paris when it sizzles; Nine little syllables sum up my experience of Paris haute-couture week: Luxury and Elsa Schiaparelli.

Byline: Andre Leon Talley

Recently I had the pleasure of seeing "Shocking!," a traveling exhibit of Schiaparelli's work at the Musee de la Mode et du Textile. There were nearly 175 originals in the show, and they floored me. There, in silks and jerseys, the legendary designer's influence on modern fashion was writ large for le tout Paris to see.

From where I sat, the Schiaparelli stamp was all over not just the haute-couture shows but the sideline shows, as well. (These are the smaller presentations thrown by younger, newer Paris designers who are increasingly taking the occasion of couture week to showcase specialty collections and previews of upcoming seasons.)

I've come to the conclusion that in all of fashion in the past century, there are exactly two designers who made the most difference: Schiaparelli and Mlle Chanel. Volumes have been written about Chanel's titanic influence, but I believe Schiaparelli is just as important. Both women were pioneers who answered the question, How should a woman dress at the dawn of a brave new modern world? Both unshackled their contemporaries from the bondage of corsets and hobble skirts and hats that looked like tubs full of dead birds.

If Gabrielle Chanel, so clean and rigorous in her simplicity, is fashion's Brancusi, Elsa Schiaparelli is its Douanier Rousseau.

DOUBLE CHANEL

In the ateliers on the Rue Cambon, 100 loving pairs of hands work to realize the couture dreams of Paris's ultramodernist, Karl Lagerfeld. This collection was based on the idea of doubling up dresses, one worn over the other-two dresses for the price of one!-and it was a bravura demonstration of faultless technique and refined construction.