PARIS–”Wow, this looks a fashion funeral,” whispered a photographer setting up his camera as the Ann Demeulemeester show was about to start. Held in a convent on the Parisian left bank, the crowd was suitingly dressed head to toe in black. Was it monastery chic, or paying homage to Ann’s somber taste? We pondered.

“I think I’m ready to move to something pure, clean, but yet abstract,” Ann told us minutes before the show. And indeed she did: the runway consisted of a gradient starting in a pure white, moving onto touches of black, then full-on black. Old Ann, new Ann: she created a balance between a soft, pared down silhouette and her love for layers.

The transition from white to black occurred through prints: Ann created giant patterns onto fabric, that she then cut into clothes: the motifs turned into abstract, haphazard touches of black — at first rare and then gradually denser, for white to slowly fade out. Because many pieces were cut out of the same giant print, “Every piece is totally unique,” she said.

PARIS–I must admit, when I first heard that Zac Posen was showing his main collection in Paris, I rolled my eyes…just a little. Apparently,Yohji Yamamoto had suggested to Zac that he show abroad–that they would “understand him” better in Europe.

But then, I thought about it. And when you think about it, Yamamoto‘s logic is indeed logical. Posen tends to design for a woman who doesn’t care for trends, who prefers something figure-hugging and frilly over something asexual and de rigueur. The European woman isn’t so much a slave to “what’s in” as the American woman, which means that Paris is the perfect place for Posen to show. The more European buyers that show up, the better for the designer.