The return of empowered femininity is all the rage this season, but designers had their own takes on what this looks like, reports Angelo Flaccavento.

Today at the Paris shows, a lighter touch prevailed at both Rochas and Lemaire.

After a few years of overt decoration, sculpted, monochromatic lines look utterly fresh again. Lemaire, Rochas and Courrèges each proved the point in their own way.

At Lemaire and Rochas, sophistication and elegance made for strong and soulful collections.

Japanese conglomerate Fast Retailing has also extended designer Christophe Lemaire’s contract as artistic director of the Uniqlo Paris R&D Center by another five years.

Fans and retailers alike reckon with the reality of a post-Phoebe Philo Céline, signalling opportunity for brands who could fill the gap.

Christophe Lemaire and Sarah Linh-Tran have married East and West to create their distinctive design signature, delivering uniforms of a Utopian off-world community.

The Lemaire team recaptured a momentum and energy from his early menswear collections, embracing colour, volume, pattern and texture to an unusual degree.