
Chanel: Karl Lagerfeld prepared for blast-off with a space station-inspired runway set. The ‘Gabrielle Chanel Agency Spatiale’ boasted an igloo-like tent, flashing transmission towers and a giant Chanel logo rocket. At the show’s finish the rocket burst into life, emitting sparks and smoke, and appeared to take off through the glass ceiling of the Grand Palais to the blaring soundtrack of Elton John’s Rocket Man.

Prada: For the brand’s A/W 2017 menswear show, Miuccia Prada worked with frequent collaborators AMO (the research arm of Rem Koolhaas’ OMA studio) on a set made from continuous wooden partitions, dotted with benches and single and double beds. For its A/W 2017 womenswear show, Prada bedded down once more, using the same set design but with different details. Duvets came in painterly florals and neon fake fur, with collages of cut-out plants, Polaroids and passport-style photos tacked to the wooden partitions, resembling the walls of a teenage girl’s bedroom. The set echoed a collection which placed focus on the uniforms of female student protestors during the 1960s and 70s, as well as the different public and domestic spheres in women’s lives.

Simone Rocha: The designer returned to the spectacular Lancaster House for her A/W 2017 runway show. Guests climbed the grand gilded staircase of the townhouse, designed by Joseph Nash in 1850, and models walked among its different rooms, which were lined with opulent rugs in reds and golds, as huge glass chandeliers hung overhead.

Céline: Creative director Phoebe Philo collaborated with the artist Philippe Parreno on an immersive runway set. As guests entered the space they were greeted with hundreds of theatre lights hanging from long wires, before sitting on tiered stalls dotted around the huge space. Before the show began, the shadows of models backstage were projected onto a transparent screen, bridging the gap between front of house and the secret world behind the scenes. At the show’s start, each section of seating began to revolve, turning 360 degrees during the show.

Acne Studios: Creative director Jonny Johansson was preoccupied with naive forms of craft for A/W 2017, imagining jewellery first moulded in clay, then covered with metal and enamel. This interest extended to the show’s set design, with Johansson creating an installation on the ceiling resembling a cloud of iridescent fabric or undulating wire mesh. Catching the light, and shimmering from gold to silver, it resembled the sky in the midst of an electrical storm.

Louis Vuitton: The first fashion brand ever to be granted access to the Louvre, creative director Nicolas Ghesquière debuted his A/W 2017 collection in the museum’s breathtaking Cour Marly. Featuring a glass ceiling designed in 1993 by IM Pei and Michel Macary, the space boasts sculptures from the 17th and 18th centuries, originally commissioned for Louis XIV’s Château de Marly gardens, by artists including Nicolas and Guillaume Coustou and Pierre Lepautre.