John Galliano showed his second couture collection for Maison Margiela in Paris this morning and his first in the French capital: his debut, in January this year, was staged in London. Again the designer decided upon a traditional runway presentation as opposed to the elaborate mise en scene he was famed for at Dior. And again this was a powerfully inventive showing, drawing on both Galliano's codes - and his early codes in particular - and those of the house Martin Margiela founded in the late Eighties. The latter designer retired from his label in 2009.
Given the brouhaha that today goes hand in hand with the couture season - think ultra-glitzy garments, ultra-glitzy venues and clients to match - this was a studiously low-tech affair and all the more interesting for that.
The show notes described the prevailing mood as 'an accidental and unconscious glamour'. With that in mind, there was little conventional about the fabrications. In place of the elsewhere requisite chiffon, say, was Madagascan raffia, neoprene, Andean Suri alpaca, lining silks and wool. Instead of crystal embroideries, Galliano opted for cracked mirror and what the powers that be at the label described as 'sheaves of wheat, carved soap, ginger root, olives and orange peel'. Both models' gestures and the drape of tailoring, meanwhile, were studiously awkward: overblown in places, deconstructed throughout.
Starbursts of hair grips, Klein blue masks and a coin dot motif that extended from clothing onto hair finished what was clearly a study of character in clothing over and above anything more trend-led in flavour.
As the haute couture season comes to a close it seems that those pushing at the boundaries of this time-honoured craft form are the names standing out. John Galliano, certainly, is among them.