Saint Laurent

Anthony Vacerello made clothes all but disappear on his Saint Laurent runway. Transparent hosiery fabric, breast-baring pussy bow blouses and halter-neck tops worn with equally sheer pencil skirts that revealed knickers came in a chic colour palette of taupe, claret, olive and camel. Inspiration came from Marilyn Monroe singing Happy birthday to JFK in that sheer Jean Louis dress, and Yves Saint Laurent’s own scandal-causing sheer blouse from 1966. Less bare but equally sexy looks were seen in fluid tailoring and Studio 54 worthy marabou feather jackets.

Chloé

A no-notes debut for Chemena Kamali with a collection that struck the balance between modernity and nostalgia. The quintessential 70s Chloé woman is back, with scalloped edge blouses, tumbling chiffon ruffles and enviable handbag. The original boho poster woman, Sienna Miller, sat front row. “Chloé is about emotion, it’s about feelings and female energy,” Kamali said backstage, “dressing is a part of self-discovery: how we evolve as women in different stages of our life.” One of the week’s heart-warming viral moments came when Kamali’s young son made a dash to hug her as she took her bow.

Dior

For her AW24 Dior collection Maria Grazia Chiuri focused on the launch of the Miss Dior line in 1967, when Marc Bohan was at the helm of Dior. The introduction of off-the-peg heralded a new way of dressing for women. The silhouette for AW24 mimics the anti nipped-waist aesthetic that emerged in 1967. A blown-up of version of the Miss Dior logo came emblazoned across trenches, mini skirts and A-line wrap skirts. Models walked around a set of cane figure sculptures conceived by Indian artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, who explores the female body and its relationship to different spaces.

Loewe

Art and craft is at the heart of Jonathan Anderson’s collections for Loewe. For AW24 he turned the show space into an exhibition for American artist Albert York. Models walked through the gallery rooms wearing fashion equivalents of masterpieces; whole looks painstakingly covered in caviar beads (a video on the brand’s Instagram revealed the by-hand technique). The level of detail is unmatched: a fur-look coat collar turned out to be carved from wood. Belts featured heavily, with buckles and straps being used almost as jewellery on shirts and a focal point of cutaway red carpet dresses.

Rick Owens

As with his menswear show in January, Rick Owens opened the doors to his home in the 7th arrondissement. Show notes recalled how as a child Owens’s father (who wouldn’t allow a TV in the house) would read Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi fantasy books to him, and it was the cast of “weird but noble” alien characters from these tales that inspired many of this season’s looks. Spacesuits came in recycled cashmere, swaddled in matching hooded robes. Leather jackets and coats were beautifully cut, and brutalist shapes from Owens’s furniture designs were applied to sleek clutches.

Dries Van Noten

Summing up his AW24 woman with “she dares to cut her own fringe”, Van Noten presented a cacophony of delicious watercolour pastel and saturated shades that clashed artfully. Looks were skilfully layered: shirts were worn backwards; popped collars created high necks; shirt cuffs hung down out of sweater sleeves. Shaggy Lurex was mixed with sweatshirt jersey and duchesse satin. Everything felt spontaneous: swaddling scarves fashioned from garments: sheer mesh tops stretched over shirts; creases became part of the look. A masterclass in style.

Vetements

The pop culture references came thick and fast in Guram Gvasalia’s AW24 Vetements show. Everything got supersized, from a Steiff teddy bear coat collaboration with Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (baggy jeans with trailing trains in the back of each leg), to a witty take on Paris and Nicky Hilton’s 2005 Team Aniston and Team Jolie T-shirts. In between the gargantuan garments were slinky bodycon crystal gowns. Georgina Rodríguez walked in an autographed dress version of her partner Ronaldo’s Number 7 shirt. Desperate Housewives’s Marcia Cross closed the show in a red embellished gown.

Issey Miyake

Titled What Has Always Been, Satoshi Kondo’s AW24 collection looked at how clothing the human body predates garment making. Inspired by this Kondo played with drapery, layering, folding, twisting and asymmetrical composition, opening with flowerlike forms featuring extra long trailing sleeves and fluted cuffs, and a scarf that grew from the top of a hat to resemble a bluebell. Pattern came with a selection of native Japanese flowers and herb leaves defined by felting. The show closed with a series of light-as-air pleated robes in block colour that enveloped the models.

