Changing of the guard

At Paris Fashion Week, I've been serenaded by Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz, served champagne at Hermes and seduced by Chanel's giant crystal palace at the magnificent Grand Palais monument to la Belle Epoque.
Then there were the metal detectors at Haider Ackermann.
Decanting one's handbag is usually an activity reserved for the end of the day during Paris Fashion Week, yet at 11am we found ourselves doing so due to the heritage-listed grandeur of the city's Hotel de Ville, which was the venue for Ackermann's show.
As Tilda Swinton took her place in the front row, the lights dimmed before the first model emerged in an olive-green round-shouldered jacket over a black form-fitting knit dress cinched at the waist by a grey obi-like thick leather belt.
As the volume of the eerie electronic music swelled so, too, did that of the clothes; jackets were amplified into spherical, sculptural shapes balanced against skinny trousers or sheath skirts and classics such as the trench and the biker were reworked in leather with seaming, padding and zippers.
With its autumnal tones (Frank Sinatra's Autumn Leaves was part of the soundtrack, just in case you missed the inspiration), elaborate layering, heavy use of leather, belted waists and - most importantly - a new, soft shoulder, Ackermann's collection was not only that of a designer at the top of his game, it also offered in a single show a handy cheat sheet of the key trends we will be wearing next winter.