PARIS - Putting a collection together for Paris fashion week is a nerve-wracking experience in the best of times. Just try doing it in the middle of a revolution.

Egyptian designer Marie Bishara did, and it is a stroke of luck that she even got to the French capital with her sophisticated and feminine looks in the wake of the uprising that put paid to Hosni Mubarak's government.

"It was a great revolution, but all around you needed to keep things going," Bishara said as she unveiled her latest fall-winter and cruise lines. "It needed more discipline. Everybody knew we had a challenge to be on time."