The sight of a beaming Vivienne Westwood sprinting down the catwalk in black velvet at the finale of her show in Paris yesterday was proof enough that age has not tamed this designer's vitality or her unquenchable spirit.
Her summer collection was a roller-coaster ride around the l8th century, American rockabilly and bravura 1950s ballgowns with some graffiti prints and rhinestone-studded sheaths tossed in along the way.
If there was a manic touch to what was sometimes more costume than fashion, the line-up of glittering dresses and skin-tight jackets in shining silver and black had rock-star appeal for clients such as Janet Jackson, who was sitting in the front row.
Dresses in oversize Guipure lace were anything but fragile, worn with graffiti-print puffed skirts.
Westwood's swirling cuts, peek-a-boo slits and huge purple shot taffeta gowns are all signature flourishes, and a vigorous sense of colour powered the entire show.
A dress of thunder-blue silk and another in China-blue print were shapely and sexy and only Westwood can mix a purple skirt, a bright green jacket and yellow shoes and get away with it.
If there was a repetitive moment, it happened when a model fell off her shoes, manacled at the ankles like leg irons, recalling Naomi Campbell's famous tumble in vertiginous platforms in Paris in l993.
Platforms proved part of the problem at Marithe and François Girbaud's show.
They're a successful French team who usually produce slick commercial collections that take street trends and polish them up skilfully and stylishly.
Yesterday, however, the ungainly presentation matched some of the clothes, as models had to step up and down on to plinths around the stage.
Raj-style jodhpurs and non-military khaki dresses were decorated with bold ceramic jewellery, but a blazer worn with nothing but bare legs and blonde hair looked cheap rather than seductive.
There were moments in Naoki Takizawa's show, his final one for Issey Miyake, which drew spontaneous applause for a designer whose vision is always original and innovative.
The first was when a group of models slowly unfastened ties on their simple separates, transforming a caped top into a long pleated dress or a monastic grey robe into a tie-dyed shift in a tour de force of origami dressing.
A billowing, hooded dress in pale-pink silk was a dreamlike finale to an outstanding collection.