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Ann Demeulemeester turned to the iconoclastic Dada movement for her outfits, while Veronique Branquinho mixed East and West to create Monsieur Butterfly.

A scratchy recording of an interview with art provocateur Marcel Duchamp opened Demeulemeester's latest show. It came from an old disc her husband Patrick found in a market in Shanghai.

Demeulemeester and fellow Belgian Branquinho's lines unveiled like chalk and cheese and both explained their inspiration behind the themes.

Branquinho's models, strutting to the beat of Belgian rock band Monky Pussy, sported a eclectic mixture of styles, from classic leather jackets and long black pullovers to thongs teamed up with a trench-coat with flapping kimono sleeves.

Gut-punching colours abounded. A T-shirt with pencil-thin horizontal stripes peeked out under a flowing satin shirt in electric blue. A pair of trousers had bold stripes.

"It's multicultural, with the fine details of Asia, like shirts with ethnic styles closing at the shoulders or the trench coat with kimono sleeves. It's the marriage of East and West," Branquinho says.

Demeulemeester meanwhile sought inspiration from the "anti-art" Dada movement which began shortly after World War I and aimed to challenge all that was established in the world of the arts, literature, thinking and fashion.

"It's a very eccentric personality, very free-spirited, very artistic, who mixes day, afternoon and evening wear," she says.

Kris van Assche, who making his much-awaited debut at Christian Dior, took his own label to the countryside, inspired by the strong black and white images of the early 20th century German photographer August Sander.

The 31-year-old Belgian, who trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, worked for Yves Saint Laurent before crossing over to Dior menswear, which he left in 2004 to create his own label.

He favoured big white peasant shirts and tunics protruding below the jackets over wide black trousers. Waistcoats were split at the back to show a singlet or glimpse of bare skin.

Belgian Walter Van Beirendonck's vivid animal-like collection with wonderful headdresses coloured the runway with a surrealistic collection.

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Yotel in Britain

Have a long connecting flight? If you're lucky enough to transfer at Gatwick Airport in London, you can check into the Yotel located in the South Terminal. Run by IFA Hotels & Resorts, the hotel provides a private place to relax available from just four hours or overnight from £25 (Bt1,620).

The Yotel concept was originally developed by Yo Founder Simon Woodroffe, whose idea was to create cabins that provide a flexible and convenient first-class hotel experience at an affordable price.

Yotel CEO Gerard Greene says, "Our designers built upon the technology and advanced use of space seen in business-class airline cabins and luxury yachts to realise the two-tier Yotel cabin system."

Premium rooms have a double bed while Standard rooms have a large single bed. Both types of rooms have enough room for two people as well as en-suite bathrooms, free Wi-Fi Internet, television with 60 free channels, snack bar, room service and storage.

Several other locations have already been identified as ideal for Yotels, including Dubai, the Netherlands, Singapore, Germany, New York, Russia, India and South Africa.

In the near future, a Yotel designed by Raimond Land is expected to open at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

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Waxy Harry

A waxworks model of British actor Daniel Radcliffe is pictured at Madame Tussauds Museum in London. The 17-year-old Harry Potter star is the youngest actor to be immortalised in wax. The latest film in the series, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix', opens at the Krungsri Imax Theatre on Tuesday (see Page 12).