A-list front row of Paris Fashion Week

I WAS reminded this week of the inextricable link between celebrity and fashion.   

Rose Byrne

I WAS reminded this week of the inextricable link between celebrity and fashion.

First Jay-Z released a track dedicated to designer Tom Ford that repeated Ford's name over and over, and a second track with Justin Timberlake that made mention of Gucci and Bally shoes.

And then there was an abundance of A-listers who attended the couture shows in Paris.

Jay-Z comes across as rather fashion obsessed and if his lyrics are intended to be ironic, it was lost on me. He's just made Tom Ford even more famous and I'm betting sales of Ford's fragrances and sunglasses will skyrocket. Thank you, Jay-Z.

Bally and Gucci are probably grateful for the shout-out too. At Chanel we saw Australian actor Rose Byrne, French singer and Johnny Depp's ex Vanessa Paradis, Twilight's Kirsten Stewart, Baz Luhrmann and Rihanna. Uma Thurman was also in town, as were Jennifer Lawrence, Gemma Arterton, Erica Packer and Catherine Martin, who attended Dior.

Rose Byrne

One of the most fascinating things about working in the fashion industry is the access it provides to people from all walks of life, celebrities included.

At the shows their attendance is downplayed by fellow attendees with a "we're too cool to care'' or "I'm just here to see the clothes'' attitude.

During the ready-to-wear seasons in March and September -- taking in New York, London, Milan and Paris -- it is easier to understand why guests become blase about the regular presence of Kanye West or Rihanna at shows. They turn up often and, apart from the fuss outside by the photographers, their attendance is largely ignored.

The biggest fuss I've seen was for Victoria Beckham at the end of a Chanel show. Security guards often accompany stars, but VB seemed to have an army.

Fashion types often complain about celebrities because their presence detracts from the clothes. But I'm betting more people will see shots of Kirsten Stewart arriving at a show than any of the looks in it.

Now, I am hoping you are in fact interested in the beautiful clothes. And so you will want to know that Chanel showed in the beautiful Grand Palais, which Karl Lagerfeld re-imagined as a set of a decaying old theatre.

Guests were seated among the faux dust and destruction, and then the curtains parted to reveal images of a modern skyscraper backdrop, setting the scene for a narrative about the old meeting the new.

The collection featured evening dresses that twinkled and floated lightly over thigh-high boots -- or as Karl calls them ``stocking shoes'' -- held up by garters. The suits in tweed were shown with one flared short skirt layered over another slightly longer one in suede.

Although not all clients will take this double skirt message literally, split them, and as one journalist commented, "just as with the atom you will get more bang for your buck''.

Considering they cost a truckload of bucks, that is probably good. Why do they cost so much? Couture craftsmanship is like no other method of making clothes. The fabrics alone are exceptional. Hundreds of hours go into embroidering wools, silks, ribbons and sequins on to tweeds by hand.

Chanel is so committed to the survival of haute couture that through a subsidiary it acquired most of the artisan companies that create it, including Lesage (embroidery), Massaro (shoemaking) and Michel (millinery). These ateliers d'art also do work for other major houses and it's this commitment to heritage and quality that makes couture, in the minds of collectors, worth every cent.

Now that is fashion Jay-Z could rap about. 

Read more at vogue.com.au