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While Milan had romance, Paris said it with flowers. The floral dance began at Balenciaga, where Nicolas Ghesquière delivered an electrifying collection in peony, rose, gladioli, violet and gardenia prints from the archives, digitally enhanced for supranormal shape and colour possible only in computer-land.

In sumptuous fabrics, such as silk faille and radzimir, his sculpted short dresses and micro-suits over shorts appeared as dazzling as sunlight on stained glass.

Shoulders were curved, skirts belled, corset-lacing replaced seams and the thong concept continued with metal-heeled gladiator sandals.

The theme was taken to the opposite extreme at John Galliano. Here all was softness, frills, retro bias-cuts and gentle pastels, with the emphasis on roses; printed on chiffon, appliquéd in silk and half-hidden within the folds of a ruffled peplum.

Elsewhere, florals were tropical. Antonio Marras at Kenzo hacked his way through a rainforest to produce exotic blooms, knitted in jacquard, beaded in sequins or splashed on silk.

Dries Van Noten focused on the jungles of Bali and Borneo, with mis-matched orchid, hibiscus and frangipani-print cotton and silk, wrapped and draped in sari- and sarong-folds, and variations on sarouel trousers.

Mini-florals came in wafting chiffon at Stella McCartney, or bunched into voluminous cotton blousons at Junya Watanabe. Christian Lacroix splashed Impressionist roses on demoiselle dresses. Limi Feu, daughter of Yohji Yamamoto, showed silver roses on black full skirts.

Alexander McQueen, eschewed the flower-strewn path, but poured his heart and soul into a collection of outrageous beauty in a tribute to his late friend, muse and mentor, the fashion icon, Isabella Blow.

Hourglass tailoring of exquisite precision; “geisha” silks; “samurai” leathers; feather-print chiffon; gowns hand-stitched with feathers and worn with silk butterfly hats and crystal dragonfly pillboxes by Philip Treacy – all a vivid reminder of Blow’s eccentric, stylish wardrobe.

Prints were important, even when not floral: stars and stripes at Chanel; leopard-spot and pinstripe at Dior; Minoan friezes at Sophia Kokosalaki; and rock-and-roll T-shirts with computerised “Old Master” mixes in Olivier Theyskens’s collection for Nina Ricci, accessorised with marabou and ostrich feathers.

Yohji Yamamoto explored the George Sand-Frédéric Chopin wardrobe in dramatic black-and-silver tailcoat-and-crinoline marriages, with “tattoo” prints.

Crinolines also starred in Rei Kawakubo’s cacophony of colour, print and global references at Comme des Garçons, while Jean Paul Gaultier inveigled feather and satin crinolines into his Pirates of the Caribbean in camouflage.

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