing has been confirmed. No comment on that one," said a spokesperson.