Tori Amos makes Viktor and Rolf's dreams come true

The flame-haired American singer Tori Amos captivated the audience at Viktor & Rolf's fashion show held at the intimate Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris yesterday. Swaying wildly as she played a grand piano set in the middle of a stage, Amos, dressed in a kimono with matching trousers and high heels, sang a composition that appeared to refer to unrest in the Middle East, as models circled around her piano wearing Viktor & Rolf's autumn/winter 2005 collection.

The flame-haired American singer Tori Amos captivated the audience at Viktor & Rolf's fashion show held at the intimate Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris yesterday. Swaying wildly as she played a grand piano set in the middle of a stage, Amos, dressed in a kimono with matching trousers and high heels, sang a composition that appeared to refer to unrest in the Middle East, as models circled around her piano wearing Viktor & Rolf's autumn/winter 2005 collection.

However, the predominant theme for this collection seemed not to be any political issue but dreams and fantasy. A lipstick-red satin duvet coat, worn with enormous feather pillows pinioned to the back of a model's head, her hair splayed across it as if tucked up in bed, was both surreal and charming.

The Dutch design duo behind yesterday's spectacle - also known as Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren - are famed for staging high-impact theatrical conceits while other designers are content to settle for a simple catwalk. For past shows the bespectacled designers have made over a cast of models as clones of the actress Tilda Swinton, projected videos onto electric-blue clothing and, at the beginning of their careers, launched a perfume in a bottle that couldn't be opened. Last year they debuted their first real perfume, but it seems that mainstream success has not yet satiated their appetite for drama.

Yesterday's concert-cum-fashion show, held in a theatre known for its avant-garde productions, was one of their most gripping yet. However, there were plenty of real-life clothes suitable for a woman's waking hours on show. While Amos sang passionately, Viktor & Rolf for their part sent out an ode to the classic white shirt, which was either given a froth of bedlinen-style broderie anglais at the collar or pinned with embroidery samples. In this predominantly black and white collection the designers also demonstrated that they can cut a mean pair of trousers - the commercial mainstay of many fashion brands. Theirs are flat fronted and boyish, or quilted and worn with a tuxedo jacket.

For evening, Viktor & Rolf proposed either black wrap dresses or oyster or caramel-coloured floor sweeping gowns with pretty drapes of fabric falling from model's bare shoulders.

A final fairytale princess dress of ivory tulle and satin embellished with the words "I Love You" written in red sequinned script spelt out a happy ending for the duo's dreamlike spectacle.