Paris Fashion Week Says Bonjour Despite Economic Woes

New York, London and Milan are all finished, which means it's on to the final stop of the four big Fashion Week stops — Paris. The nine-day event kicked off Tuesday amid worries about a struggling economy and much brouhaha about who would take the helm of some of the fashion industry's biggest brands.

The first show to go up in Paris chose the city's most iconic site as its locale. Portuguese designer Fatima Lopes’ spring-summer 2012 ready-to-wear collection took place atop the Eiffel Tower, hovering over a breathtaking view of the city below.

Lopes' spectacular showing has many talking, but not as much as the Christian Dior show coming up on Friday. The brand is still without a designer six months after John Galliano was abruptly canned due to his making anti-Semitic remarks at a Paris bar. Speculation as to who will replace him has cycled through some of the most recognizable names in fashion, not least among them Marc Jacobs. If Jacobs leaves his post at Louis Vuitton, then another gap will open, which only fuels further speculation.

Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello, another first day opener, got rave reviews with his collection of mostly black minidresses that showed off his models' sexy legs.