The best looks of Paris Haute Couture Week FW21 From Fendi's tribute to Rome to Chanel's Impressionist-inspired dresses

Paris Haute Couture Week reveals the desire for luxury, art, to touch beauty. From Dior with its textured embroidery to Chanel with its dresses encrusted with brushstrokes, flowers and sequins like an impressionist painting to the creations of Kim Jones for Fendi that evoke the plasticity of marble sculptures, the designers bring to the runway pieces that seem to be made not only to be worn, but to be touched, experienced fully with all the senses. This is the most interesting aspect emerging from the FW21 couture collections, but during the week there were also some hype moments related to Balenciaga's comeback to high fashion (the last show dates back to 1968) and the debut of Chitose Abe as creative director of Jean Paul Gaultier.

Here are the 5 coolest collections from Paris Haute Couture Week FW21.

Christian Dior

Kim Jones presents her second haute couture collection for Fendi with a fashion film directed by Luca Guadagnino showing a cast of iconic models moving through architecture echoing the arches of Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, Maison's headquarters. Kate Moss, Christy Turlington, Amber Valletta, Mariacarla Boscono, Paulina Porizkova and Lila Grace Moss are beautiful and almost hieratic as they wear the new outfits inspired by Rome and Pier Paolo Pasolini, as Jones himself points out, explaining "Pasolini observed Rome become modern - and that is what is interesting to me: connecting eras, the old with the new, the past with the present." Italian stone, the works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the marble draperies of Roman statues, the volutes of capitals, the carvings of Corinthian capitals and mosaics come alive on the clothes. Also here, as in the proposals of Dior and Chanel, everything is textured, rich, full of details that are the result of the savoir-faire of the brand's craftsmen: from bustiers modeled as peplums to coats embroidered with three-dimensional petals, from boleros made of tiles like a mosaic to minidresses in carved lace, from the model in silk mikado and crinoline to the coat worn by Kate Moss covered with mink petals in organza, up to the ramage of flowers and leaves that make the precious gloves. The details such as gold macramé or ostrich feathers are pure luxury couture and tell of an opulent Rome rich in art. As well as the accessories. The shoes have sculpted heels that recall the arches of the Colosseum, the pumps are made with mother-of-pearl mosaic, on the bags appear Renaissance frescoes. The beautiful hand-carved jewels created by Delfina Delettrez seem stolen from a museum. It's hard to choose the most interesting among the asymmetric earrings, the white marble earcuff, the maxi necklaces or the sculptural cuff bracelets.  

Iris van Herpen

Iris van Herpen's creations are unique. They are always intricate designs that combine craftsmanship and technology, exploring techniques such as laser cutting, 3D printing and digital fabrics. The latest collection is yet another example of this particular mix, but it adds a special focus on sustainability thanks to the collaboration with Parley for the Oceans who provided the plastic recovered from the oceans used to make some of the fabrics.  While three of the 17 dresses proposed were created in partnership with Rogan Brown, a British artist famous for his elaborate origami. The inspirations for them all? There are two. The first is Earthrise, a 1968 photo that gives the collection its title and shows how astronaut William Anders saw the Earth from the Moon. The second is the world of skydiving. In fact, the video that presents the new works of the Dutch designer features parachutist Domitille Kiger who hovers in the air and falls down to the ground in a sky blue long dress.