Photographed by Gabriel Karanfil

PARIS, October 6, 2005 - One of the daunting tasks facing the design team behind a print only label like Leonard is how to vary the collection season after season. You could turn up the beat on the soundtrack. You could experiment with an A-line cut. You could paint on splotches of the house fuchsia or cut the back out of beach wear. All of those ideas looked half hearted at best.

But the most convincing pieces shown on Thursday displayed more ingenuity. Take the contemporary designs with lamé and plastic appliqué used to mold evening wear, or the silk prints with a shimmer as delicate as an oriental screen that formed the basis of the day pieces.

Like Pucci, Leonard is constrained by tradition. The best efforts always come when the imagination can fly as free as the summer breeze.

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