Long Nguyen is the co-founder/style director of Flaunt.

PARIS–You never know what to expect when entering a Chanel show. Chanel is the last fashion house in Paris that consistently stages shows on the grandest of scales–one season it was a giant golden lion, another a farmhouse done to scale, another time an actual iceberg imported from Sweden, and last season, a volcanic eruption.

This time the Grand Palais (that massive exhibition hall built for the 1900 World’s Fair), was done all in white, the floor covered in sparkling white sand, the seating curved like ocean waves. An aquatic scene was set: there was a whale’s tail, seaweed in various states of submersion, giant clams, coral reef, a giant stingray, snails and shells scattered throughout.

Oftentimes, décor and spectacle can overwhelm the fashion, but that was not the case here. On the contrary, the tranquility of the aquatic scene, the feeling of being under water, only served to enhance the collection. Models walked out from what appeared to be the mouth of a giant octopus while Florence Welch sang a la Botticelli, on the half shell. The clothes seemed to flow on the body like the movement of water.

PARIS–Vanessa Bruno’s girl for spring is a bit boho, a bit mod, a bit DIY, and always cool. Mod minis looked like they were made of hipster quilts–nostalgic floral prints I had as my bedspread when I was five sewn together with squares of shimmering silver. Bruno amped up the mod-factor with open-toe knee-high boots. Shagadellic. Images of trucks then wove their way onto patchwork tops and dresses for a literal boy-meets-girl vibe.