Paris Fashion Week: Hakaan AW11

This time last year (Friday 19th February, to be precise) I was sent to watch a show by little known designer, Hakaan. No one knew who Hakaan was so I was hardly expecting big things to happen. Oh how I couldn't have been more wrong. To say that it was bewildering to see Lara Stone, Natalia Vodianova and Natasha Poly at his début show in London would be a bit of an understatement. At the time, Hakaan caused a bit of a furore but mainly for his star-studded FROW and model line-up; this season, I have a feeling time has repeated itself...

The clothes are undoubtedly beautiful but I don't think his success is down to skill alone - were it not for the stellar line-up: Freja Beha Erichsen, Maria Carla Boscono, Natalia Vodianova, Karolina Kurkova, Natasha Poly and Anja Rubik, Hakaan might simply be another struggling designer. One gets the impression that Hakaan has friends in very high places, which is great, but there's only so far that monochrome-tailoring and pleated mini-dresses can take you.

Maybe I'm being too harsh; I was all over the début collection after all. I'd like to see some innovation and ingenuity if I'm going to track Hakaan's progress - not just a handful of the world's best models (although apparently, that helps). Do you think a world-class line-up is enough to propel Hakaan into designer stardom or does he need to up his game?

Photos from style.com