PARIS (AP) -- "Hard femininity," was how Gareth Pugh described his spring-summer 2013 show, inspired, he says, by the rawness of Latin American cockfighting.
Sure enough, black nappa kimono looks opened the show at Paris Fashion Week swirling stiffly and authoritatively -- with one model in a two-foot mourning veil.
However, the raw shock-factor -- Pugh's signature -- was short-lived for once. It soon gave way to a series of softer, elegant and more mature looks in sweeping vermilion, black fringing and pale dove gray.
The Latin feel was captured in a series of textured 3-D ruffles reflecting a coiffed, full-breasted cock, ready for the fight.
The designer's introspection was tangible, from the simplicity of the decor to Rebekah del Rio's haunting a capella singing to the clean, highly wearable silhouettes.
Could Wednesday's show have been a coming of age for London's enfant terrible?
"Some things happened to me recently," Pugh said backstage. "Sometimes you just can't help changing, some things are out of control."
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