Paris Fashion Week autumn/winter 2013 round up

ROLAND MOURET: UNZIP THE KILLER FORMULA

Take a fitted dress - or a sharp pencil skirt plus blouse - and a hard shouldered jacket. Stir in some extraneous but eye-catchingly envelope detailing and bisect down the back with a come-hither golden zipper. Finally, pour a girl into this mix, place on a base of killer heels - then stand back watch her stir. Mouret's signature recipe is a tried, tested, and not-often bested formula for alluring power-dressing. Mouret mixed it up a little with some leopard print, jester's panelling and cute new handbags. LL

CHANEL: WORLD BEATING

Walking into Chanel's show-refitted Grand Palais felt like entering the no-expense-spared lair of a James Bond villain. In the centre of the glorious hall stood a slowly-revolving 50-ft high globe, with each of Chanel's 310 stores marked by a double CC flag. Chanel's autumn/ winter 2013 woman predominantly wears an articulated, low-fronted, mid-calf backed high-heel boot. Approaching the models' equators, we moved onto the main event: bouclé. This season, Karl Lagerfeld amplified his silhouette a notch - sleeves were roomy, necklines generous, and miniskirts kicky - but stayed true to the worldwide legion of women who love peerless tailored jackets and skirt-suits. LL

Chanel autumn/winter 2013 in pictures

MAXIME SIMOENS: A PREMIER FROM A PRIMA BALLERINA

Last month LVMH took a minority stake in Maxime Simoëns; you could see its money - and mentorship - in this debut collection. Elaborate shoes with ebony tendrils looping up the leg looked expensively and perfectly produced. A beautiful aquatic horizontal wash gabardine, to echo Swan Lake - Simoëns' starting point for the collection - was gleamingly accomplished. His black or white, corolla-skirt dresses with faux-astrakhan panels nodded to the ballet, too. LL

CHLOE: BACK TO SCHOOL

In a Tuileries tent rocking to Salt-N-Pepa, Clare Waight Keller mined memories of her sixth form days and handed in her best Chloé collection so far. Playfully tweaking the enforced properness of school kit's time-honoured tropes - bib-dresses, pleated skirts, PE kit trousers, V-neck jumpers and identifying stripes - the designer added hoik, hardware and the lushest of fabrics. Cute cloaks in pressed wool, in grey or those rich blues of the designer's own schooldays, were customised by golden zippers and gleaming gold studs. A fantastic tweed skirt with a dangerous zipper from knee to thigh was half Miss Marple, half Miss Whiplash. LL

Chloe autumn/winter 2013 in pictures

CHRISTIAN DIOR: RELAX JENNIFER, IT'S GOOD NEWS

An diligent distillation of Christian Dior's favourite signatures: houndstooth was glimpsed beneath white macramé tunics and matching skirts or turned into vinyl sheaths; New Look fit and flare coats were lifted with flashes of lemon-coloured reveres, and that stalwart of 1950s ballgowns, the cascade of back-ruffles, was reworked in glossy black leather. But wit can be overplayed, while chic is timeless - and Simon's reworking of the 1947 Bar jacket into trouser suits are just that. Loose flapperer-esque silk dresses, embroidered with Warhol's shoes illustrations had a simplicity that suggests the next time Jennifer Lawrence, Dior's new muse, hits the red carpet, it won't be face first. LA

Christian Dior autumn/winter 2013 in pictures

LANVIN: ELEGANCE IS IN ITS DNA

When a designer is as successful at creating an idiom as Alber Elbaz, there's a risk that the label will become trapped. So beloved is Lanvin's elegantly slouchy, drapily blousoned silhouette that he jettisons it at its peril. But fashion requires change. That throat-lapping neckline was still there, with that sweetly forgiving looseness around the tummy. But Crombie coats, elbow-length gloves, calf lengths and flat brogues injected a sophisticated androgynous chromosome. LA

ISABEL MARANT: MADMOISELLES MERVEILLEUSES

Marant ditched her usual kooky theme for autumn/winter 2013. Fitted, layered knitwear in black, navy and cream was her daywear thesis. It looked good, and more winter-realistic beneath understated sheepskins and oversized duffles. Most ensembles were monotone, with the detail in the three, sometimes four hemline levels. For evening, Marant's hardware - heavy embellished jackets above asphyxiatingly tight trousers provided the central message. LL

VALENTINO: THE NIGHTS ARE GETTING LONGER

Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri have created a quiet revolution in eveningwear. Long sleeves, high necklines, full skirts, lightly raised waists, a lace revival and a studded, strappy stiletto court shoe which keeps on selling, and spawning imitations - all stem from their drawing board. In a way this collection was a recap, with a few nifty wool capes, masculine trousers and beaded lace blouses to remind us they can do daytime, too. But even though their stern prettiness assuredly works 24/7, night-time is their element. Standouts include a cobalt wool lace dress with a Toile de Jouy pattern and austerely beautiful almost-off-the-shoulder Guinevere floor-length gowns. LA

Valentino autumn/winter 2013 in pictures

SAINT LAURENT: LOOKS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT BUT DOES IT SMELL LIKE RIVE GAUCHE?

After so much tricksiness on the catwalks, there's undoubted virtue in presenting beautifully cut checked, flared crombie coats with an oversized skew that looked elegant rather than Charlie Chaplinesque, or classic men's style jackets, some with cut-away, frock-coat fronts. But was it wise to style them with teeny baby doll chiffon dresses, sparkly fishnets, and then toss a Nirvana plaid shirt underneath them or work a baggy mohair cardigan or duffle into the mix? LA

VANESSA BRUNO: SUIT ALORS!

Bruno was in a state of anxiety: "I thought maybe this collection was boring." Non. No one could call those knee-length kilts with patent hems dull. Those loose-waisted, silver beaded white cocktail dresses? Ideal. Bruno delivers an elegant prècis of the season - reassuringly wearable but never safe. She cut her classic slouchy trouser suits slightly bigger, in grey flannel or pinstripe. Worn with her block-heeled metallic courts and a masculine shirt, that's next winter's oversized trouser sorted. LA

Via: Paris Fashion Week autumn/winter 2013 round up