Paris Fashion Week closes after two weeks of debuts and star power

Paris Fashion Week closed Tuesday after two weeks of runway debuts, high-profile creative-director reshuffles and a front-row spectacle that at times overshadowed the clothes themselves. With new collections from houses that have recently changed leadership and a steady procession of global celebrities in attendance, the season reinforced Paris’s role as the industry’s most watched calendar moment even as attention across fashion month shifted toward celebrity presence and the camera-ready moment.

Designers used the platform to stake claims for the coming season. Debuts and returns included collections from Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first outing at Balenciaga, Jonathan Anderson’s long-awaited Dior womenswear debut, and Glenn Martens’s first ready-to-wear at Maison Margiela. Matthieu Blazy is set to present at Chanel later in the season. These premieres arrived amid heightened scrutiny, with invitations tightly rationed and front-row visibility amplified by global social media.

Across shows, three clear design currents emerged. Extravagantly broad shoulders and tailored, boxy blazers signaled a revival of 1980s power dressing. Sheer and...