Paris Fashion Week opens with a bevy of international designers

Paris Fashion Week opened in the city of lights (and fashion) Tuesday, and will showcase an array of international designers in addition to some of France's biggest names. 

Designers from around the world are converging on what many consider the style capital of the world (there, there, New York) to showcase their pret-a-porter, or ready-to-wear, Spring/Summer 2013 collections over the nine-day fashion showcase. 

Portuguese designer Fatima Lopes showed her collection in the opening show at Paris' historic Gare de L'Est Tuesday, offering up a contrast to the vintage surroundings with bright colors and sharp, futuristic ensembles. Belgian designers Veronique Branquinho and Anthony Vaccarello are also on the schedule for the Week's first day, New York Magazine reported. 

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Also on the schedule for the week are five Asian designers, including South Korean designers Moon Young-Hee and Lie Sang Bong, Taiwan's Shiatzy Chen, Chinese designer Masha Ma, and Japanese label Sacai, the Malaysian Insider reported. 

Indian fashion designer Manish Arora will also show his collection, inspired by Indian jewelry, which was also seen influencing major designers at New York Fashion Week like Vera Wang and Marchesa.  

"I thought that it is high time that I actually showcase the real Indian silhouette to the world," Arora told Manorama Online. "India is on everyone's mind- silhouette wise or fabric wise. We saw at the recently-held New York Fashion Week. So, I thought why not me?" 

German designer Wolfgang Joop, who has been on a two-year hiatus, will also be back on the runway this week with a new collection for his label "Wunderkind," Deutsche Welle reported. 

The industry's newer designers will give way later in the week to heavy-weights like Dior, Chanel, Mui Mui and Marc Jacobs, Vogue reported. 

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Here, some of the best photos from Paris so far: 

Which collections are you most looking forward to? Are there enough international designers represented at Fashion Week? Let us know in the comments.