At the couture shows in Paris, unrest was in the air

Paris

THERE they were, the petites mains, bent over their pattern tables, kneeling by a hemline, sewing, cutting, basting: 78 of the unheralded artisans of the Chanel couture, in person under the glass dome of the Grand Palais.

Karl Lagerfeld had recreated his ateliers, down to the rolls of fabric, dressmakers' dummies, patterns and pins, the better to demonstrate the reality - and human toil - behind the reconfigured tweed suiting (actually trompe l'oeil embroidery), shoulders extended and flattened into two dimensions without internal structure and culottes swishing midcalf on his runway.