"Girls, here's what we are going to do," a coordinator told the girls backstage at the YDE show, as the ultimate show of the season was being disrupted by unrelated protestors on the runway, waving large slogans in red and yellow, related to the working conditions of performing art industry workers. "You need to walk to the left and to the right as people are blocking the runway and pose for the photographers there." 

After a few more minutes of disruptions involving chants and speeches, Danish designer Ole Yde calmly lined up the girls and sent them out on the runway. Guests, who had patiently waited for the show to start, were treated to a whimsical interpretation of 18th century society in France, mixed with a taste of the East through the striking structures of traditional Japanese culture. The designs combined the opulence and decadence of the first group with the minimalism of the second. There were sparkly wrap around coats and sheer gowns with ruffled dropped waists and flowing 70s trouser suits and houndstooth minis or larger prints in his playful feminine collection that, as intended, were sometimes flamboyant and, at other times, more restrained.

However, he probably was not banking on the Revolution. Ten minutes into the show, the lights and music cut and there was a pause in the stream of models some of whom walked back in the dark. Despite the obvious appeal of a pretty collection that combined his signature use of lace, ruffles and brocades with, on this occasion, Japanese paintings and calligraphy, one couldn't help but feel the unfairness of these disruptions. "Why did they have to pick on someone small," Yde questioned, understandably upset at these multiple disruptions. "This was supposed to be a happy show." But despite the bittersweetness, it was not hard to remember the loveliness of his work.