France’s Julien Fournie delivers fetching zombies

Fetching zombies at France’s Julien Fournie

PARIS — Night of the living dead has rarely looked as good as at Julien Fournie’s fall-winter 2011 couture collection Tuesday, where models with charcoal-smudged faces wore skintight evening gowns that looked as if they’d been exhumed after years underground.

With transfixed upward gazes and their smudged palms held forward like sleepwalkers, the models minced around the catwalk in long, lean gowns in translucent fabric, with strategically placed opaque paneling and covered in dark ink smudges. Scarlet Swarovski crystals glinted like fresh bloodstains dripping down the shoulders of one dress, while terrible scenes of Medieval torture — showing little figures on the stake — enlivened its hemline.

“It’s about violence against women and the strength it takes to overcome that and turn it into something beautiful,” Fournie told The Associated Press in an interview backstage.

The young Frenchman, who’s showing on the sidelines of the haute couture displays, was on-trend with his second-skin beige pants and a molded jacket covered in anatomical sketches that recalled Givenchy’s skeleton jumpsuits. A sheath dress with oversized fur sleeves, like the arms of a dismembered gorilla, echoed a few looks from fellow Frenchman Alexandre Vauthier, while Fournie’s sombre palette of navy blue and black also dominated Stephane Rolland’s collection.