MANILA, Philippines--Three days before the Stella McCartney S/S 2010 show in Paris, Arabella Rufino, worldwide PR director of Stella McCartney, said: ?The clothes were flown in from Italy and are being tweaked now for the show.? The brand?s previous collections, all feminine with a good balance of softness and dose of structure, signature McCartney, were a hint of what was to come. Would we see more simplicity a la this season?s Ghesquiere and Elbaz? Regurgitated slashing and safari colors like in Balmain? Florals?

The crowd at the Palais de Tokyo trickled in as the rain outside began to pour. Sir Paul McCartney walked past the ropes at 10 a.m. Carine Roitfeld hurried in wearing a deep chestnut jacket. Inside, she was seated diagonally opposite Suzy Menkes, who was about 10 people down from Gwyneth Paltrow. Sir Paul McCartney sat to Paltrow?s right. The best seat in the house, dead center, was given to PPR chairman François Henri Pinault, three people down from McCartney.

The first few pieces down the runway consisted of softly tailored pants and jackets, ladylike and restrained. An off-white shantung jacket with ruffles, worn by Natalia Vladimirova, simple and wearable, foreshadowed the pieces to come.

Khaki-colored and earth tone separates were soft and loosely structured; harem pants were paired with slightly boxy jackets. Denim skirts and carpenter overalls were a throwback to the 1980s, but with a soft, strolling-through-the-backyard feel, rather than an urban or countryside look. Loose white shirts and a tunic gave the feeling of ease. This is what you can throw on after a long day at the office.

The clothes were upbeat, simple, relaxed; the mood carried on by light hip-hop and a printed-screen backdrop with the word ?YES? on it. These were items for everybody, everyday. A working woman, or young mother, or party reveler?a fresh approach to match a simpler lifestyle for 2010.

Bags

The bags were equally as unfussy: a square, white shoulder bag, square resin clutches. A bag of curved slats called flirtatiously, like two palms touching only at the tip of the fingers and the base of the palm. Wedge espadrilles or a simple pair of heels?in particular, the brand?s unistrap shoe, a contrast to the strappier designs of other fashion houses?completed the unfettered looks.

A light rose-pink dress, to be worn at any occasion, gave way to an almost neon blue perfectly tailored dress with a flat lapel on the bodice. A jacket in the same fabric was paired with a pair of harem pants, the cuts reminiscent of the late 1980s/early 1990s, boyish and fresh. If the tailoring of these clothes was any indication of the brand?s bespoke men?s items, one might hurry to have himself measured.

An orange pleated minidress, reminiscent of a flower in bloom, swung down the runway, a few looks before the mistress of the show: a ruffled one-shoulder maroon and red floral-printed blouse with floral silk layers, like petals of a flower.

The queen of the catwalk remained the shantung ruffled jacket, the first piece out: a balance of perfectly-executed tailoring, masculine appeal and feminine charm. Like most of Stella McCartney?s designs for S/S 2010, it conveyed simple elegance.