A date with luxury...literally.

Christen Dior Couture Dress 2009-2010

As Couture Fashion Week begins in Paris today, I'm feeling slightly unglamorous in wintery Michigan. While it seems a tad unfair 95% of us will never see such magnificent creations in the flesh and tulle, I'm soaking it all up on Vogue.com and the twittering of VogueParisLive amongst other real-time updates.

The esteemed fashion tribes are busy bees these days. Moving on from the Men's shows wrapping up in Milan and Paris to Couture Fashion this week warming us up for ready to wear in NYC starting Feb. 11.

More from Vogue France:

The week kicked off yesterday with formerBalenciaga helmer Josephus Thimister, who has returned to the couture fold under his own name after almost a decade as a ready-to-wear creative director. Today the shows begin in earnest, with young gun Alexis Mabille occupying the first spot in a day's schedule that also includes warring fashion heavyweights Christian Dior and Giorgio Armani Privé (read about Armani's Dior fight here).

Tuesday sees Cheryl Cole's couturier of choice, Stéphane Rolland(read our exclusive collection preview here), show his collection along with Givenchy and possibly the most anticipated show of the week: Chanel. Wednesday rounds off the couture offering with Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino all presenting their collections - and taking us ever closer to the beginning of ready-to-wear in New York on February 11.