On the fashion sidelines

Coverage of last week's haute couture shows in Paris seemed to focus more on the celebrities in the front rows than the creations coming down the catwalks.

Amber Rose and Kanye West at the Givenchy fashion show.

Lest anyone believe that the haute couture collections, which were revealed in Paris last week, are purely about clothes, one glance at the front-row attendees at this year's shows should disabuse them. And there's never only one glance: the style press, in its ever-increasing obsession with celebrity, has largely ignored the frothy creations on the catwalks in favour of picture after picture and in-depth accounts of what Kylie is wearing, how great Tina Turner looks and which shows Kanye and Amber attended.

There's a reason for this: it's big business. In spite of an increasing commercial pressure on the usually loss-making industry, made manifest by the sad loss from the schedule of Christian Lacroix, couture remains the place where celebrities and designers can mutually enhance their respective reputations in a happy quid pro quo arrangement that the bloggers eagerly lap up, dazzled by the glamorous spectacle.

How does it work? Well, for the lucky few celebrities, a couture invitation is a flattering stamp of approval from the kings of style who rule fashion. Kanye West's personal look has always been crisp and dapper, but his presence at the fashion shows four times a year (two prêt-à-porter seasons and two couture seasons) confirms his status as the Lagerfeld-approved hip-hop star: a sort of "by royal appointment" seal. Meanwhile, however beautiful she looked in her fabulous cobalt blue Elie Saab dress, one can't help but feel for Hilary Swank appearing on the red carpet at the launch of Natalia Vodianova's collection for, erm, Etam. Yes, Etam. It's not exactly Gaultier, is it?

The designers love to confound, so while an A-lister such as Swank is relegated to a D-list show, the sudden appearance in the exclusive couture salons of previously under-the-style-radar stars, in the past, has been instrumental in cementing their status as more than mere teen popstrels: think Lily Allen at Chanel last year, and last season Rihanna everywhere. The new Rihanna, it seems, is the R&B singer Ciara, who popped up at Givenchy wearing a look from spring/summer 2010, which brings us round to the designers' side of the deal: disseminating their latest ready-to-wear collections just as they start to drop into the stores around the world.

It is, after all, nearly six months since the spring/summer collections appeared on the catwalks, and while those designers who show no couture must wait until the clothes actually land on the shelves before they can really promote without detracting from their winter collections (which they're still trying to flog), the likes of Chanel, Givenchy and Dior get to remind style watchers of what's coming up by dressing their guests in head-to-toe catwalk looks.

Thus Dita Von Teese will always appear wearing a va-va-voom Dior suit, Ciara proves that the incredible digital pattern from Riccardo Tisci's last collection for Givenchy actually can work in real life, not just on the runway, and on the front row of Chanel, seated next to the tiny fashion blogger Tavi, the much-watched Alexa Chung reignites the world's passion for Karl Lagerfeld's chunky high-heeled clogs from his bucolic Marie Antoinette-inspired spring collection.

Tavi is another story, of course: the 13-year-old who took the fashion world by storm last year for her wildly precocious blog is well on her way to becoming the new Anna Piaggi (the elderly Italian fashion editor known for her extraordinary dress sense, fabulous hats and stylised rococo make-up). During last week's Dior couture show she revealed newly blue hair - a Piaggi trademark - and was crowned princess of quirkiness by the milliner Stephen Jones, who created a giant pink bow fascinator for her, made of feathers - much to the chagrin of the Grazia UK fashion editor sitting behind her at the show.

The problem with the celebrity merry-go-round, of course, is that it distracts us from the designers who are quietly getting on with their healthier-than-you-would-expect couture businesses. Stephane Rolland, Anne Valerie Hash, Alexis Mabille, Atelier Gustavo Lins: you might not see Kanye and Amber there, but you will find the one thing that no couture house can do without: customers.