Burnout drama
Of course, the biggest story was the John Galliano debacle, which will forever be etched into fashion legend. Like a slow-motion car crash, we watched the enfant terrible's dramatic fall from grace after his arrest for anti-semitic comments in a Parisian bar. His public image and career tumbled over the edge with the appearance of that notorious video on YouTube. The Dior door had barely swung shut before speculation had Riccardo Tisci, Alber Elbaz and Haider Ackermann as frontrunners to replace him. Talk about the ridiculous pressures of this fast-paced industry increased when reports suggested Balmain designer Christophe Decarnin was being treated for depression. He didn't appear at the show.
Up in smoke?
Fashionistas never stopped smoking, even when it became uncool for everybody else to do so. This season and not surprisingly, Lady Gaga puffed away at a fag as she strutted her stuff for Mugler in Paris, under the creative directorship of a friend, Nicola Formichetti. Also in the French capital, Kate Moss closed Louis Vuitton's tongue-in-cheek fetish-themed collection by strutting down the catwalk, puffing on a cigarette.
Model talk
Chinese models such as Liu Wen, Shu Pei and Du Juan are increasingly familiar faces on international runways. Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Stella Tennant and Karolina Kurkova all walked - in a celebration of iconic faces before 14-year-old Bambi's became de rigueur. Fortysomething comedienne Valerie Lemercier opened and closed at Jean Paul Gaultier, to much applause.