Fashion: The Paris catwalks are going underground to stay on top: Roger Tredre previews a venue beneath the Louvre designed for designers

THE READY-TO-WEAR shows which closed in Paris last week were the last to be held overground. Next season, the shows move into a purpose-built venue beneath the Louvre.

The world's first international fashion centre is due to be completed in October. At the centrepiece of the pounds 40m development, named the Carrousel du Louvre, are four catwalk auditoriums, which are the first in the world to be designed specifically for the presentation of fashion.

Since the Seventies, designers in Paris, Milan, London and New York have staged catwalk shows in dozens of different venues, including hotels, conference halls and theatres. Most designers in Paris currently show in tents erected in the Cour Carree of the Louvre.

Ironically, the Carrousel will open at a time when the value of the catwalk show is being questioned. At this season's shows many designers shunned the expensive Louvre tents in favour of smaller and cheaper venues dotted across the city. Some designers argue that the era of the big catwalk extravaganza is over; others argue that it is still the most effective means to show a collection.

Jacques Mouclier, president of the Chambre Syndicale, an association which represents French fashion designers, is certainly in the latter camp. In an interview with the Independent, he was confident that the arrival of the Carrousel would change the minds of the doubters. 'The catwalk show is still the best means for presenting fashion. Up to now, we haven't found anything better.'

The scale of the new scheme is breathtaking. There are four auditoriums, designed as elongated amphitheatres to allow a clear view of the stage from all seats. The sizes of the auditoriums vary from a 1,500-seater down to a 500- seater; altogether, the four venues will seat a total of 3,900. The auditoriums also include pits for photographers, video rostrums, dressing rooms and rest rooms.

The complex includes shops and an inverted pyramid by the architect I M Pei, linked by a 250-metre underground gallery to the Louvre Museum entrance hall, beneath Mr Pei's above- ground pyramid. The opening is being timed to coincide with the opening of the Richelieu wing of the Louvre museum and the new Carrousel gardens.

The number of designers choosing to show in Paris rather than Milan and London has been steadily rising since the early Eighties when Japanese designers such as Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto moved to France. More recently, Italy's Romeo Gigli, Valentino and Gianni Versace shifted some of their catwalk presentations. Then came the British, including Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Katharine Hamnett and John Richmond. The opening of the Carrousel will accelerate this international convergence.

Mr Mouclier says the open attitude of the French to foreign names is now reaping rewards. 'It has been our policy for 10 years to bring foreign designers to Paris. The Italians didn't have the same policy. They did not want foreigners, and they now regret that they were not more open.'

He is rightly confident about the long-term future. For even if the Carrousel takes several seasons to find its feet, its opening will confirm once and for all that Paris is the centre for international fashion.