Paris kicks off fashion week

Paris fashion week has officially begun, and I can already report the first celebrity sighting. Lenny Kravitz took in the Balmain show, and I have a feeling we will be seeing plenty more of him this week. "I love Paris and so I'm here with my daughter, just taking her around to a couple of shows," he told reporters.

Balmain's spring-summer collection (Photos: Remy de la Mauvienire/AP)

Kravitz's former costume designer Laurent Mercier - known to friends as the cross-dressing Lola - used to design for Balmain. His replacement, Christophe Decarnin, is doing a pretty good job of reviving the brand with super sexy little dresses that have already been picked up by Audrey Tautou and Sofia Coppola.

Audrey Tautou rocking a Balmain look at Cannes (Photo: Karwai Tang/Alpha/Globe Photos via Style.com)

No sign of a ban on skinny models here (the show featured Australian model Gemma Ward, a.k.a. The Alien). It was a totally different scene at Martin Margiela, who traditionally uses non-professional models. The draped white set created a seating conundrum for the dozens of standing-room guests.

The Margiela set at the Fine Arts school in Paris (Photos: Joelle Diderich)

The collection was based on nude bodystockings which served as the basis for tailored suits with extra-long legs (don't try to run for a taxi in these) and a deconstructed stars-and-stripes motif (stars on one side, stripes on the other).

(Photos: Joelle Diderich)

Things are going to get pretty manic in the next few days, so I can't promise I will post every day, but I will do my best to keep you up to date!