More Impressive than those Weiner Dog Balloons

Your local party store may be all you need to create your own versions of the innovative Maison Martin Margiela's latest dresses, tops, jackets and jewelry.

The haute couture season in Paris showed collections that Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune described as "architectural" due to the use of "sharp angles and circle shapes". and MMM's balloon twist jacket would fall under that category. I'm guessing there are no zippers or buttons, and that many highly skilled clowns were recruited to produce this squeaky piece (a nice break from kids' birthday parties).

There's also a dress made of records and a necklace created out of brass wire made to look like gift ribbons. According to Diane, A Shaded View of Fashion, the wire is coated in silver to make a piece of plastron jewelry, and a crepe de chine dress is covered with cut-up 35 and 45 rpm records that were reshaped when warm to mould to the shape of the body.

And that's why it's haute couture.