"None of the big names on the bill for the opening of the Paris spring shows is French. There's Jun Takahashi of Undercover (Tokyo), Alexander Wang of Balenciaga (New York) and Dries Van Noten (Antwerp). Rick Owens has lived in Paris for years, but we Americans still claim him as a California guy. And it's funny: nobody whines about the circus atmosphere, as they do in New York, or the business-as-usual humdrum of Milan. It's all fashion here and, so far, it's all pretty exciting."