Galliano aims thigh-high at Dior

The thigh, glimpsed through a semi-sheer skirt, was the new erogenous zone in John Galliano's latest collection for Christian Dior, which kicked off the Paris couture season on Monday. The sexy look drew cheers from a star-studded audience which included actresses Liv Tyler and Marisa Berensen, singer Janet Jackson and model Claudia Schiffer - though not the fashion house's most famous current client, Carla Bruni.

As the fashion writer Suzy Menkes remarked in the International Herald
Tribune: "The feline-faced models with arched eyebrows and succulent, shiny lips were so much in the spirit of Carla Bruni Sarkozy that you half expected her to appear at the finale."

Backstage, Galliano claimed that his inspiration for the collection was seeing Irving Penn's graphic images of Lisa Fonssagrives, the photographer's favourite model who went on to become his wife in 1950. The Paris haute couture showings continue today with Chanel, Lacroix and Givenchy. ·