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- China Open history-maker Zhang nearly quit after long losing run
- Rutte dismisses Trump fears as he takes reins at NATO
- 'I pleaded guilty to journalism,' Wikileaks' Assange
- Defence 'geek' Ishiba becomes Japan PM
- Bangladesh crumble for 146, India need 95 to sweep series
- Multiple deaths in school bus fire in Thailand: PM
- Tokyo recovers some losses to lead markets higher
- Coldplay ticket scalping fiasco sparks backlash in India
- Droughts drive Spanish boom in pistachio farming
- Frustrated French clubs turn away players in post-Olympics sports boom
- With bulging in-tray, Ishiba becomes Japan PM
- Tokyo recovers some losses to lead Asian markets higher
- Defiant history-maker Zhang Shuai powers into Beijing last eight
- India police detain top activist after month-long climate march
- Matisse retrospective traces journey through artist's career
- Major League Eating: the sport of stuffing your face
- Sacred filth offers India's sex workers brief respect
- Bloomers and flats: Paris Fashion Week's big trends
- Rural schools empty in North Macedonia due to exodus
- Locals toil as experts toast Turkish wine renaissance
- US dockworkers launch strike after labor contract expires
- Thousands evacuated as Super Typhoon Krathon approaches Taiwan
- Indian Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls
- Kenya airport whistleblower fears for his life
- Goff perfect as Lions claw Seahawks, Titans sink Dolphins
- Champions League can put Asian women's football on map, say players
- Vinicius taking control as holders Madrid face Lille
- Bologna living the dream with Champions League clash at Liverpool
- Tokyo recovers some losses as most Asian markets rise
- 'Teflon Mark' Rutte to stick to his guns as NATO chief
- Rutte takes reins at NATO as US vote looms
- Australia look to cement dominance in women's T20 World Cup
- Aston Villa target repeat of 1982 Champions League heroics against Bayern
- Rwandan ex-doctor goes on trial in France accused of genocide
- With bulging in-tray, Ishiba to become Japan PM
- Sheinbaum to take office as Mexico's first woman president
- Scientists fear underfunded Argentina research on verge of collapse
- Long-delayed cruise leaves Belfast after four months
- Baseball great Pete Rose dead at 83: team
- Baseball great Pete Rose dead at 83: US media
- Israeli forces start 'targeted ground raids' in south Lebanon
- US port officials gird for strike despite last-minute bargaining
- Braves, Mets split double-header to seal wild card berths
- With 118 dead from Hurricane Helene, Biden defends US government response
- California enacts law to protect brain data
- Breeder who tried to create enormous trophy sheep jailed in US
- Qatar Airways seeking 25% stake in Virgin Australia
- Georgia judge overturns US state's six-week abortion ban
Bloomers and flats: Paris Fashion Week's big trends
Raid your granny's wardrobe. Bloomers are back. The surprising resurrection of Victorian underwear as outerwear is one of the big trends of Paris Fashion Week, along with the proliferation of the girl-power business suit.
- Boots in the boudoir -
Spring summer 2025 is going to be full of flowery feminine prints and floaty blouses and skirts if the Paris runway shows that end Tuesday are anything to go by.
But the retro boudoir chic comes with a hard, deeply emancipated edge. Irish designer Jonathan Anderson at Loewe won a lot of fans for his hooped steampunky flowery dresses where you could see not just the crinolines underneath, but the boxing boots too.
"We are seeing sexy and practical at the same time," Claire Thomson Jonville of fashion bible Vogue told AFP.
"You see an evening dress with a parka," she added, referencing the Australian brand Zimmerman, whose flowing powder-pastel dresses were given a hard edge by almost military jackets.
- The world is flat -
Another quiet revolution has been going on on the catwalks. High heels have been giving way to a procession of flatter, more practical footwear.
Dior's famously feminist designer Maria Grazia Chiuri pretty much did away with heels in her collection... though a few discreet kittens did escape the cull. Instead her models walked in flat, thigh-high hi-tech versions of what you would imagine ancient Amazons or Spartan warriors would wear, as well embroidered sandals with ultra-thin soles.
Sweden's Acne Studios matched its chicest business suits and skirts with imitation carpet slippers, further embedding a strong trend to liberate the comfy slipper from the style crime stocks. Dries Van Noten also hopped onto the bandwagon with its pointy trompe d'oeil crocodile skin flats.
- Suits you -
"The need for a strong female energy right now could be seen at Saint Laurent, Loewe, Victoria Beckham and Christopher Lemaire," argued Vogue's Thomson Jonville, who said they all had a strong streak of "female empowerement".
Saint Laurent's Anthony Vaccarello dived into the personal wardrobe of the brand's founder, Yves Saint Laurent, to dress his women the legendary designer's double-breasted suits.
A whole army of Yves clones strode down the catwalk in oversized men's suits nearly 60 years after the French designer revolutionised fashion by putting women in men's black tuxedos, his famous "smoking".
Victoria Beckham's suits were cut closer to the body and were a lot less literal, some with sleeves torn off or legs slashed -- if these symbols of male power had been mauled by all the ages of stored-up female rage.
Stella McCartney's suits -- one of her staple looks -- were more oversized this time, given a startling sensual charge by metallic sculptural bras worn as chest jewellery that channelled Matisse's bird paintings.
- Bloomin' lovely -
Retro and provocative at the same time, bloomers are definitely back next summer.
Created in 1851 by the American Libby Miller -- based on Turkish salvar pantaloons -- they freed women up to ride bicycles and horses, though they were mostly worn under dresses.
And it is in that same feminist vein that they have returned to the Paris catwalks, worn often with men's jackets or shirts in a daring and functional combo.
French label Chloe really ran with the look with a line very sexy lacy bloomers worn under suit jackets and bombers.
K.Thomson--BTB