Dries Van Noten

>> This season, Dries Van Noten took a trip to Asia — by way of the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The scarf-like prints that dominated the collection were actually photo prints taken from the traditional garments of the museum's Far East collection.

To balance the exotic nature of the prints, Van Noten did exactly what Van Noten does best. That is, he kept the silhouettes wearable and and the styling relatable. Cropped coats, midi skirts, and high-neck blouses had an everyday ease about them, while fabrics — wool, tweed, silk — were luxe but practical. A smattering of gold embroidery in the form of cranes in flight looked particularly lovely as embellishment on the bust of a pinstriped blazer.

>> The first full day of Paris Fashion Week shows got off to a lighthearted note backstage — Saskia de Brauw was caught playing air guitar just after walking Rue du Mail, Bette Franke was snapped sniffing Suvi Koponen's necklace pre-Dries van Noten, and a smiling Liu Wen rested herself at the bottom of a spiral staircase behind-the-scenes at Rochas. Those pictures, and more from all three shows, in the gallery.

Photos: Greg Kessler

Dries Van Noten gave us a beautiful vision for Spring 2012, thanks to a myriad of photo prints that ranged from a turquoise sea to the twinkling lights of Las Vegas to idyllic painted landscapes rendered in monochromatic tones. These prints were collaged together on loose silk shifts, crisp white button-downs, and knee-length skirts, in a surprising vignette of beautiful things. Silhouettes weren't ignored though; Van Noten played with structure and volume, adding femininity to his slouchy-structured tailoring with peplum and thick, gorgeously rendered embroidery and lace.

• Trends: photo prints, peplum, apron pants, boleros, embroidery.
• Colors: black, white, turquoise, yellow, rust, teal, hot pink.
• Key Piece: The photo-print pieces; a beautiful white peplum vest, embroidered boleros.
• Accessories: tie-up sandals, minimal tristrap heels, white sunglasses.
• Who Would Wear It:Fashion insiders and risk takers like Liv Tyler, Naomi Watts, and Taylor Tomasi Hill.

>> Hannah MacGibbon did bucket bags at Chloe and Valentino sent out delicate shoulder bags, but really, when it came right down to it, Paris designers had a one-track mind this season: clutches, clutches, and more clutches. See our favorites handbags, overwhelmingly of the clutch variety, in the slideshow — including the Dries Van Noten stunner, at left.

>> At last, the denouement: Fall 2011 Fashion Month is over and out. But before you get back to your regularly scheduled program, may we introduce our favorite shoes from Paris Fashion Week: there's lots of snakeskin, lots of black and white . . . and we couldn't forget those intricately laced Louis Vuitton boots — Kate Moss's pair apparently took four people an hour to lace up!

Paris Fashion Week wrapped up yesterday, and now that the last model has walked the last runway, we're taking a look at our absolute favorites in the eveningwear category. A highlight had to be Alexander McQueen, whose designer Sarah Burton modeled her Winter-white-clad models after the story of the Ice Queen. Or Chanel, where Karl Lagerfeld made the evening jumpsuit the main focus over traditional gowns. There were fun, flirty, short dresses too. We've rounded out the top 25 most stunning evening looks and put them all for you here. Click away.

Dries Van Noten stayed true to his decadent eclecticism for Fall 2011, supplying us with a full-throttle experience filled with tweedy textures, snakeskin swirled skirts, shimmery knits, and a heavy helping of outstanding collage-effect prints. Sounds busy at first read, but look closely and you will soon become entranced with the designer's genius story. The inspiration, which Van Noten cites as David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust and Ballets Russes founder Sergei Diaghilev, came together to form a mixture of marbled tweed jackets, tuxedo striped trousers, fur-lined coats, and a bevy of multicolored patterns made into knee-length skirts and blouses. There was an eye-catching button-up work shirt — one of our favorite pieces — smartly remixed with a bold silk print trailing down one arm and across the back. And then the dresses appeared: languid, loose, and seductive, cut almost like a loose tee up top and sliced all the way up to the thigh on down below.

• Trends: Collage prints, tuxedo trousers, metallic tweed.
• Colors: Bright rust, blue, gray, black, gold, silver.
• Key Looks: Collage print pieces, especially the gowns.
• Accessories: Snake print, fur, and velvet booties along with multicolored sandals.
• Who Would Wear It: Eclectic glamorous women like Cate Blanchett and Julianne Moore.