Dior

The show opened with multidisciplinary archer Sagg Napoli, who was inside a glass box, firing an arrow to cue the entrance of models. Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri clearly still had the Olympics on her mind, with sporting references continuing throughout the collection. The mostly monochrome looks saw jackets and shirts cut to fall off one shoulder and accessorized with gauntlet gloves. Bodysuits were styled under transparent dresses and blazers were paired with mesh track pants with go-faster-stripes

Dries Van Noten

Orchids and exotic flowers, reworked and enlarged into abstract prints, appeared like bold brushstrokes on a trench coat and blurred on wide-shouldered jackets. Structure juxtaposed with fluidity, from silk georgette to jacquard. A glossy satin slip in jade green and edged in contrasting orange lace stood apart from masculine stripes. While prints were shown on contrasting backgrounds bursting with bold colour. This was a skillfull reinterpretation of the label’s codes, designed by the studio in Antwerp, brimming full of Van Noten’s eclectic mixes of colour, print and embroidery

Balmain

Creative director Olivier Rousteing channeled Monsieur Balmain’s legendary ‘New French Style’ and the architectural savvy behind his acclaimed ‘Jolie Madame’ silhouette for his latest collection. Plus, having re-entered the world of beauty for the label, he decorated a series of dresses and skirt-suits with photo-realistic faces, requiring hundreds of thousands of beads and weeks of expert embroidery. The designer further evolved the recently launched Les Éternels fragrance by using it as detailing on heels and bag hardware. Precision cuts on tailoring transformed powerful shoulders

Chloé

Chemena Kamali called the show The Freedom collection because she ‘wanted to capture that longing for summer and the way summer makes you feel’. Taking the essence of Chloé’s roots as her starting point, what followed was an evolution of her first collection, complete with high-waisted flared jeans and bathing suits, one with a pink flamingo motif. The palette of sun-faded apricot, blush, pale yellow, mint and dusty blue burst into bloom. And rose and peony prints in cascades of ruffled chiffon, shorter in the front and longer in the back, floated down the catwalk

Issey Miyake

The floor-to-ceiling glass pavilion that Satoshi Kondo chose for the Issey Miyake show was set in a forest on the outskirts of Paris, immersing the audience in nature. The show, entitled ‘The Beauty of Paper’, explored the natural roots of paper. Show notes were written on a piece of washi, a type of traditional Japanese paper made from shrubs and bushes once used as material for clothing. Kondo paid homage to washi in the opening looks that were shot with silk-rayon and stretched yarns, resulting in fold-detailed silhouettes. Pleated looks followed, wrapping around models’ bodies

Loewe

Jonathan Anderson’s show notes said the collection was a ‘radical reduction, stripping everything away’. Silhouettes appeared simple in their form, with flowing curves. The opening dress, a floral chiffon hooped skirt creation, allowed the fabric to float and bounce with movement. The grander dresses, where boning and wiring allowed shapes to expand and protrude, were interspersed with everyday looks, such as exquisitely crafted T-shirts. One pictured Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in feathers, another featured Mozart on silk. Trapeze-line sequin mini dresses added sparkle

Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood

‘Life is beautiful with all its ups and downs.You have to give meaning to it. Get a life!’ Creative director Andreas Kronthaler quoted Vivienne Westwood’s famous saying in his show notes. The focus for SS25 was womenswear, taking Kronthaler on a new path, brimming with beautifully constructed pieces, classic elegance and feminine sexiness. A wrap dress in pale pink was gathered and draped around the body, a one-shoulder layered dress was finished with a scalloped hem, while tailoring was buttoned-up and double-breasted

Valentino

Alessandro Michele’s return to fashion sees him take the reins at Valentino. He unveiled his debut SS25 collection, titled ‘Pavilion des Folies’. It was a celebration of frivolity in life that was set in a room with furniture draped in dust sheets and a cracked mirror floor. With an 80s revival bubbling in fashion, who better to spearhead a return to maximalism than Michele, who deftly mixed references from the Valentino archive from the 60s through to the 80s. Resulting in everything from tiered chiffon dresses, polka dots and bows, to silk turbans, veils and face jewellery

Rick Owens

Paris fashion week saw a constant downpour of rain, until Rick Owens’ show; returning to the usual outdoor venue of the terrace of the Palais de Tokyo. As the sun began to shine, Owens’ cast of otherworldly models was a diverse and inclusive mix of students from Paris design schools. The show played out as a procession, sending groups wearing unified looks – such as unravelling knitted dresses, airy printed chiffon capes and fishtail gowns crafted from denim and brushed with gold metallic paint – down the catwalk

Balenciaga

At Balenciaga models marched along a supersized tabletop (a nod to where Demna’s fashion design journey began – at his grandma’s kitchen table). Garment ingenuity came thick and fast, such as the low-waist jeans, accentuated by cropped hoodies, that referenced Cristóbal Balenciaga’s cocoon silhouette. Open-back bustier tops that slide on to the torso mimicked the way a jewellery cuff hugs the wrist, there were prim blouse dresses that laced up corset-style, and see-through caps pulled down over the face. Plus, a surprise catwalk cameo from Romeo Beckham in a striped polo look

