A model displays an outfit for Chloe in Paris on Saturday. (Reuters)

Paris, Oct. 8 (AP): The dress is the star of next summer’s wardrobe, and Paris designers last night offered a dizzying array of options ranging from tunics to baby dolls and sweeping floorlength gowns.

French label Chloe, one of the hottest tickets in town, sent out richly embroidered 70s-style shifts that paid homage to American heiress Gloria Vanderbilt, in a collection that is sure to spawn dozens of high street copies.

Kenzo went African with brightly printed muumuus and matching turbans. A floorlength sleeveless fuchsia goddess gown with a jewelled Empire waistband recalled the hothouse glamour of Elizabeth Taylor in the 1960s.

At Hermes, singer Janet Jackson and other front row guests lounged in orange- canvassed deckchairs as models ambled over a set evoking a giant ocean liner in airy long chiffon sundresses printed with sunflowers or polka dots.

After several years of frilly, feminine styles, fashion is swinging toward minimalism with a focus on volume and cut. Dresses are flaring out into short trapeze shapes with sculpted balloon sleeves, the better to show off long tanned legs.

Chloe is largely to credit for the austere styles that began flooding department stores this fall.

For next season, it stuck to clean lines with prim schoolgirl coats and Peter Pan collars. Short A-line shifts featured patchwork detail while tunics came embroidered with circular patterns of sparkling stones or more subtle wood and gilt beads.

“I loved it, it was so beautiful,” actress Kate Bosworth told AP. “(There were) bolder prints than I’ve seen Chloe do before, which is really exciting.”

Retailers adore the label, whose sales more than doubled last year. Closely watched as an indicator of trends, it is under even more intense scrutiny since its designer Phoebe Philo resigned in January to spend more time with her family.

Chloe said it would announce a replacement next week, amid reports that it has tapped Paolo Melin Anderson, a little-known designer previously at Italy’s Marni label.

The last two collections have been conceived by an in-house team under Yvan Mispelaere, who bid farewell to friends backstage before his impending departure for Milan, where he will design for Gucci.

Robert Burke, head of the luxury consulting firm Robert Burke Associates, said the minimalist trend required skillful presentation on the part of retailers.

“It’s a more intellectual sale, as opposed to an impulsive sale. It’s all in how it’s displayed, how it’s merchandised, how it’s shown in the windows,” he told AP.