Yamamoto checks out Paris

Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto struck a restrained note at the opening of the Paris Fashion shows, with swathes of hound's tooth fabric, tartan and berets.

Tailoring in monochrome tweeds was combined with 1950s-style dresses and coats to evoke the Left Bank Parisian intellectual look for his ready-to-wear autumn-winter collection.

From cropped trousers to cap-sleeved gowns, the black-and-white fabric was piled in layers to create subtly clashing lines and random patterns.

The models, parading around a rundown warehouse in northern Paris, completed the look with lashings of smoky black eyeliner and jaunty black berets.

Yamamoto is one of Japan's most well established designers, having worked in fashion for more than 20 years. As well as creating his own classically understated collections, Yamamoto was made creative director-of Adidas Sport Style last year, in a bid to create a niche for sporting goods in the fashion world.

Other items in the show included hour-glass jackets, a red-and-black tartan three-quarter-length coat with coarsely frayed hems, and a liquid black silk housecoat with billowing sleeves, fastened to one side over a pleated mini-skirt.

The show was hailed a resounding success by fellow Japanese designer Kenzo Takada, former mastermind behind the Kenzo label. Describing the show as both modern and poetic, Takada said: "I thought it was fantastic. "Even though I retired three years ago, when I see a show like that, it makes me want to get back to work," he said.

The Paris fashion shows continue today with haute couture displays by Christian Dior, Jean- Paul Gaultier and Valentino.