Couture week may have had to compete for attention with the fireworks here in the US, but plenty of people still took notice. In case you missed any of the pailletted flights of fashion fancy on offer this week from the ateliers in Paris, we’ve read all the reviews from major critics and other friends and bloggers, and have collected all the qualifying bon mots.

You know that Raf Simons’s very much anticipated debut for Dior set the bar pretty high, but who came out ahead in the final tally? If the fash pack agrees on anything, when it comes to this rarefied world of handcrafted fashion, from “unapologetically blingy” to “sparkling like sun on water” there is more than one way to shine.

Click through to see which houses had the best-reviewed collections this couture season.

Photos: Imaxtree