Carven

Louise Trotter chose to show her latest collection at Carven’s historic headquarters on the Champs-Élysées. Within the designs there was a sense of freedom and nonchalance, voluminous silhouettes emerged in tactile textures and delicate tones; the deceptively simple constructions echoed a lightness and fluidity. Long dresses had an undone quality and appeared constructed from a single piece of fabric, suspended by lingerie straps; dresses and tops moulded with origami folds, ironed-in creases or pinched into angular seams. It was a masterclass in charming understated dressing

Coperni

Viral moments are Coperni’s MO (remember the spray-on dress and robot dogs?) For SS25, they raised their own bar impossibly high by closing Paris fashion week with a late-night show at Disneyland Paris. The Magic Kingdom backdrop did not disappoint, and, as fireworks lit up Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Kylie Jenner closed the show in a black Cinderella gown. Other looks included Mickey Mouse T-shirts layered over vintage print shirts, a Maleficent neckline bustier dress and jeans with voluminous satin inserts that gave the impression of fishtail hems. A magical end to fashion month

Miu Miu

Miuccia Prada enlisted an all-star cast to showcase her SS25 collection – Little Simz, Hilary Swank and Alexa Chung all made catwalk cameos with Willem Dafoe closing the show. It wasn’t only the faces that were familiar, many of the looks riffed on past Miu Miu collections, including a geometric print from 2005. However, although familiar, the pieces were put together in new and exciting ways. Cutaway swimsuits were worn under blazers and peekaboo side cotton dresses. Knitwear was tied, bustier style, around the body and footless socks in school uniform grey finished the looks

Louis Vuitton

Nicolas Ghesquiere’s unique futuristic time-travel aesthetic took in the 80s via the Renaissance, propelling the power shoulder well and truly back on to the trend agenda at Louis Vuitton. (There were also cycling shorts paired with silk chiffon breeches.) The LV steamer trunks provided more inspiration with the catwalk made from an expansive stack of them rising from the floor and the distinctive handles being reappropriated into high-heel sandals. A trio of finale looks used art work by French artist Laurent Grasso from his series Studies into the Past

Rabanne

Cardi B was sitting front row and brought A-list glamour to the show of a brand that has seen plenty of red carpet hits over the past few months. However, creative director Julien Dossena decided to apply his craft to elevated daywear this time. It hit the mark, feeling young and sexy. Legs were on show as boxer shorts and mini skirts were teamed with jackets layered over a shirt and tee, masculine-meets-feminine. Blazers gathered at the back appeared parka-like over men’s striped shirting in icy pastels, while foil-coated lingerie peppered sparkle and shine throughout the collection

Stella McCartney

‘1.5bn birds are killed for their feathers by the fashion industry every year,’ Stella McCartney said backstage. On a mission to save them, her own fluffy feather-look designs were made from recyclable nylon yarn made from recycled plastic bottles and tops. Broad shouldered tailoring on blazers and trenches was teamed with voluminous trousers, boxer culottes and short shorts. There were vintage lingerie-inspired bodysuits, and jewellery carved in gold and silver using repurposed electronic and medical waste, which was created in collaboration with 886 by the Royal Mint

Chanel

Following Virginie Vivard’s departure as creative director at Chanel, the role remains vacant. So it fell to the design team to turn in a solid collection that ticked off house codes, including the suit and the little black dress, tweed and jersey. Pastel shades were the main trend takeaway for SS25. Elvis’s grand daughter, Riley Keough, performed Prince’s When Doves Cry on a swing inside a giant white birdcage in the centre of the Grand Palais for the finale. Fans of the brand will remember Vanessa Paradis in the 1991 Coco perfume campaign wearing a similar look

Alexander McQueen

Seán McGirr’s second outing at Alexander McQueen took inspiration from McQueen’s own second collection from AW94, called Banshee. Folk stories of Banshees spoke to McGirr’s Celtic heritage. The once infamous bumster trousers were revisited and presented with a mesh panel below the waistband to show a flash of bottom cleavage. A strong finale of red carpet dresses, expertly made in hand-shredded silk chiffon with silver bullion embroidery, culminated in the show’s standout look that dripped with trails of silver chains almost gliding along the dry ice-filled catwalk

Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham decided to explore the act of getting dressed, from the the way we choose to wear our clothes to the way the body interacts with garments. The show opened with a playfully sexy silk chiffon bustier dipped into resin, appearing as if moulded on to the body. Next came a series of delicate floating floral dresses. Tailoring featured dramatic slits and folded down waistbands. Noteworthy were the denim jacket and wide jeans with tiny creases, and the green silk dress worn by model Gigi Hadid, which was available to shop straight after the show