It was in a way refreshing to see Nicolas Ghesquière leaving behind robots and futuristic inspirations in favour of luxurious fabrics and a more feminine look.
A research into the Balenciaga archives and a trip to India inspired the beautiful, sculpturally striking draped motifs that characterised the short skirts paired with tight fitting tops or low-necked blouses that revealed a lace bra underneath. Ghesquière’s draped motifs were also applied – maybe slightly less successfully – to trouser suits.
The draping on the skirts hugged the body in a sensual way and were evoked also in the platform or high-heeled shoes decorated with scarves in two different colours wrapped around the ankles.
Prints that reminded of Balenciaga scarves were instead reinvented and applied to satin, silk and velvet dresses that had at times an asymmetrical cut.
A precisely cut beige coat belted at the waist with a black cummerbund looked absolutely perfect and the predominantly softer palette showed 
Ghesquière is at ease also when using softer shades such as pale blue, pink and lilac.
There was just one worrying element: the return of the “ladybird” tights, that is transparent black tights with little dots. A scary déjà vu for all those women who grew up in the 80s and were traumatised by this rather minimalistically kitsch design.
In the unfair world of fashion, designers suggest but then it’s women who ultimately decide which garments will become trendy.
Christophe Decarnin was therefore lucky that exactly when he came up with rock’n’roll designs, women (and celebrities in particular…) were on the lookout for glamorously sexy designs.
Balmain’s woman is – like last season – sensually sexy, wrapped up in skin-tight short dresses that sparkle from afar. 
Emphasis was on the by now iconic jackets with rigid shoulders that have been copied by designers and department store chains all over the world, paired with skin-tight trousers, sequinned harem pants, short skirts and so on. It was a clever exercise in variating the same theme that soon became rather tiring.
Hopefully in a few months' time Decarnin will have found new shapes and looks. After all, while the majority of us doesn’t lead a rock'n'roll lifestyle, come this Autumn even the celebrities who favour his designs will have enough Balmain hanging in their overstocked wardrobes.
Filip Arickx and An Vandevorst conjured up during their catwalk show visions of nomadic urban women who like functionality. A.F. Vandervorst’s new collection featured quite a few skirts and coats accompanied by big slouchy bags that seemed in some cases to be big enough to contain a whole wardrobe or at least enough items for a woman constantly on the go, or could be worn like clothes.
Most of the garments were characterised by interesting volumes 
that, though softly wrapping the body, also seemed to integrate in their shapes and silhouettes severe and rigid geometric forms.
Equestrian inspirations was clear in the jodhpurs and in the original hoofed boots, while the sleeping-bag coat and the urbanely barbaric rabbit fur jackets and vests might have been avoided. 
Rick Owens's name is often connected with extremely gothic and dark looks, yet if you carefully analyse his designs, you will realise that he's probably one of the few contemporary designers who manages to create wearable garments also for women who do not have a sylph-like body.
Black prevailed in his previous collections, but this time grey, ice and little touches of silver and gold appeared during the catwalk show, offering more a "Queen of the Ice" rather than a "Queen of the Goths" look.
There were tabard-like tops and high-necked jackets with diamond shaped patterns; sculpted leather jackets with asymmetrical zips and dresses and skirts in different fabrics layered one upon the other, a trick that will offer women to freely create their own looks. 
While showing his talent for precisely cut garments, the rigid lines of most of Bruno Pieters’s designs restricted his vision. The Belgian designer showcased at his catwalk short dresses with perfectly geometrical origami-like folds.
It was a severe look that not many can pull off, yet Pieters' perfectly constructed short and long capes with their rigid yet effortlessly flowing geometries were really striking.
Talking about striking designs, a final mention goes to Olivier Theyskens who for his final catwalk at Nina Ricci went for the tall amazon look.
There was an amazing variety at Nina Ricci's show, with Theyskens presenting short and long dresses, sculptural coats with asymmetrical fastenings and cropped leather jackets, sparkling catsuits and more conservative trouser suits, evening gowns that called to mind 
Thierry Mugler's dominatrixes or that formed perfectly sculpted wave-like motifs.
Colours, fabrics and details contributed to turn Theyskens' final catwalk into a feast for the eyes. The designer's elongated silhouette was emphasised by extremely high platform boots with no heels or with heels that seemed to be suspended above the ground.
I guess that if you really have to leave your job as creative director of a fashion house you might as well do it in an extraordinarily glamorous way.
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