There were shades of Miami in Paris last week.

Designer Esteban Cortazar drew partly on his tropical roots for his spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection at Emanuel Ungaro. His fluttering frocks, some with hemlines that landed closer to the bottom than the knee, cried for a salty breeze.

The Colombian-born, sartorial whiz kid has yet to hit 25, and seems most inclined to dress women with legs not a day older than he.

But Cortazar also speaks the ageless language of luxe, and his rich -- usually subdued -- colors ran together in a lovely, sophisticated mess. Strange trains billowed behind short dresses. And there was a triumph of artful asymmetry.

Cortazar added Panama hats for a dose of gravitas.

Take this seriously, those muted straw toppers said, for Paris ain't Lincoln Road.

-- KATHRYN WEXLER

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