Walking, Paris' elite cadre of haute couture designers seems to have determined, is out - at least for the handful of women wealthy enough to fork out the price of a car for a single dress.
Judging from the hobbling looks on display Tuesday at Chanel and Giorgio Armani Prive's fall-winter 2011-12 haute couture displays, women rich enough to afford four-to-five-figure ensembles should never need suffer the injustice of actually having to walk.
Instead, let them mince, like the poor models who struggled to make it down the Chanel and Armani catwalks without incident.
Walking was a trial by fire at emerging French designer Julien Fournie's show, too, where bowling shoes had been fitted with weighted cork platforms that forced the models to walk on pointe, like ballet dancers. By the end, the models were turning back only halfway down the runway, in a bid to save their battered feet.
Footwear wasn't the issue at Stephane Rolland, but a few of the Frenchman's elaborate, sculptural garments also posed some mobility issues. Though most of his dramatic gowns in flowing silk were easy enough to move in, Rolland's bride was so weighed down in her embroidery-covered wedding gown that she got momentarily stuck at the end of the runway.
Only rising French star Alexandre Vauthier's sexy she-devils in head-to-toe red and Rabih Kayrouz's barefoot models - who splashed through the water-covered runway in breathable, flattering knit dresses - had a full range of motion on Tuesday.
Paris' three-day-long couture extravaganza wraps up on Wednesday with shows by romantic Italian label Valentino, Lebanese red-carpet wonder Elie Saab and one-time French enfant terrible Jean Paul Gaultier.