PARIS, Feb 23 2008 /FR/ --- Fatima Lopes went tamely futuristic in the collection she sent on the runway this afternoon on the first day of Paris Fashion Week. It seems like the Portuguese designer who is now an habitué of the first day in the Paris official calendar is looking for more respectability.

Mostly black, grey and white, the collection had very few colours, a touch of green here in a belt, a splash of salmon pink in another outfit, and a green dress to close the show. That’s the astonishing fashion statement in the collection.

The work on tailoring is more elaborate than usually especially in some jackets cut with many inlays and details of the same fabric which create a close-to-austere look, particularly for a designer who had used her fans to more glamorous outfits and sexier looks.

Much knitwear also in this reasonably creative show, with jumpers worn as a short dress reaching mid-thigh level. The women wearing Fatima Lopes have legs and know how to use them, especially when they are on these very high platform stilettos of black and white.

Fatima Lopes seemed however less at ease with this theme than with her usual sexy silhouette. More serious in her research this season, she might have slightly missed her goal fully, as her inspiration showed more from the soundtrack than from the actual clothes in the collection, in spite of the geometrically shaped dresses inspired from UFOs with a wider circle in the third half of the bottom part.

Some of her work also astonished, like this knitwear one-piece bathing suit which she probably only meant to be used as lingerie, unlike the same salmon pink material and technique used on leggings which could be worn under a short dress too.

Some pants, wide at the bottom and with a wide double fold around the ankle zone, might be giving weight to the fabric when still; they make the silhouette heavy and awkward-looking when walking...

A piece of sun-pleated muslin here, some fin inlayed in the shirtfront part of a dress in black wool, shorts with ornamental loose suspenders hanging from the shoulders did not give the collection much coherence.