By Timothy Hagy

PARIS, July 4, 2005 - Masakï Matsushïma, the Japanese designer who has been showing in Paris the past few seasons, has a reputation for being long winded, and Monday’s show was no exception.

What began as a foray into the world of short jackets (the now ubiquitous cut first introduced one year ago at Dior), notable for beautiful shades of orchid, handkerchiefs flowering from the breast pocket, soon became an exposé on trenches, trenches and more trenches. Then there was a series of clingy shorts, that led to a recapitulation of yet more short jackets. Short, short, short was the word. But the one thing that wasn’t short was the show.

From a fashion point of view, there were good ideas - not the least being the use of scarves as a high collar - but the sheer repetitiveness of the show left guests, well, shorted out.

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