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Coinciding with Taylor Swift, designer Sarah Burton embarked on her Showgirl period. For her second outing as the creative director of Givenchy, Burton turned up the volume with collars embellished with shimmering stones over collarbones, luscious peach maribou feathers, a pocket-rocket cocktail dress in bold crimson leather, and Naomi Campbell in a formal tuxedo coat left open over a scant lace-trimmed bra.

A New Identity

Burton's tenure at Givenchy under a year, but Alexander McQueen’s long-term right-hand woman has swiftly crafted a unique persona for the house and for herself. The Givenchy fashion house, the legendary domain of Audrey Hepburn and the little black dress, has an immaculate bloodline of elegance that extends from the French capital to Tinseltown, but it is a smaller player as a business. Earlier creative directors had largely embraced casual styles and utility-coded metallic accents, but Burton is reviving the sophistication.

"The goal was to create something erotic and sensual and to reveal the body," Burton noted after the show. "To strengthen women, we often reach for masculine codes, but I wanted to look at feminine sensibility, and the process of adorning and revealing."

Subtle seduction was evident, too, in an evening shirt in supple white leather. "Every woman is different," Burton said. "Sometimes when I’m casting, a model puts on an outfit and it becomes clear that she doesn’t want to wear a heel. Therefore, I adjust the outfit."

Return to Glamorous Events

Givenchy is rebuilding its presence in high-profile occasion wear. Burton has styled actor Timothée Chalamet in a soft yellow tuxedo at the Oscar ceremony, and model Kaia Gerber in a retro-inspired ballet dress of black lace at the Venice Film Festival.

Schiaparelli’s Surreal Resurgence

Schiaparelli, fashion’s house of surrealism, has been resurgent under designer Daniel Roseberry from America. The following year, the V&A will host the premier British exhibition on Schiaparelli, looking at the work of the founder Elsa Schiaparelli and the house she founded.

"You don’t buy Schiaparelli, it becomes a collection," Roseberry declared backstage.

Clients of Schiaparelli don’t need an exhibition to tell them that these designs are masterpieces. Art-adjacency is positive for revenue – apparel is priced like fine art, with jackets starting at about £5,000. And profits, as well as reputation, is rising. The location of the presentation was the Pompidou Centre in Paris, another reminder of how deeply this fashion house is connected to the arts.

Echoing Past Artistic Alliances

Roseberry reexamined one of the most renowned partnerships of Elsa with surrealist master Dalí, the 1938 “Tears” dress which is set to feature in the V&A exhibition. "This focused on going back to the roots of the house," he noted.

The torn effects in the original were carefully rendered, but for the contemporary take Roseberry tore into the crepe silk itself. In both designs, the tears are chillingly evocative of stripped tissue.

Surreal Elements and Menacing Charm

A hint of danger exists at Schiaparelli – The founder called her mannequins, with their angular shoulders and cinched waists, as her plaything troops – as well as a cheerful embrace of wit. Nail-shaped buttons and gold noses dangling as earrings are the distinctive language of the label. The standout feature of this event: faux fur made from paintbrushes.

Surrealist elements appear across modern style. Cracked-egg heels – treading carefully, get it? – were a sellout at the brand Loewe. Surrealist distorted timepieces have appeared on stage at the Moschino label. But Schiaparelli dominates this domain, and Roseberry commands it.

"Schiaparelli clothes have a heightened theatricality which sucks the air out of the room," he stated. A crimson dress was sliced with a triangular piece of flesh-toned mesh that rested around the area briefs are usually located, in a head-swivelling illusion of nudity. The tension between wearability and theatre is a key aspect of the event.

American Creatives in the French Capital

A carousel of creative director launches has welcomed two NYC stars to Paris. The duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have moved on from the fashion house Proenza Schouler they founded in 2002 to lead Loewe, the Spanish leather goods brand that grew into a $1.5bn (£1.1bn) alpha name under the direction of Jonathan Anderson before he moved to Dior.

The US designers appeared thrilled to be in Paris. Bold colors inspired by Ellsworth Kelly brought an upbeat pop art aesthetic to the in-the-know art smarts for which Loewe is currently known. Bright yellow loafers shook their tassels like the fringe of Baker's costume; a crimson peplum blazer had the confident glossy contours of a condiment vessel. And an evening dress disguised as a just-out-of-the-shower towel wrap, soft like a clean towel, found the perfect balance where clever design meets fashion fun.