Balenciaga

Demna’s love of eBay saw him select 800 items from the resale website as invitations, plus eBay logo T-shirts in the collection. The love of upcycling continued with “1 minute designs” – clothing (including bras) thrown together and sewn as one new garment. Unveiled within a huge LED-screen-covered box with a fast-changing backdrop images of nature, Paris scenes and thousands of scrolling Tiktok videos. There were a million ideas bouncing around, no wonder a voice note from Demna sent to show-goers stated: “I believe that creativity has secretly become a new form of luxury.”

Stella McCartney

Olivia Colman and Helen Mirren voiced a manifesto to Mother Earth for the show soundtrack. Note perfect tailoring came in dusky pink and heritage tweed made from responsibly sourced wool and lead-free crystal embellishments (which also appeared as appliquéd lips on deadstock Falabella bags – available to buy immediately). Silk mini dresses had 80s padded power shoulders, and croc trench coats and skirts were constructed from Uppeal – an apple-based vegan alternative. Ringo Starr joined Paul McCartney on the front row.

Victoria Beckham

Having broken her foot at the gym two weeks previously, Victoria Beckham had to forego wearing her new season drop-crotch tailored trousers to take her bow on crutches. “I don’t need another accident,” she joked at a preview. Showing press through the pieces she said “it was about going back to my roots and celebrating the silhouette”: high-neck coats, strong shoulders and ski-style knitwear. Key pieces included a billowing dress reminiscent of washing blowing on the line, while abstract metal brooches on dresses nodded to both wire coat hangers and Picasso’s light drawings.

Alexander Mcqueen

For his Alexander McQueen debut Seán McGirr focused on youth and the raw energy of early McQueen shows (though his Irish roots came through in the Enya soundtrack). Referencing “The Birds” collection from 1995, the show opened with a glossy black figure-hugging dress. Backstage he said “there’s a vocabulary [at the house]: peaked lapel, a strong shoulder and a waist, and my job is to bring a new energy to that”. Especially noteworthy were cocooning knitwear and the finale of car bodywork sculptural dresses (a nod to his mechanic father) in Lamborghini lime and Aston Martin.

Vivienne Westwood

Andreas Kronthaler referenced a Giovanni Battista Moroni exhibition that reminded him of his early days working with Vivivenne and their shared passion for history. Working with historical dressmaking patterns from the 1600s and protective sports gear, he played with codpieces, breeches, doublets and slashed materials. Sons of Sissy, an Austrian trio of performance artists, entertained with a rousing centrestage recital of birdsong and bottom slapping. Sam Smith made a cameo in a tartan codpiece and towering platform heels, while carrying a staff.

Hermès

In a life imitating art moment, the heavens opened both outside the Hermès show and inside on the catwalk where the set was designed to look like a wet Paris street at night. Titled “The Rider”, the show saw Nadège Vanhée look at the pursuits and apparel of motorcycling and horse riding. Sturdy boots featured heavily, alongside a studded biker jacket, the construction of which bore the imprint of a saddle. Jodhpurs were reinvented as leather long johns, a saddle pad transformed into a quilted leather biker jacket, and a blanket coat unfurled into a real blanket.

Rabanne

A theme in Paris for AW24 was everyday clothes – labels with avant garde at the core of their DNA showed more functional collections. At Rabanne, where chainmail is the go-to, Julien Dossena offered up multiple desirable quotidian options. Each look had at least three components and any single garment vied to be the piece you’d treasure for years. The collection had a chic, “just strolled in from the Left Bank” air about it. Outerwear was roomy to accommodate multiple visible layers underneath. Trophy tights, embellished with silver sequins, were a standout.

Valentino

Pierpaolo Piccioli took a leaf out of Henry Ford’s book: any shade you want for AW24, as long as it’s black. Quoting Charles Baudelaire in his show notes, he noted “black is the uniform of democracy”. The distinctly feminine and powerful silhouettes represented the codes of Valentino – rosettes, ruffles, embroideries, lace – all rendered black on black. Style-wise they covered day to night bases, with the emphasis on evening; mini to maxi hemlines in cocktail dresses; and sheer chiffon gowns scattered with chiffon flowers. A welcome reset.

Louis Vuitton

For his 10-year anniversary at the helm of Louis Vuitton womenswear, Nicolas Ghesquière delved into his own archive and referenced his unique intergalactic time-traveller aesthetic, where historical references abound but are seen through a futuristic lens. Clever nods to Vuitton’s history came in dresses with prints of luggage trunks. Cabochon jewels, frock coats, tracksuits and scuba-shoulder silhouettes were styled with heeled brogues, colourful ankle boots and fluffy mittens. The feather-effect finale dresses were laser-cut from fabric. Ghesquière remains light years ahead.