Paris kick off the rock chick trend

Rock-chick style opened Paris Fashion Week on Sunday with a Balmain show filled with spray-on tight minidresses and gem-encrusted jackets fit for singer Chrissie Hynde at her peak.

Models with hair flowing straight and sleek hit the catwalks in dresses barely hitting their thighs in black whorled chiffon or cut away at the mid-riff to reveal flashes of black lace. Skirts were also mini, ruched in leather and slung low.

Christophe Decarnin, the designer behind the remaking of the established house of Balmain, had a similar revealing take on trousers for fall and winter 2008.

Tailored jackets, tightly beaded with sparkling silver crystals, sleek black tuxedo style or in faux zebra skin, would work well spicing up sombre trousers for business women who want to stun at a gala dinner or cocktails.

The Paris fashion season, following on from New York, London and Milan, marks the final leg of the catwalk cycle.

Balmain design in the catwalk of Paris