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Coinciding with Taylor Swift, designer Sarah Burton embarked on her Showgirl period. During her second presentation as the creative director of Givenchy, Burton turned up the volume with collars adorned with sparkling rhinestones along the décolletage, luscious peach maribou feathers, a pocket-rocket cocktail dress in lipstick red leather, and Naomi Campbell in a formal tuxedo coat left open over a barely-there lace trim bra.

A New Identity

Burton has been at Givenchy less than a year, but the former key collaborator at McQueen has already established a distinctive character for the fashion house and for herself. Givenchy, the iconic residence of Audrey Hepburn and the classic LBD, has an immaculate bloodline of elegance that extends from the French capital to Tinseltown, but it is a relative minnow as a business. Earlier creative directors had primarily focused on urban fashion and utility-coded metallic accents, but Burton is bringing back the sophistication.

"The goal was to create something seductive and intimate and to show skin," Burton explained following the presentation. "When we want to empower women, we often reach for masculine codes, but I wanted to explore women's emotional depth, and dressing and undressing."

Concealed appeal was also present, too, in an evening shirt in smooth white leather. "Every woman is different," Burton commented. "Occasionally during casting, a model dons a look and I can just tell that she is uncomfortable in high heels. So I change the look."

Red Carpet Revival

Givenchy is rebuilding its presence in high-profile occasion wear. Burton has dressed Timothée Chalamet in a butter yellow tuxedo at the Oscar ceremony, and Kaia Gerber in a retro-inspired ballet dress of black lace at the cinematic event in Venice.

Schiaparelli’s Surreal Resurgence

The fashion house Schiaparelli, fashion’s house of surrealism, has been experiencing a revival under the US-born creative director Daniel Roseberry. Next year, the Victoria and Albert Museum will host the premier British exhibition on Schiaparelli, exploring the work of Elsa Schiaparelli and the fashion house she established.

"Acquiring Schiaparelli is not about buying, you collect pieces from Schiaparelli," Roseberry remarked backstage.

Those who don Schiaparelli don’t need an exhibition to tell them that these designs are masterpieces. Connection with the art world is good for the bottom line – apparel is priced like fine art, with jackets starting at about £5,000. And income, as well as profile, is increasing. The setting for the event was the Pompidou Centre in the French capital, a further indication of how close this house sits with art.

Echoing Past Artistic Alliances

Roseberry recalled one of the most renowned partnerships of Elsa with artist Salvador Dalí, the 1938 dress named "Tears" which will be in the V&A show. "This focused on returning to the origins of the brand," he explained.

The shredded details in the initial design were artistically applied, but for the modern iteration Roseberry cut into the crepe silk itself. In both designs, the tears are chillingly evocative of stripped tissue.

Eerie Details and Playful Threat

A hint of danger exists at the Schiaparelli house – Elsa described her mannequins, with their defined shoulders and cinched waists, as her toy soldiers – as well as a gleeful delight in a joke. Buttons in the form of fingernails and metallic nose ornaments as earrings are the distinctive language of the house. The punchline of this show: faux fur made from paintbrushes.

Surrealism pops up throughout contemporary fashion. Cracked-egg heels – treading carefully, understand? – were extremely popular at the fashion house Loewe. Dali-esque wonky clocks have walked the catwalk at the Moschino label. But Schiaparelli owns this territory, and Roseberry presides over it.

"Designs by Schiaparelli feature an intense spectacle which sucks the air out of the room," he expressed. A scarlet ensemble was adorned with a triangular panel of nude-hued fabric that sat roughly where a pair of knickers should, in a head-swivelling illusion of bare skin. The tension between wearability and theatre is all part of the show.

New York Designers in Paris

A merry-go-round of designer debuts has brought two darlings of New York to the French fashion world. Designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have moved on from the fashion house Proenza Schouler they created in 2002 to lead Loewe, the Spanish leather house that grew into a $1.5bn (£1.1bn) alpha name under the leadership of Jonathan Anderson before his transition to Dior.

The Americans looked delighted to be in Paris, France. Ellsworth Kelly brights brought an upbeat pop art aesthetic to the sophisticated art intelligence for which Loewe now stands. Vivid yellow slip-ons dangled their tassels like the hem of Josephine Baker; a scarlet fitted jacket had the proud shiny curves of a ketchup bottle. And a cocktail dress masquerading as a fresh-from-the-bath towel, plush as a newly washed cloth, achieved the ideal blend where smart creation blends with sartorial amusement.