Decorating the tree can bring out a highly competitive Christmas spirit. Colour coordinating baubles that were sometime 'du jour' are considered a festive faux-paus next season. Icy minimalist trees that decked the halls are cast aside for bushy spruces, candlelight and a very Victorian Christmas.
Even the creatively dulled throw tinsel aside and make an effort with the festive centrepiece: the Christmas tree. So imagine the artistic frisson when fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Stella McCartney got together with Sonia Rykiel, Dior and other style 'artistes' to design a Christmas tree in their signature style.
At the 'Hotel Salomon de Rothschild' in Paris, these celebrity fashion designers gathered for an exhibition of just that, in aid of Cancer research charity 'A.V.E.C. They may not be traditionally festive, but these trees are definitely cutting edge.