Lagerfeld’s visions attract Kiera Knightley to Paris Couture Week

When Giorgio Armani showed his new collection at Paris Couture Week on Tuesday, much was made of the fact that few A-listers were in attendance, an indication that the recession had wiped out those willing to spend £50,000-plus on his creations.

So Karl Lagerfeld, the German designer for Chanel, will have breathed a sigh of relief to see the actress Keira Knightley - currently the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle fragrance - sitting in the front row when his show was held later in the day. Alongside Knightley were the 1960s old stager Marianne Faithful, Bond girl Olga Kurylenko and US Vogue editor Anna Wintour, dressed in an opulent chinchilla coat.

Lagerfeld's collection did not disappoint. The show's creations (pictured) were a vision in pure, blazing white - indeed, so much so that some might have wished they could borrow Lagerfeld's trademark sunglasses. "It was easy to imagine the immaculately groomed clients in attendance wearing one of the first few variations on the classic skirt suit for a very smart lunch," wrote the Independent's fashion writer, Carola Long.

Lagerfeld had said in a recent interview that, thanks to the recession: "Bling is over. Red carpetry covered with rhinestones is out. I call it the 'the new modesty'.” Long added: "This was not only the new modesty, but the new purity, with the succession of all-white outfits and the cutout flower motifs evoking the freshness of spring blossom."

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