The fall 2025 collections wrapped last week in a season that was — with the unexpected exception of Dsquared2 in Milan — all about Paris. The city had several big designer debuts, a party that earned the moniker “mini Met Gala,” and surely attracted media attention that wildly outpaced the other fashion capitals. Paris’s dominance has been so established that Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed recently suggested limiting London and New York Fashion Weeks to once a year in September — which makes complete sense when you consider that the last show season, Paris shows attracted more than twice the attention of New York and London combined.

Plus, there really are too many shows. I realize that complaining about having to go to to fashion shows is the Champagne-iest of Champagne problems, but if an event isn’t having the desired impact, it’s not the best use of a brand’s scarce marketing resources.

Here are my other wins and fails from the month.

Debuts - The biggest debuts of 2025 included Haider Ackermann for Tom Ford, Sarah Burton for Givenchy, and Julian Klausner for Dries Van Noten, all of which had gorgeous, wearable clothes that didn’t feel tortured. I didn’t love Veronica Leoni’s Calvin Klein Collection relaunch, which felt like minimalism: tortured to me. Nor does Collection feel essential, when there’s so much expensive minimalist stuff in the market, for a brand that butters its bread on Jeremy Allen White’s abs. However, the massive attention that show received probably accounts for a significant portion of the attention New York Fashion Week received overall. Plus, it may have boosted consumer interest in the brand, which recently announced Lily Collins as a face of its lower-priced stuff. If couture shows are marketing to sell lipstick, maybe Calvin Klein Collection is noise to sell $69 ribbed sweater tanks.

The Louvre Gala - The Grand Dîner du Louvre Gala raised €1.4 million for the museum during Paris Fashion Week. The New York Times reported that attendees referred to it as Paris’s “Met Gala.” The parallels are obvious — Anna Wintour’s Met Gala raises also raises money for an art museum and attracts media attention with a guest list of famous people. However, this Gala did what Tom Ford told me in an interview for my 2022 book ANNA: The Biography he wished the Met Gala did, which was allow guests to just wear beautiful clothes instead of showing up as hamburgers and chandeliers. The dress code was simply “black tie.” Louvre president Laurence de Cars knows the fashion world is happy to spend money on stuff like this, and said she hopes it becomes an annual event.

The End of the Brown Suit - I remember reading a Vogue.com review within the last few years that complained about how many brown pantsuits were coming down the runways. I love a brown pantsuit, but it was time to move on. Anyone who felt a burning desire to own brown tailoring probably has it by now. Why retread rust blazers when we’re on this exciting new frontier of opulence that includes, for some reason, ruff collars and pirate tops?

Doechii - Coming off her Grammys victory, everywhere she went this season she was a fashion story — opening Dsquared2, in a black bodysuit at Tom Ford, barefoot and draped in faux fur baubles at Chloé — reminding the public and designers how powerful the right muse and celebrity face can be when it comes to telling a story about fashion and getting people to pay attention to it. But the main service Doechii did for fashion this season was elevating Alessandro Michele’s schtick at Valentino when she wore a yellow embellished couture dress to Le Dîner in Paris. When I saw that, Michele’s Valentino clicked for me — though it’s probably still not enough to make those bags take off.

Honorable mentions: Erdem, which was beautiful; Rick Owens for this jacket; Max Mara because it never fails. Speaking of fails…