PARIS, October 4, 2007 – Flowers? You won't find them sprouting on Haider Ackermann's runway. (Well, not unless you look very, very carefully at a metallic black brocade he used for a kimono coat.)

The designer—who said he was "searching for a woman far away, someone eccentric, aristocratic, sensual"—opened with a blazer in a shimmery purple-black, worn with a matching scarf-necked blouse and shorts. There were a number of angular, strong-shouldered jackets in the lineup, paired with the harem pants of the moment or, much more provocatively, with sheer gray or taupe fishtail skirts suspended from the shoulders or waist by the narrowest of strings. Linings will be a must if these pieces make it to retail. And the billowing organza caftans that gave his models a bit of trouble on the runway could use a retail tweak, too—several inches off the bottom would do the trick. The dresses with twisted halter necks in liquid jersey were just as sensual, but much more viable.

This was a dark, broodingly sexy collection that was at odds with the season's almost giddy spirits, and though it was not without faults, it was all the more compelling for it.

– Nicole Phelps