Alexander McQueen

It was frills, gothic studs and deconstruction at Kering-owned Alexander McQueen.

Monday’s was a hard show to pin down — but there was much beauty in its complexity.

Many of designer Sarah Burton’s looks had a wilting feeling as ruffles drooped on pink gowns, or deconstructed sections of a trench hung limply. Elsewhere, a motif of a wilting flower appeared, as if it had been overheated. Models, too, had wet or sweaty-looking hairstyles with precious stones and pearls tightly clasping their neck; their red silk gowns sometimes appeared as if they were clinging to a clammy body.

Then there were the stomper boots and the studs that gave the 36-piece collection a gothic feel.

A white skirt with a studded lattice and a white deconstructed biker jacket gave the model the image of a goth angel.

Burton’s display will, no doubt, provoke myriad poetical interpretations.

Pioneering American fashion photographer Irving Penn is the subject of a new retrospective at Paris’ Grand Palais.

Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt hosted a red carpet VIP viewing of the exhibit on Sunday night.

Penn, who died at 92 in 2009, found fame for his celebrity portraits that graced the pages of Vogue magazine from 1943 right up until August of the year he died. (AP)