Paris Fashion Week was a marathon this year, with 60-odd shows over eight days. Word has it that even some of the editors ran out of energy and skipped town early. Wading belatedly through my picks from the week, I could sympathize — and I followed the action from my desk or couch, not upright in a pair of YSL Tributes or Louboutins.What it takes. Photo of French Vogue staff via Jak & Jil.
The Paris collections are always exciting to me because they often unveil a fresh idea or new silhouette that changes everything and inspires a new turn in the direction of fashion as a whole. I didn't really see that this season (and maybe given the times and designers' need to justify their bottom lines — no pun intended — that was asking far too much). Still, although from that perspective some designers who have consistently hit home runs in the past (Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, to name two big ones) had offerings that disappointed me to a greater or lesser degree, there was plenty to love. Here's a sampling of looks that I thought had that je ne sais quoi (click to enlarge):Wunderkind, Isabel Marant, Veronique Branquinho, Lacroix,
Collette Dinnigan
Vanessa Bruno, Sophia Kokosalaki, Haider Ackermann, Hussein Chalayan
Miu Miu, Limi Feu, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo
YSL ... And finally, for those who haven't seen it already, here are a few of Cathy Horyn's favorite things. Her taste sometimes runs a little toward the matronly for my liking, but she knows her history, has a singular point of view, and always has interesting things to say about fashion. If you weren't following her highly addictive blog during the shows this season, be sure to check it out regularly come September, when everything new will be old again.

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