What about Paris, the beating heart for designers from across the world? It has been obvious that the ‘biggies’ – Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton and other major brands – would be able to put on shows, even if they only signalled a tentative return to an altered version of normal.

But let’s be positive -  the collective imagination of a young generation of creatives was a plus-point in an otherwise formulaic fashion week. Here are some designers who kicked off Paris Fashion Week with energy and imagination.

Marine Serre

The shivering menace of four uniformed figures – sex undetermined – approached a figure lying flat-out, his/her body on the ground. That was the start of Marine Serre’s digitally presented show.

‘Amor Fati’, meaning ‘love of one’s fate’, was the designer’s vision for Spring/Summer 2021, following her alarmingly prescient earlier shows depicting face-masks and body-covers in a breakdown of normal society.

This new presentation was perhaps less menacing than previous shows, but it contained a similar meld of athletic and intense workmanship – along with the crescent moon patterns that the designer has made her own. An orange sky, like California burning, seemed yet another example of her foresight.

The curvaceous body-shape of Dutch Iranian singer, Sevdaliza, was contrasted by a skinny figure whose body moved beneath a Victorian-style hoop petticoat. She joined a genderless figure laid out as if in a mortuary, having worn a choker as a compass. 

The focus on the craft of re-making and up-cycling materials, creating modernity out of old and abandoned fabric, was not conspicuously apparent but was surely present in the wider offering of clothes. Most evident was tailoring – a surprise for the summer season – powerfully presented for both sexes.

It is the confidence of Marine Serre which makes her unique. She worked with three directors to make the show. But the spirit was indescribably her own.

Thebe Magugu

Oh the elegance of espionage! That is, according to South African designer Thebe Magugu, who staged a fashion presentation that focused on true stories of the Apartheid-era, undercover spies. They were told not just in words – taken from the book Betrayal: The Secret Lives Of Apartheid Spies by Jonathan Ancer – but also in the designer’s fashion film that dug deep into the stories of his home country.

Who was this captivating African spy whose blouse was patterned with a glamorous blonde – golden hair and pretty face? Or that blonde with a tailored trouser suit shaping her body?

For male and female models, there was a jaunty look to a shirt with a print of a couple entwined. Then came a female uniform with thigh-high scarlet skirt.

The idea of seductive clothes is rather out of fashion, but Thebe Magugu employed enough irony to make the dresses appealing. And the concept of strong women deliberately using their charms to lure a male of their choice made for a powerful – if slightly nerve-wracking – story.

Koché

How I would like to have been high above Paris in the green park of the Buttes Chaumont. Some shows are digital only; others are in the open air of the city.

I hope I caught, from watching on film, the prettiness of Christelle Kocher’s clothes – the white frill of a blouse to wear with blue jeans or my favourite purple made into a froth of a dress.

The vision that the designer holds dear is of embroidered details on simple clothes. This source of prettiness can be a lacy black bra worn over a white dress. But mainly Koché just seems to get the balance right – simple clothes on normal women, always with a piece of lace, a touch of embroidery or a general lightness of spirit.

Kenzo

It rained on the parade – and the most important accessory in this Paris fashion season seems to be a giant umbrella.

Yet there is poetry in misty water-drops and designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista (who had rain last season, I believe), seemed to take the weather in his stride. His male and female outfits were rigorously sporty in cut, but with airy fabrics and sometimes that accessory of the season: a cover-your-face-for-Covid hat.

The designer does not bring anything dramatically new to Kenzo, but he does offer wearable clothes with just enough stripes, blotchy painted dots and general sophistication to distinguish the spirit of the brand.