Paris
Paris Fashion Week is probably still the most exciting of the big four. It's a week in which four-inch candy-coloured wedges are more common than baguettes - especially across the gravelly ground around Les Jardin de Tuileries. OK, we're exaggerating, but the city, even more so than usual, unashamedly embraces style.
Despite the spectre of the John Galliano scandal, things became increasingly optimistic on the runway as the week wore on. Rather than a strict minimalist austerity, trends veered towards a newfound maturity, with one eye on the 1970s and another on the 30s and 40s. Crossed-eyed perhaps, but the results were gorgeous shapes embracing volume and curves, especially along the shoulder and hip in gentle lines.
A few designers championed black and white but, on the whole, colours echoed mature sentiments; deep and inky with some set in 70s palettes. Androgyny or masculine dressing for women was another huge autumn-winter 2011/12 trend. Grown-up sophistication was subtly underscored with sheers, leathers, cutouts and restrained sexuality.
It was a hectic week for Galliano, given his dramatic arrest and speedy sacking by Dior, but those who speculated his eponymous label's show would be called off were wrong. A presentation to a select few at a discreet location displayed a blissful balance of fantasy and seduction. The 30s-inspired line was reworked with sex appeal and flair.
Christian Dior's show also showcased Galliano's signature skills in fantasy and seduction, although the models' fun, flirtatious posturing seemed at odds with the emotional opening speech by Dior chief executive Sidney Toledano, who deplored the anti-semitic comments made in a bar by Galliano. Layered silhouettes evoked dandies and romantic poets in silk jacquard tunics, and breeches were worn with sweeping hooded cloaks in rich dark shades. However, it wasn't a fitting swansong for the designer, who had given 15 years to the brand. Pretty boudoir pieces of sheer girlish chiffon and tulle closed the show.
The silver-grey bouffant wigs at Jean Paul Gaultier's show reinforced an almost universal emphasis this year on maturity. The show was opened by French comedienne Valerie Lemercier, who strutted and stripped off heavy layers. Models followed suit to reveal delicious bourgeois outfits steeped in louche luxury.