Yves Saint Laurent brought the Paris autumn haute couture collection to a close yesterday with a collection of infinite style and sophistication.
He picked a romantic Russian theme with fur hats and velvet riding coats inspired by the great Cossack horsemen.
Saint Laurent's style is quintessentially French - from the floppy bow neckline of his satin blouses to his velvet off-the-shoulder evening dresses. Saint Laurent, like Valentino and Oscar de la Renta, still retains great power in the hallowed salons of haute couture, but there is a new generation making its mark, especially Jean-Paul Gaultier and John Galliano.
This season a young buck joins the group, namely Julien Macdonald, who is more famous for his page three sparkling premiere dresses than his tailoring skill. However, LVMH (owners of Givenchy) saw something in his work that others had missed and appointed the young Welsh wizard to follow in the footsteps of the recently departed Alexander McQueen at Givenchy.
It was a difficult transition to make and Macdonald studiously avoided his signatures - flesh-baring glitz - for an almost austere collection of sophisticated and covered-up tailoring.
Paris this season, however, has been about Galliano and Gaultier, whose collections were a fusion of east-meets-west. Galliano's collection for Dior was colourful, exuberant and full of crazy styling, while Gaultier's was a remarkably controlled, elegant view of Shanghai glamour with a little Latino twist.
Dior, meanwhile, was a joyful multi-ethnic mix that is now referred to as Galliano's global Gypsies: a blend of Moorish princesses, Rajasthani Gypsies, Wall Street executives and Samurai warriors.
Ungaro joined the cultural mix with his wispy lace and chiffon harem outfits and Balmain and Lacroix added a distinctly Spanish flavour of their own.
The couturiers have a great respect for French tradition, but it is promising to see the younger generation giving it a bit of a radical spin.
The acclaimed Irish milliner Philip Treacy returned to the Paris catwalk on Tuesday night in dramatic fashion.
In a collection called "Severe Beauty" he presented hats that ranged in inspiration from the white nun's wimple to a witty white cocktail titfer that spelled out the word "hat".
In true Treacy style there were elegant arrow-shaped straw hats that sprouted black pearls and feathers like fireworks and his signature comma-style that sits on the forehead shooting red feathers that curl around the face. Feathers twisted and coiled like cocktail twizzles and faces were either framed by a perspex disc or a pagoda turban of green silk.