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Coinciding with Taylor Swift, designer Sarah Burton entered her Showgirl era. In her second collection as the creative director of Givenchy, Burton amplified the drama with collars embellished with shimmering stones across the collarbone area, luscious peach maribou feathers, a pocket-rocket cocktail dress in vibrant red leather, and Naomi Campbell in a tuxedo jacket worn open over a minimalist lace-adorned bra.

Forging a Unique Path

Burton has been at Givenchy less than a year, but the former key collaborator at McQueen has swiftly crafted a distinctive character for the fashion house and for herself. The Givenchy fashion house, the legendary domain of the actress Audrey Hepburn and the little black dress, has an immaculate bloodline of elegance that runs from Paris to Hollywood, but it is a smaller player as a business. Her recent predecessors had mostly leaned into urban fashion and practical metallic details, but Burton is reintroducing the allure.

"My intention was for it to be seductive and intimate and to expose flesh," Burton explained backstage. "To strengthen women, we often adopt male-inspired styles, but I wanted to explore female emotional intelligence, and the act of dressing and undressing."

There was covered-up allure, too, in a formal shirt in butter soft white leather. "All women vary," Burton stated. "At times when selecting models, a model tries on a garment and I can just tell that she is uncomfortable in high heels. Thus, I modify the ensemble."

Red Carpet Revival

Givenchy is rebuilding its presence in celebrity event attire. Burton has styled Timothée Chalamet in a butter yellow tuxedo at the Oscar ceremony, and model Kaia Gerber in a vintage-feel ballerina gown of ebony lace at the Venice Film Festival.

Schiaparelli’s Surreal Resurgence

The brand Schiaparelli, the avant-garde design house, has been experiencing a revival under designer Daniel Roseberry from America. The following year, the V&A Museum will host the inaugural UK Schiaparelli showcase, examining the work of Elsa Schiaparelli and the fashion house she established.

"Schiaparelli is not merely purchased, you collect pieces from Schiaparelli," Roseberry remarked post-presentation.

Clients of Schiaparelli require no exhibition to tell them that these clothes are art. Art-adjacency is positive for revenue – apparel is priced like fine art, with blazers beginning around £5,000. And revenue, as well as visibility, is rising. The venue for the show was the Pompidou Center in the French capital, an additional signal of how deeply this fashion house is connected to the arts.

Echoing Past Artistic Alliances

Roseberry revisited one of the iconic joint efforts of Schiaparelli with artist Salvador Dalí, the 1938 “Tears” dress which will be in the V&A show. "This focused on revisiting the foundation of the fashion house," he explained.

The “rips” in the original were artistically applied, but for the modern iteration Roseberry cut into the silk crepe itself. In each version, the rips are eerily suggestive of flayed flesh.

Eerie Details and Playful Threat

A touch of threat is present at the Schiaparelli house – Elsa referred to her mannequins, with their angular shoulders and tailored waists, as her miniature army – as well as a joyful appreciation for humor. Buttons in the form of fingernails and gold noses dangling as earrings are the visual grammar of the house. The highlight of this presentation: faux fur made from paintbrushes.

Avant-garde themes emerge all over current fashion. Cracked-egg heels – treading carefully, understand? – were a sellout at Loewe. Dali-esque wonky clocks have graced the runway at the house of Moschino. But Schiaparelli dominates this domain, and Roseberry presides over it.

"Designs by Schiaparelli feature a heightened theatricality which sucks the air out of the room," he said. A scarlet ensemble was sliced with a triangular panel of skin-colored netting that was positioned approximately where underwear would typically be, in a head-swivelling illusion of nudity. The tension between wearability and theatre is all part of the show.

US Talents Take on Paris

A carousel of creative director launches has introduced two New York favorites to the French fashion world. The duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have departed from their Proenza Schouler label they founded in 2002 to take over Loewe, the Spanish leather house that evolved into a $1.5 billion powerhouse under the tenure of Jonathan Anderson before his transition to Dior.

The American creatives seemed ecstatic to be in the City of Light. Bold colors inspired by Ellsworth Kelly brought an upbeat pop art aesthetic to the sophisticated art intelligence for which Loewe now stands. Bright yellow loafers shook their tassels like the fringe of Baker's costume; a red peplum jacket had the proud shiny curves of a condiment vessel. And a cocktail dress masquerading as a just-out-of-the-shower towel wrap, plush as a newly washed cloth, captured the sweet spot where innovative design intersects with stylish enjoyment.