The Best Runway Looks From Paris Fashion Week Spring 2017

The absolute last show in a season is a bummer of a time slot. After a month of schlepping, reporting, photographing, sitting in traffic and mandatory dinners and parties, the fashion flock is eager to get home to their families and own beds. "It's over" is tangible. To combat this, every season, Miuccia Prada injects a sense of optimism and humor, and often some wow-factor, into her Miu Miu shows to keep people attentive and in their seats. Few designers would have the verve and nerve to pull it off like she does. How did she do it for spring? Send Gigi Hadid out in a safari shirt and black bloomers, that's how, and follow it up with a cheerfully retro collection full of signature Miu Miu color and print. 

The idea was bathing beauties—young women either headed to a relaxing bath or the beach. The colors and prints were too bold here to not be seen as tongue-and-cheek. Surely the colors of mid florals and stripes in the actual early '60s weren't this bright... Either way, everything is filtered through the Miu Miu rose-colored lens of how women dressed. The beautiful, young-spirited tulip prints, flip flops and slides embellished with giant rosettes, the ma'am-ishly respectable below-the-knee skirts and dresses.

It's going to be hard to wait six months for the coats—an army of tailored, cleaned-up silhouettes in pastel abstracts or bright monotones; trenches with girlish white-piping; printed furs worn like house robes...

Throughout, the models wore floral swim caps—the kind you'd see in an early Slim Aarons' picture of women lounging around the pool in Acapulco or the chicer Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc. While these might be relegated to fancy getaways, the robe-like printed raincoats and t-shirt knits make easy wardrobing for the modern Pollyanna. 

Little short-shorts and hotpants in fun prints and colors could make a girl commit to twice as many spin classes to get her legs in shape, but really, on the runway they served to highlight the ultra wearable separates this collection was really about. Jackets, sweaters, turtlenecks and dresses accented with fun shoes and great little bags. Is there anything else a girl really needs? 

Nicolas Ghesquière is always moving forward, constantly figuring out ways to keep the Louis Vuitton history intact while pushing it beyond the logo and checks. For his futuristic spring, he switched venues from the Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition space to the Place Vendôme, where the brand will open a massive flagship. And the night before the show, the designer posted a selfie of him holding the latest iPhone case—a super mini version of the house's iconic trunks. 

As always, Ghesquiére favors futuristic fashion, taking standard looks and reworking them into still-elegant but far cooler versions. Suiting was big here for spring, but pencil skirts were turned into wraps and double-breasted blazers curved deliciously with figures in extended lengths. Or they were turned into cape-like vests worn over black leather tops, because the Vuitton woman is a warrior. 

With the boardroom covered, things switched to street wear—sexy, lacy and electric. There was nothing fussy or prissy about classic lace when it shows up in vibrant blue, yellow or green skinny pants worn with matching ruffled tops or under a vibrant blue metallic leather jacket. 

Even the LBD got an update in Ghesquiére's signature swoop hem and detailed with a subverted Peter Pan collar, a strapless textured bustier dress or in subtle tie-dye-like python. 

The designer didn't get shy about using metallic details to outline his message. Gold trim outlined black pants, girls walked in gold and silver booties or wore bold gold cuffs and collars and one of his signature bondage/military jackets showed up in the glossiest, brightest gold sequins and beads. As soft as gold can be, it toughened up the piece-y, slinky beaded lace dresses of the finale. 

In one of the smartest retro fashion flashbacks this season, Kenzo's Carol Lim and Humberto Leon resurrected and interpreted the illustrator Antonio Lopez's vision of style. Bold, disco, wildly fun, architectural. Lopez, who's illustrations appeared in Harper's Bazaar, was a bright star of the '70s and '80s who perfectly captured the mood in one of the most exciting periods in American fashion. This is the man who discovered Grace Jones while riding the subway. 

But Lim and Leon understand that '80s excess won't necessarily fly in the Teens, and reined in some of that over-the-top styling. Instead, the folded pockets, stud trims, angular cuts and exaggerated shoulders echoed the energetic lines of one of Lopez's illustrations, not to mention the picture of Pat Cleveland that appeared in Lopez' oft-knocked off book "Instamatics", which was printed on t-shirts and dresses.

Spliced prints that looked like camo, terrific denim and parachute jumpsuits, trenches and full belted dresses spoke to a retro motif but were grounded in modernism. The duo tempered silhouettes to avoid kitsch factor.

Which is not to say there weren't looks that would make a diehard '80s clubber's heart sing. Like the patent black or red skirts and jog pants worn with spangled bras over feminine blouses. Or the t-shirts and sweatshirts with relaxed shoulders and t-shirt dresses — remember those? Just long t-shirts. 

It was a fun, frisky collection—not to mention the nude living statues placed around the venue. It brought out the best of the '80s and shined a light on a fashion artist whose career was short but highly influential. It only furthered Lim and Leon's own influence in the fashion strata. 

If imitation indicates flattery, Kym Ellery must be glowing from all the praise in recent seasons, but the Aussie designer who shows in Paris has no problem keeping things fresh—and her closest watchers on their toes. This season Ellery started with the idea of biker chicks and then filtered it through her high drama, sleek lens.

Ellery has become synonymous with her flowing, voluminous sleeve tops and dresses, but took a different route with some inspired mesh and floral turtleneck pieces—one long, one short—that give a sexy-cool mod element. The designer is also concentrating on boots for Spring with a pair of suede lace-up over the knees that are a hit.

A statement piece is always in order for Ellery—whether that be croc embossed wide leg trousers or a red leather trench—it makes the clothes feel collectible. Layering a high shine turtleneck under a simple black button down is the kind of styling trick that has made Ellery a street style star favorite.

A cropped red jacket in an evolved classic denim jacket shape layered over a white poplin tunic and black maxi skirt with ruffle detail at the hem makes for a memorable and sleek silhouette—and shows the designer's knack for creating drama without having to go over the top. You see the Ellery girl coming, but she's too cool to care.

With athleisure still going strong, Ellery takes on the track pant in one of the best renditions yet—flared and high waisted and paired with a white fur chubby. The brand feels like it is evolving with this collection, experimenting and keeping things sleeker than ever. 

—Kerry Pieri