Chanel, what have you become? Paris Fashion Week ends with a bust and then a blow.

Chanel was trite. And if this collection had come from almost any other fashion house, it would hardly spark more than a shrug. But it is an iconic French label of $ 10 billion – which is not part of a luxury conglomerate. It is the house that Coco built and the one that Karl Lagerfeld inaugurated in popular culture. Since her death last year, the collection has been directed by Virginie Viard, her longtime right-hand man.

The proportions were gloomy; the silhouettes weren't flattering; the colors were Pepto pink and institutional green. To use the language of old-fashioned department stores, it looked like separate rooms coordinated on the ground floor. You know these styles; they are tucked away in a dimly lit section of some emporium – by carpets. They are familiar but not modern. They're just never quite right.

Will the new Chanel be a source of grief for its legion of obsessives? Fans flocked to the show at the Grand Palais on Tuesday morning, walking past ushers who checked their names in a digital newspaper, inspected their passports and x-rayed all of these Chanel bags – tens of thousands of dollars in small quilted gems rolling on a grimy treadmill.

Fans came to wear the complete designer kit – Chanel-egance from head to toe. A woman even rigged a facial mask adorned with camellia to cover her mouth and nose, because we do what we can to stay Chanel-tastic in the face of a pandemic. And what did they get for their enthusiasm?

Pants unbuttoned diagonally from the knee down. Others looked more like detachable pants that opened along the side seams. An ascot was tucked into a high band, reminiscent of the way an inelegant businessman sometimes slips his tie into his shirt to keep him from falling into his soup. Perfectly thin pants transformed into pirate pants when folded into lead mid-calf boots. Giant golden buttons adorned everything.

To his credit, Viard has included a larger model in its range. One. This is one more than the house has ever rented. So there is that. She was wearing what appeared to be a black velvet tracksuit. Unfortunately, there is that too.

This is the second big ready-to-wear parade from Viards. It takes time to find its place, even for designers like Viard who have a history with the house. This second trip is a reminder that successions – with alarm clocks – are one of the most difficult exercises for fashion houses. They need to walk in another person's shoes while modifying them to fit.

It is rarer to find young people who have managed to build their own brand. So what a pleasure to meet Thebe Magugu, winner of the LVMH Prize 2019. Based in Johannesburg and with the intention of staying and developing his business, Magugu widens the conversation of fashion with a collection which highlights an intriguing mix cool and dignified retro formality. His work provides evidence – as if it were necessary – that fashion conglomerates would do well to look beyond the usual suspects in the usual places when looking for creative talent.

No matter the size or heritage of a company, it was a busy week with coronavirus. In the short term, the focus has been on hand sanitizer, face masks, body temperature controls and awkwardly aborted cheek shakes and cheek kisses. For the future, Gucci, Prada and Ralph Lauren have already canceled the major promotional events planned for the coming months. Supply chains are threatened and industry leaders jumping into the country have been anchored.

But for now, there is fashion. Some express our fears; part of their antidote. There are blazers with solid shoulders, roomy pants, tweeds and houndstooth and argyle, crumpled satin dresses, ecclesiastical dresses, dystopian coats and platform shoes. Lots and lots of platform shoes.

There is also poetry and heroism. Time travel and aardvarks. And on the list of recent estate stories, Valentino represents one of the biggest creative pay days in the industry. Designer Pierpaolo Piccioli celebrates modesty without making it manifest, welcomes diversity as a creative imperative as much as a social responsibility and delights in colors. Habitually.

The fall collection is black. Not all black, but mostly black with sparks of red and emerald and floral rainbows. But in this dark palette are gradations of ink, an abundance of texture and convincing silhouettes. A black leather coat is made up of hundreds of individual leather petals that swirl in full bloom. A simply cut black dress is enlivened with black and white flower photo prints on the skirt.

Piccioli built a 21st century Valentino without ever losing sight of what catapulted the brand to success. It was never a particular cut; it never was the so-called red Valentino. It was poetry and the idea that beauty can be a way of life.

Alexander McQueen became Sarah Burtons Alexander McQueen. The collection continues to spring from its roots in Britain but instead of expressing an interior monologue in the manner of its namesake, Burton faces outward; it pushes the history of regions around the world. For fall, she showcases Wales' craftsmanship and one of her most striking costumes draws her patchwork design from an antique tailor's quilt installed at her national museum. History of St. Fagans.

She builds women – not in myths but in real world heroes who reach this stature simply by going through their days with optimism, determination and confidence in their bodies.

But what about designers who have designed their aesthetics without having to worry about someone else's legacy? Joseph Altuzarra, who moved his track presentations from New York to Paris, where he was born, flourished here. The collection he showed on Saturday afternoon was silent, simply magnificent. Her flowery dresses caressed the body; his jackets, with their wide necklines, elegantly framed the face; her crumpled satin skirts and dresses were perfectly balanced between sophistication and ease. And its feathered slides make the heels completely obsolete.

This city can be intimidating for any designer, but for those who can stand in the spotlight, this light can spur growth. Altuzarras' fall collection was bubbling with the sure belief that fashion doesn't have to be brainstorming to be exhilarating.

The creativity of Thom Brownes has untied in this city – almost to its detriment. The American designer sometimes fell so in love with the possibility of an idea that he was adamant about realizing it, even if it meant that his models were left teetering on dizzying heels. Fortunately, there was no such distracting indulgences during his Sunday afternoon show. The models walked in pairs dressed in assorted variations, elegantly adjusted and applied to school preparation jackets, skirts and overcoats. A boy, a girl, dressed in exactly the same way.

They carried animal handbags – artful leather replicas of a vast menagerie of creatures from the aardvarks to the walruses. When the last pair of models disappeared from view, they all resurfaced in a final fashion show. But they re-paired and held hands – humans walking in pairs, loving who they love, finding relationships with their opposites.

At the last show of the week, there was a palpable sense of relief. The concerns surrounding the coronavirus were just the latest layer of anxiety in an industry trying to combat its role in climate change, with diversity, with its place in culture. Designer Stella McCartney, whose company was founded on the idea that fashion could thrive while being eco-friendly and animal-friendly, had given customers a reason to feel a little better in this polluting industry. She promised a carbon neutral show and people in fuzzy animal costumes greeted the guests with a tree that they were encouraged to take home and plant.

But it was the Nicolas Ghesquires collection for Louis Vuitton that put the stress of the week into perspective. He reminded the guests that fashion does not reflect a single discreet moment in time, but reflects who we have become during it. We are part of a continuum.

Under a tent in the courtyard of the Louvre and against a backdrop of characters in historic attire, models parade in modern swing skirts, parachute pants, sparkly dresses and leather jackets. The past is always present; the future is bright. This moment will pass.

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