Blue is the colour of the season at VIP-studded Paris shows

PARIS – It’s no secret that politics infuses fashion — and some critics are interpreting the current mania for blue at Paris Fashion Week as a statement of “the blues” about the perceived rise of nationalism across Europe and America.

Here are some highlights from Sunday’s star-filled shows in Paris — including how a 9-year-old fashionista turned heads at Valentino.

BLUE IS Colour OF SEASON

While its exact symbolism is up for debate, one thing is certain: blue is the colour of the season.

A host of designers have all used the symbolically-charged hue in their fall-winter collections being shown at Paris Fashion Week.

Those included Briton Phoebe Philo at Celine, Italian Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior, Japanese Yoshiyuki Miyamae at Issey Miyake, Georgian David Koma at Mugler, Lebanese Elie Saab and French Columbian-born Haider Ackermann.

On the immigration front, France’s culture minister told The Associated Press that the Parisian fashion industry — which relies heavily on foreign talent — is under threat owing to the rise of nationalism.

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VALENTINO RAVISHES IN THOUGHTFUL COLLECTION

What do you get if you combine Victorian-era styles with those of Italian Postmodern design?

Designer Pierpaolo Piccioli gave us a pretty good idea in his gentle and thoughtful Valentino collection Sunday that took both for inspiration.

His high 19th-century collars fused with the geometry of the Memphis Group, a design and architecture group founded in Milan that created furniture, fabrics and objects in the 1980s. Silhouettes were softly geometric and hung loosely from the shoulder.

Colours were also gentle — raspberry, sage green, turquoise, sheeny black with white. A stylish flash of Cadmium yellow blossomed on a standout silken dress.

An ethnic, multicolored patchwork coat was handled with subtlety — while long, soft pleats gently lined some of the most beautiful gowns seen this season.

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CELEBRITIES PACK VALENTINO’S FRONT ROW

Actress Kristin Scott Thomas and model Natalia Vodianova hugged as they posed for photographers in the bright conservatory annex at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris.

Joining them on Valentino’s front row was “House of Cards” actress Kate Mara, who stunned in a sheer embellished gown with delicate horizontal tiers from Valentino’s pre-fall 2017 collection.

A ray of sunshine peeped out between the rain clouds as she spoke to the AP.

“Well, the sun came out specifically for Valentino! This (conservatory) is incredible as they built this part just for the show,” Mara said. “I always feel really fantastic in this clothing. I love Pierpaolo — I’ve never seen a Valentino dress that I don’t love. Everything he makes is unique.”

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IVAN, THE 9-YEAR-OLD FASHIONISTA

Valentino’s illustrious guest list normally causes a stir for its famous attendees.

But Sunday’s romance-inspired fall-winter collection had heads turning for a different reason: Ivan, 9, whose feet didn’t touch the floor as he sat front row at Valentino’s show in a gilded salon.

Ivan wore a mint green fur coat, Gucci slippers and shades as he admired Pierpaolo Piccioli’s soft geometric designs. He didn’t let his age or the famous attendees intimidate him, and snapped pictures studiously as the collection went by.

“I’m Ivan. I’m nine. I designed the capsule collection for my mom who’s a designer, Natasha Zinko,” he told the AP, defending his decision to wear shades on a drizzly day. “It was sunny when I came here.”

He added he’s been following fashion “nearly a year maybe,” and has enjoyed attending collections by Dior and Haider Ackermann.

His mother said she brought him because she couldn’t find a nanny.

“He was (at shows) last year a few times, but this time there was no one to stay at home with him, so I brought him with me,” Zinko said. “He’s enjoying the weekend in Paris. And, now he’s going back to London to school.”

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HONEY, I SHRUNK THE CELINE MODELS

Designer Phoebe Philo seemed to shrink the models in her inventive, proportion-play of a Celine show.

A gargantuan knee-length white necklace accompanied a 1-meter (3-foot) long canary yellow handbag, a cape made of oversize sleeves, a 2-meter (6 1/2 foot) emerald green scarf-like garment and huge blown-up prints.

Later, oversize tailored menswear jackets made an appearance, fusing into gathered gowns with Empire-line busts.

One of the best looks in navy, with this Napoleon-era silhouette, was given a beautiful contemporary twist with exaggeratedly wide, long flappy shirt cuffs.

The collection was intellectual yet highly wearable.

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NINA RICCI GOES WEST

It was the Wild West — but not as we know it.

Guillaume Henry saddled up his fashion horse and headed to America for Nina Ricci’s collection late Saturday.

The lauded designer tamed the styles of the American cowgirl for the chic Parisian audience with a beautifully soft colour palette, with lashings of pink and peach. Skirts and coats with hip cutouts evoked cowboy chaps.

Prints with cowboy and rodeo motifs speckled with stars followed buttoned-up shirts, belts with exaggerated silver buckles, checks and hanging pendants with cowboy- style silver clasps.

A standout long coat-pant look toyed cleverly with the rodeo style. Feminine soft turquoise replaced blue denim, and the big Western leather collar was given a feminine twist, flopping softly and delicately.

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Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K