Paris takes lesson in seduction from Valentino

How to skim a curve, flatter a neckline and suggest a brooding sensuality: Valentino brought Paris a new lesson in seduction on Tuesday, with a spring line-up of morning till night elegance.

Demure-cut dresses in black or midnight blue adorned shyly romantic creatures -- but ones quite capable as well of slipping into a red leather trench coat for a night out on the town.

Two pantsuits, in billowing blue, and body-skimming wine red, interrupted the more than 60-strong line-up of delicate lace dresses and dramatic long gowns.

And a trio of black-and-white looks paid homage to the tuxedo trend that has swept the catwalks this season -- but with breastplates of ivory or powder pink lace to bring just the right touch of romance.

Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli, the Italian house's designers since 2008, added a contemporary twist, with transparent strips on sandals, clear plexiglass heels on stilettos and see-through trench coats.

Evening time is major art for Valentino, whose gowns grace the red carpets of Hollywood or Cannes. This season the Italian duo served up a lush line of elegant dresses in powder, ivory or black.

Valentino's polar opposite, Paco Rabanne later Tuesday sent out warriors armed for battle in chain mail dresses and centurion skirts, for the debut collection by its new German designer Lydia Maurer.

Gladiator sandals wrapped up around the leg, beneath tiny mini skirts in black, gold and silver, and clinking chain mail vests, as Maurer mined the archives of a house that pioneered the use of metal in the 1960s.