PARIS, January 22, 2003 – Anne Valérie Hash's first few collections evolved out of the young designer's experiments in fitting men’s clothing onto a little girl’s body. In the beginning, that meant pinning, folding, unpicking and twisting formal jackets, pants and shirts in a play of oversize-meets-undersize, which provoked inevitable comparisons with the avant-garde deconstructionists.

Now Hash is moving on, applying lessons learned but developing a far more feminine feeling. Still using the fabric and structure of a man’s jacket, shirting and the occasional drawstring parka, she showed leggy looks that were generous on top, tiny in the skirt. Her opening jacket, cinched at the hip with a large sash, and her low-slung, tabbed belts, made from scraps of pockets and linings, gave the show a new air of cool sexiness. One short, full-skirted dance dress constructed of gauze strips and interlinings was a complete break from her masculine starting point. Why? “Well,” she admitted frankly, “I was fed up with people always saying my clothes are very Martin Margiela or Yohji Yamamoto. I’d like them to say this is Anne Valérie Hash.”

– Sarah Mower