PARIS: A hidden walkway, high up behind the clock of the Gare de l'Est station, was the unlikely setting for the first show of Paris Fashion Week, as Impasse de la Defense kicked off the nine-day rollercoaster.

A black-clad rocker puffed into a plaintive harmonica as the Parisian label's founder Karim Bonnet sent out his models wrapped in floor-length capes whose motifs picked up on the columns and steel beams of the neo-classical station.

The models wore black and white paper crowns made from a collage of images from the American 1950s, with paint-dyed bright heels peeping out from under their capes, in fiery orange or blue.

Beneath the stoles, which they dropped to the floor at one end of the runway, they wore sheer layered tulle skirts under velvety nipped-waist jackets.

Tie-dyed and splash-printed dresses, in soft shades of orange, pink or mauve, paired bare shoulders with waxy, flared skirts cut on the calf or ankle.

One bare-backed dress was a patchwork of half a dozen bright checks and tartans - like an oddly attractive collage of tablecloths.

The designer said he drew inspiration from the contemporary art scene for his spring-summer 2013 collection, in creating “simple fashion” for a woman with a strong identity, and the brains to match.

The first day of the Paris ready-to wear shows is traditionally devoted to young designers, with the first big names hitting the runways on Wednesday, from Dries Van Noten to Rochas.