Spring 2013 Paris

C'est fini! After New York, London and Milan, the fashion crowd set their sights upon the city of lights.

A lesson in being stylish even when it's snowing.

Fashion shows in Paris tend to feel very serious. They're staged in the grandest Baroque buildings and they're very exclusive. On the night of the most serious, most exclusive show of Paris fashion week--Hedi Slimane's debut collection for Yves Saint Laurent--Olympia Le-Tan presented her spring summer ready-to-wear and handbag collection. It was not serious. It was not exclusive. It was pure fun. The most fun I had at a fashion show all week, in fact.

There's always something very specific inspiring jewelry designer Eddie Borgo. Last season his collection was influenced by the cogs and gears and machinery hidden beneath New York's city streets--the stuff that makes Gotham hum. This season he did a bit of a 180. For spring 2013, he was inspired by a person--the legendary, the infamous, stylist Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele, and her work from the late '80s and early '90s. (And so you can add Borgo to the list of designers feeling the '90s this season.) Click through to see the collection and hear what Borgo had to say about it.

You can't talk about handbags for Spring 2013 without mentioning Karl's enormous hula-hoop creation that stole the show at Chanel. Clearly, that one takes the cake as the most dramatic accessories moment of the season. (And comes with an instructions on how to use it from the Kaiser himself.)

Don't you hate it when you can't decide between a dress or pants? Luckily, Paris offered up lots of options to split the difference.

Grunge! Chic beekeepers! New Looks! Damier dresses! If your head is still spinning from 9 days of nonstop fashion action the City of Light--ours are, for sure--we've got your handily reductive recap of each day's critics' pick for top show. Presenting the Paris Fashion Week spring 2013 Honor Roll.

After all the hype surrounding Raf Simons' and Hedi Slimane's debuts for Dior and Saint Laurent respectively, and all the backlash and name-calling following Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent show, it's easy to forget there were some really lovely collections shown this week. Click through for a little reminder, plus our picks for the 10 best collections from the week.

Well, here we are. Le fin of Paris Fashion Week--and the end of our four-week, four-city international fashion marathon. On the day of second acts, Miuccia Prada did some typically subversive takes on '50s shapes at Miu Miu. But it was Marc Jacobs--that guy who defined this season's graphic obsession with his collection of stripped down stripes for his namesake line back in New York--who made Louis Vuitton's iconic damier motif look not-so-square. Checkmate. Here's what the critics were buzz-buzz-buzzing about.

Miuccia Prada serves up sexy ugly better than anyone. For her spring 2013 collection for Miu Miu, she put her own spin on the Hitchcock heroine.

While critics were not exactly over the moon about Hedi Slimane's YSL debut, buyers apparently were. And isn't that ultimately more important?

The Chanel hula hoop bag may have been the most talked about accessory to hit the runway this season. After seeing it, many wondered--why is it so big? Does it fold out into a bicycle? Can it be used as a chic lean-to in inclement weather? Well, Karl Lagerfeld himself decided to clear the issue up. Speaking in a video interview with the Telegraph Lagerfeld said:

We're not sure who Saint Laurent's spring 2013 show was more of a coup for: Designer Hedi Slimane--or Rachel Zoe. Because it was the latter's name that online commenters were using to describe the aesthetic of the collection--one of the most hotly anticipated shows of the season. But it wasn't just the online community that noticed the similiarities between Slimane's debut and Zoe's aesthetic.

This is getting completely out of hand. If you'll recall, today Cathy Horyn dismissed Hedi Slimane's open letter to her (in which he called her a "schoolyard bully" and attacked her personal style), calling it "silly nonsense." We figured that was the end of it. We were wrong. (We should have known better.) Slimane is back at it on Twitter:

Last night in Paris Carine Roitfeld threw a ball in Paris and everyone in fashion came (except Cathy Horyn and Hedi Slimane--because, wow, that would've been awkward).

And so, we bid adieu to another amazing fashion month as Paris Fashion Week comes to an end. But before we fly away home, let's take a look at some of the incredible and enviable street style that paraded through the City of Light throughout the week. After all, half the fun of fashion week is seeing the clothes outside the shows!

It was a mod, graphic collection from Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, with a specatucular set, as we've come to expect from the house.

Thank god for Sarah Burton. After a day that threatened to be overshadowed by yet another display of petty defensiveness from a designer in response to Cathy Horyn's cutting reviews (this time from Hedi Slimane, who, after Horyn slammed his debut collection for Yves Saint Laurent, took to his website to call her a "schoolyard bully" and accused her of being biased towards Raf Simons), how refreshing to see a truly fantastic collection without any designer ego.

Yep, the French manicure is back.

Between the signature over-the-top sets (this season there were wind turbines), Karl Lagerfeld's whimsy and sense of humor (cue this season's hilarious show notes), and, of course, the gorgeous clothes, the Chanel show is always equal parts entertaining and stylish. And we look forward to it season after season. Of course Spring 2013 was no exception and luckily we were on hand to report on every minute of it! Click through to get the scoop on everything from the standout collection, to the star-studded front row.

These designers all prove that ruffles don't necessarily have to be over-the-top.

The anti-Cathy Horyn club has an official new member: Hedi Slimane. Following Horyn's piece in today's New York Times claiming that she had not been invited to Hedi Slimane's YSL debut because of an eight-year-old grudge the designer was holding, Slimane took to Twitter to issue a response and, um, blow off some steam.

Clare Waight Keller has really hit her stride at Chloé.

Hedi Slimane finally made his debut for Saint Laurent. Here's our firsthand account.