Balenciaga

Being Demna Gvasalia’s debut collection for Balenciaga, this was one of the most hotly anticipated shows of this season’s Paris Fashion Week. The focus was on new shapes and silhouettes – padded hip suits and cocoon-shaped, off-the-shoulder parkas and duvet jackets – that paid tribute to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s couture techniques but reinterpreted them with a modern, utilitarian influence. Gvasalia also heads the Paris-based collective Vetements and the floral scarf dresses, check prints and thigh-high boots echoed the familiar, blockbuster styles found in the label’s highly “wearable” and celebrated collections. With this show, Gvasalia showed us how couture shapes can be worked into our everyday.   

Chanel

There was a nostalgic touch to the Chanel show set-up: with gilded, high-backed chairs arranged alongside the marathon runway and every one of the 1,500 guests was seated in the front row (not quite the definition of intimate, but close enough?). But there was nothing old-fashioned about Lagerfeld’s reworking of staple Chanel pieces. The house’s famous tweed suits had a toughness about them, with frayed, deconstructed edges. And the classic quilted pattern was re-imagined in a drawstring wrap coat with gorgeous embellishments. Then there were the emoji prints on jackets and flap bags, in the form of victory hand belts, thumbs-up sign and cat-face bangles. The show was quintessential Chanel with a playful 21^st century edge. We wanted it all.

Dior

This was the first ready-to-wear show since Raf Simons’ departure from Dior last October, with studio heads Serge Ruffieux and Lucie Meier designing in the interim before a permanent replacement is announced. As ever, the impeccable craftsmanship and technical skill of the house was on display, with masterfully tailored separates featured including balloon-sleeved sweaters, elegant crepe dresses and reinterpretations of Dior’s signature Bar jacket in intricate prints. The hand-painted Devoré velvets and printed knits were simply divine.

Loewe

Jonathan Anderson turned his unusual location of the grand Unesco building into one of the most exquisite show settings, with guests taking their seat on beautiful concrete and Perspex boxes containing household items like light bulbs and disposable razors. There was an ancient goddess feel to the Loewe collection – with the chainmail sleeves on a minimal nude dress, the corset bodices in leather and gold, and the predominantly brown and hemp-toned colour story. Jonathan Anderson has such an inspired way of bringing history into an unexpectedly modern setting: this time, with playfully cartoonish kitty necklaces and a rhinestone-studded “Loewe” band tee that I expect to see much more of in the street style of seasons to come. 

Sonia Rykiel

Brimming with that oh-so-French charm, the Sonia Rykiel show was an uber-chic affair, tousled up with some fun and flirtatious details. Pom-pom platforms, huge shag-fur shoppers, sequin accent dresses and cosy fur-sleeved jackets that gave a true power-silhouette to its wearer.

Valentino

Valentino’s co-creative directors Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri always create strikingly vivid worlds for each new season. This new chapter was all about ballet: some looks were breathtakingly ballet-beautiful, straight out of a Tchaikovsky performance. Others had a more modern feel with chunky boots and pavement-pounding appeal. Think studded leather jackets against black tulle followed by angelic, dusty-pink gowns – a real Black Swan balance of cool girl and delicate, feminine innocence. All of it was sublime.

Y/Project

While typically androgynous and menswear focused, Y/Project’s first ever show on the women’s calendar opened with an ultra-feminine corset and skirt-suit styled with a dainty court shoe and tulle socks. That’s not to say the collection was a departure from the six-year-old brand’s expertise in sculptural tailoring. The show was full of innovative designs, including parachute details across sleeves and jacket closures. The brand’s relevance at the moment, with soon-to-be must-have items such as their fresh take on jeans (with a chaps-like detailing on the legs), meant a lot of sporty streetwear elements that will be dominating the seasons ahead.