From vivid neons to dreamy tiered chiffon masterpieces awash with every possible hue of red, the designers worked their magic to produce daring collections of clothes made with custom-dyed cloth.

The dresses at Lacroix were gently sumptuous, while Dior's gowns exploded in unabashed look-at-me tones of fiery pinks. At Jean Paul Gaultier, others still, appeared like whispers in the night - slivers of blue fur lining an otherwise sombre ensemble.

If this season's Couture collections were anything - it certainly wasn't modest.

To whom else but the couturiers could you turn for a gown encrusted with the finest jet beading and hemmed with clouds of tulle? Or for a skin-tight bodysuit embroidered with vivid blooming vines.

It is their immaculate attention to detail that sets the couturiers apart from anything else in the world. And it is this that keeps their tentative art alive.

The marriage between fur and the world of Couture is perfect in that fur is luxurious, strikingly beautiful and, if treated by someone who knows his art gloriously expensive. At Chanel a suit was made infinitely more sumptuous with a thick trim of chestnut fur.

A luxurious cape weas draped across bare shoulders at Valentino, dyed to match the vivid gown that clothed the model.

Lacroix dyed his furs to strinking blues, reds and violets and conjured from it fluffy collars and unkempt vests.

Dior's John Galliano used the contrast of lavish fur coats and tattered ballerina dresses to construct maddeningly beautiful creations.