CHANEL

First, it was a giant bow as the stage centrepiece for spring/summer 2008. Then, it was a giant tweed jacket for haute couture 2008. This time, German designer Karl Lagerfeld just put all of Chanel's icons - tweed jackets, camellias and quilted bags - onto a giant merry-go-round and had them bob up and down to the pumping strains of famed French DJ Michel Gaubert's music.

The clothes were comparatively less exciting, by virtue of being simply classic and subdued.

What was different was length, which Lagerfeld played with a lot this season. Classic tweed suits had longer and leaner jackets - all worn belted - with skirts barely peeking out from underneath.

They were also made to look like old jeans, scratched at the elbows and on the thighs - making them contemporary and a sure-hit with the younger crowd.

As for the silhouette, a lampshade may well have been the Kaiser's inspiration. A few cocktail looks consisted of quilted silk that nipped in at the waist but fanned out at the hips, and a black tweed jacket had a shape resembling a Victorian corset.

The cutest things to turn accessories junkies' heads this season, however, have to be the knitted berets and curious two-toned stockings that were nude on the front and black on the back.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

For the French label's collection, Italian designer Stefano Pilati sent out stark planes of tweed, felt and flocked fabric, precision-sliced into geometric angles and unfamiliar volumes.

Models marched out like an army of futuristic femme-bots wearing identical black-bowl wigs and black lipstick, some with eyes blanked out by sunglasses.

With futuristic jackets juxtaposed with 1980s high-waist pants, Pilati told a story of tailoring and volume.

'I just wanted it to be about cut, about looking at the clothes,' he told reporters after the show. 'I don't think you want to go out advertising a brand anymore. You just want to feel proud walking down the street.'

Make no mistake: The clothes were severe, some even harsh, and not so feminine or immediately wearable that they will be flying off the racks.

Dresses, on the other hand, were skilfully sculpted to emphasise a woman's curves. But what was most remarkable, really, was Pilati's innovation of textiles.

Mesh was welded with see-through cotton for a sexy but not slutty effect on shirts, and Donegal tweeds flecked with colour conveyed rich texture. And German felt - a horribly hard and scratchy fabric - was ingeniously used to create structured jackets.

HERMES

The French house of Hermes, which was founded in 1836 as a saddlery company, sells lots and lots of leather bags - and it won't let you forget that.

So it was fitting that the show opened with a model toting a black alligator Birkin bag as she walked out and designer Jean Paul Gaultier took his bow at the end of the show with a black leather satchel strapped across his body.

Not only that, he sent out an array of clothes that was classic at best, and boring at worst, so that your attention was instead focused on the range of bucket bags and Kelly pochettes that the models toted on the runway.

You'd think that with a custom-made Persian rug for a runway, the clothes would be rich in colour, detail and texture. But the actual result was disappointing: silk paisley scarves, dresses, skirts and boots were about as far as the interpreted theme went.

To be fair, classicists would find much to love. Winning looks were inspired by the gentleman's boudoir: Think fringed scarves, dressing gowns, robes, tassels and giant cashmere shawls for that very high-class Boho look.

There were also lots of well-cut jackets in luxuriously soft leather and cuffed trousers - all timeless classics in the equestrian tradition.

VALENTINO

It's hard filling the shoes of a designer who's been an icon for 45 years, especially if he is Valentino. So all eyes were on Alessandra Facchinetti's debut collection for the Italian label since she took over the reins last September.

The result: A feminine, fresh and pretty collection, utterly respectful to Valentino, presented in a small theatre in the Palais de Chaillot opposite the Eiffel Tower, on a figure-eight runway.

The clothes were not terribly imaginative - in fact, they were perhaps too safe. Some of Valentino's favourite couture elements were incorporated, like ruffles in the sleeve, bustles in jackets and, of course, a signature red dress or two.

LOUIS VUITTON

Louis Vuitton is always hotly anticipated as one of the last shows at Paris Fashion Week. This season, a stunning collection of pared down elegance (which is what Jacobs does best) took centrestage.

Elements were reminiscent of Stefano Pilati's collection for YSL just a few days before, with the big pleated pants, sculpted coats and 1950s dirndls in heavy fabrics. The difference is that Jacobs is a romantic, and not just because of the pastel colours he used, like mint green.

The clothes, with swirls of cloth at skirts' hips, as well as the beautiful Istanbul-inspired millinery, made one crave for Paris' famous Laduree macarons.

What drew gasps from the audience were the roughly 15cm-high platform shoes - heavy as a brick but oh-so-clever. Jacobs played with colour to create the illusion of walking on impossibly towering stilettoes.

MIU MIU

And now, for something completely different.

Italian designer Miuccia Prada has a knack for doing nothing else that other designers are doing that season.

Miu Miu closed the week in a Louis XVI-style apartment with sportswear inspired by jockeys.

She distilled floral motifs shown at Prada in Milan into graphic cut-outs, giving the clothes a distinct industrial feel. That's not to say the clothes weren't sexy. They were. On the jumpsuits were curved panels of bright colours for a trompe l'oeil effect and bustles at the hips.

Perhaps to celebrate the label's inaugural season as the closing show, each model who wore a jumpsuit had her initials embroidered onto the jacket. One wonders if they get to take the ingeniously fashion-forward garments home, the lucky lot.