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Chanel Iman for John Galliano Fall 2008 at Paris Fashion Week

More than any other designer, John Galliano has a flair for the dramatic. His runway shows aren’t so much fashion shows as theatrical productions. Yet, he rides the line and manages not to make his clothes stray into the area of costuming.

For F/W ‘08, Galliano is one of the few designers in love with color — not just print — full on Technicolor dreamscapes. His clothes were wonderful explosions of juicy orange, rich reds and vibrant shades of blue.

He hit the ’20’s and 30’s with flapper-inspired dresses including a midnight blue creation with a full skirt of feathers. So gorg! Models were often topped with glorious feather headpieces and oversized knit hats. It was all wonderfully crazed Galliano, but also absolutely wearable.

One thing I hope John Galliano isn’t trying to bring back is Hammer pants because I will resist him with every fiber of my being.

Stella McCartney Fall 2008 at Paris Fashion Week

My reactions to Stella McCartney’s shows are always a “oooh, cute” or a “oh, that’s nice” — not like the full-on lust I reserve for other designers. This season, she gave us a typically wearable F/W ‘08 collection that wasn’t jaw-dropping either way, but had some great pieces that I’m sure will sell well. The camel coloured chiffon dress above was probably my favorite piece of all, although I also liked Jessica Stam’s metallic silver cocktail dress and a series of gauzy balloon dresses in dove grey and blue.

Most of all from this collection, I loved the shoes. The stilettos and boots were designed with platforms so precarious that one model walked down the catwalk with her shoes in her hand. Comfort be damned, I want them anyway.

I know you’ve been wondering: what about the Valentino show? I wanted to keep Valentino as my final Paris post (the final commentary of the season in fact) to give it the proper weight it deserves.

After 45 years in fashion, 75 year old designer, Valentino Garavani has finally hung up his needle and thread. Next season, the critical eye of the fashion world will be turned to Alessandra Facchinetti (formerly of Gucci) as she takes over design duties for the house.

Valentino’s final prêt-à-porter collection was a look forward as much as it was a look back. The multitude of white dresses were a nod to his “no color” collection of dresses in every shade of white and of course the red gowns were a Valentino classic that were a reminiscence of every iconic red dress he has ever created.

And still others were new, new, new. Valentino himself might be 75 years old, but this collection was very young. He mixed pink and purple to create dresses in short and long form that were elegant in cut but playful in color. He made big polka dots seem unbearably chic in a black and white polkadot cigarette pant and a gauzy seafoam dress with white polkadots. I loved the pieces that featured accordioned accents like the floor-length café au lait gown with twin layers of accordion pleating around the shoulders.

Valentino’s last hurrah produced designs so sick they made my stomach flutter.

Was this the best collection of Paris Fashion Week? Yes, yes it was.

What’s the biggest news to come out of the Luis Vuitton show? The collabo between Marc Jacobs and contemporary artist, Richard Prince that gave birth to cartoonish totes, colorful satchels, and logos splashed every which way. A series of chic nurses inspired by Prince’s nurse paintings ushered the bags out one-by-one like newborn babies.

Richard Prince’s “Debutante Nurse”

Marc put fuchsia snakeskin details on a multihued handbag, mixed his exotics (snakeskin with ostrich) on another, and spelled out “Louis Vuitton Paris” all over a yellow tote that I can see as my next travel carry-on bag.If you’re not such a fan of the monogram bags, there are still a lot of handbag options for you. There was a salmon colored ostrich Alma and a sand colored ostrich Papillion. These are both classic bags that don’t draw too much attention to themselves. I personally loved the logo-less bags with cartoon scenes stitched on them. They’re quirky and fun and come in some really punchy colors.

Look, I can tease you with a bunch of long shots to show you the clothes or I can show you what’s going to really matter in the world of Louis Vuitton next season – the bags.

Of course you have to have bitchin’ shoes to go with the hot new bags and MJ continued the funky footwear trend that he started in his eponymous collection.

For Louis Vuitton, Marc brought back the classic pump shape with heels a little bit lower than those towering platform stilettos we’ve been teetering on for the past few seasons. There was the “broken heel” pump, a shoe that mirrored the look of a woman who has just snapped the heel of her shoe as well as pumps with a notch taken out of the heel.

And yes, it really is the hottest ish to hit the streets. I may have given Marc the side-eye for his MJ show in Bryant Park, but it’s only because I knew he could do so much better.

More of this please.

Rich color ran down the runway at Lanvin. Spring 2008 saw Alber Elbaz in a Technicolor mood with juicy dress after juicy dress. I loved these beautiful jewel toned silk shifts and perfect feathered party dresses.