Lily Cole goes for all-leather Avengers style catsuit for Paris fashion show

March 12th, 2010

It looked more like an audition for a revival of The Avengers than a fashion show.
Dressed in an all-leather black catsuit, supermodel Lily Cole appeared to take inspiration from the character Mrs Peel in the cult 1960s TV show.
She wore the outfit while strutting the Paris catwalk yesterday to showcase the latest collection from Jean Paul Gaultier for the giant French fashion house Hermes.

The same look was the trademark of the actress Diana Rigg when she played the character of spy Emma Peel in the long-running TV show.
The role was reprised by Uma Thurman in a 1998 Hollywood film remake.
The character was always known as ‘Mrs Peel’ to her partner in espionage, John Steed – played by actor Patrick Macnee in the TV show.
And indeed, the top hat and umbrella sported by Lily Cole yesterday at the Paris Fashion Week show could also be a nod to the accessories carried by Mr Steed in The Avengers.
But designer Mr Gaultier claimed the inspiration for the look was a series of other British icons, including James Bond.
He said the collection was ‘very English, inspired by The City, bankers clothes revamped for the women who work there’, adding: ‘It’s a kind of Mrs. Bond, a Bond-ette.’
Miss Cole, 21, was taking a break from her studies at Cambridge University, where she is reading History of Art.
She began the show standing inside a black-and-white striped tunnel, which was apparently modelled on the look of Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange.
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