PARIS, February 29, 2000 – "Welcome to all our Super Fly Girls," read the models' upbeat cue-card backstage at the House of Dior's latest extravaganza. After the furor over his last Dior "hobo" couture collection, designer John Galliano crowded the mirrored runway with throwaway luxe outfits that took a leaf--make that a volume or two--from the opulent style manuals of the contemporary rap world. The fur was flying: Chunky sable and chinchilla coats, and even a sheared mink trench, were shrugged over barely there boudoir chiffon dresses (some suspended from thick gold chains). Even Galliano's thick knits were threaded with fur strips (and worn with '80s ostrich-skin skirts or skinny pants). When the fur wasn't real, it was printed--think faded animal spots on chiffon or beaded leopard pelts on stonewashed denim. The Christian Dior Daily, a newspaper created just for the show, was printed on chiffon, leather and even the reverse side of furs.

The mood softened with perversely ragged dresses inspired by Galliano's couture collection, and a finale of miraculously cut black or lingerie-pink lace and chiffon dresses. These, with their deconstructed corset pieces cleverly built-in, and with sunray-pleat insets fanning into trains, hinted at the refined Galliano magic of yesteryear.

– By Hamish Bowles