Hey, what gives here?

New York, with Proenza Schouler’s silver pleated skirts, has turned into an all-out spring trend, as both Phoebe Philo of Céline and Clare Waight Keller of Chloé showed pleated looks in their shows on Sunday. Raf Simons also made a statement in his Dior show with pleats. Raf Simons of Dior included dresses and jewelry inspired by African motifs and colors. They were a Hermes Kelly Handbagssmall but distinctive part of a show aimed at global style. If Mr. Simons was subtle, Phoebe Philo used a magnifying glass on Sunday in her Céline collection. Those African motifs were now fat squiggles of color (yellow, blue, red, green) on tunics; the jewelry became big and loopy, and sometimes cagily evoked John Chamberlain’s crushed metal sculptures.a wad of pink satin into which is embedded a teddy bear, as if the toys in a child’s bedroom have been swept onto the rug and prodded into a lump. Another model wears a flexible cage covered in doughnuts of black satin; still another, a kind of tire around her waist, held up by chain shoulder straps. Their headpieces resemble a charred landscape after a fire. Meanwhile, the small audience of elite editors and buyers, squashed together like bugs, stares at this strangeness.

 No face seems to say, “Hey, what gives here?” There is fierce applause. Backstage, Rei Kawakubo awaits the people who will come to congratulate her, and to seek an explanation. The founder of Comme des Garçons hardly ever goes out on the runway. She is a tiny woman, a force of Hermes Birkin Bagswill. It was a clever show, in more ways than one. Ms. Philo knows how to pile on the eye candy and get everyone worked up. There were the new pillow-shaped leather clutch bags with a silver-rimmed porthole; the sculptural metal heels on shoes, relating to contemporary art (and a cobbler’s nightmare); the reworking of some of her earlier fabrics, like black netting for skirts, and a very smart continuation of her fall proportions PARIS FASHION WEEK activities as sales slow from Barcelona to Beijing. Delphine’s experience at the more-exclusive Dior brand will help move Vuitton upscale,

 Vuitton CEO Michael Burke said in a statement when she was appointed. LVMH, which doesn’t break out revenue by brand, in April posted its weakest fashion and leather-goods sales growth since 2009. Vuitton revenue reached about 7.3 billion euros in 2012, accounting for more than 70 hermes birkin 22percent of sales at the fashion and leather goods division, HSBC estimates. Antoine Arnault is more gregarious. An accomplished poker player -- his winnings exceed $600,000, according to Pokerpages.com -- he appears regularly in the media, from Paris Match to The New York Times’s style magazine. And he dates model Natalia Vodianova, the face of Guerlain perfume and Etam lingerie. Coverage from in and around the Paris shows. Ms. Waight Keller’s collection was exceedingly calm and pretty, in a season that has tended to be brassy. She also insisted on a summery attitude — no confusion about seasons here. Her line was long, with her crinkled pleated and silk cloqué dresses flowing over the body.