Craftsmanship and romance the soul of Paris Fashion Week femininity

The femininity coming through in the Paris shows was nowhere more evident that at the McQueen collection staged in the elite Lycee Carnot in Paris where Jacques Chirac and Daft Punk among others went to school.

Sarah Burton’s show was a tribute to the weaving skills of the late 17th century Huguenot migrants in London’s Spitalfields expressed in their silks, embroideries and artisanal lace-making techniques.

It made for a wondrous assembly of pale, delicate ruffled lace dresses, embroidered frock coats in shades of white, ornate floral printed silk dresses and lightweight leathers frilled like organza.

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The Stella McCartney collection on show as part of the Paris Fashion Week. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Though it referenced the past, it was very much of the present. A striking frock coat in denim was embellished like military regalia with jewelled embroidery as was a waistcoat worn with jeans and inlaid clogs – clogs of all kind clumping their way across the Paris catwalks.

Craftsmanship was the soul of this collection and romance at its heart, but there was no denying its fairytale beauty and intriguing webs of silver body jewellery.

It coincided with the opening of the new McQueen flagship store on the Rue St Honore in Paris.

Like Burton, Stella McCartney keeps to her own steady path. Her company, which she built up on sustainability said to be the first sizable global brand of its kind, goes from strength to strength – profits rose by 22 per cent in 2014.

One of her recent projects was a bra for women who have undergone a double mastectomy and as a working mother of four children she always brings an informed womanly approach to her collections.

At the Paris Opera on Monday, her spring collection was a blast of colour and sporty ease with dresses and separates in jaunty plaids, stripes and pleats in sunny shades of red, green and yellow as well as black and white.

It was well judged with a little rock’n’roll edge tunics worn over slouchy trousers, polo tops that looked fresh in wrapped shapes, white pique dresses and tailored top stitched denim dresses were both stylish and functional.

A finale of sporty asymmetric lace dresses stood out for their vibrant shades of lemon, orange and blue though the swirly ribbon decor in mesh on others was less successful.

A winner overall, however.