PARIS, February 26, 2007 – Lingerie and fur are the twin passions of Filip Arickx and An Vandevorst, and they vied for attention on the duo’s Fall runway. Starting things off was a deceptively plain shirt with gussets at the breasts tied together with tiny, provocative bows. A red dress was wantonly sliced in front to expose flashes of white satin brassiere, the strap of which poked through a horizontal slit in back. And a narrow sheath was draped from black floral lace, which was also used for an evening shawl and leggings. Some of this veered toward the overcomplicated, but the same couldn’t be said of the show’s outerwear.

Shaggy lamb vests, trenches, and wraps—some patchworked together from squares with naps of different thicknesses—felt cool and completely of the moment, as did the fur hoods with scarf flaps attached. Easy calico dresses with short sleeves edged in the fluffy stuff looked signature and very original, and almost wholesome in comparison to the kinky boudoir touches. Somewhere in the middle were the narrow, hooded blanket-plaid capes: Who knows what sort of delectations were hidden beneath their ankle-grazing shapes?

– Nicole Phelps