At the June ready-to-wear shows in Paris and Milan, and in a break from usual programming, the greatest buzz was for the menswear shows. Some of that hype was driven by the beacon of Pharrell Williams making his debut as menswear designer for Louis Vuitton (and shutting down Paris’ Pont Neuf in the process). But much of it was down to the collections themselves.

Valentino showed menswear for the first time in three years. Zegna showed a range made largely from linen (milled in-house, no less), taking the codes of the suit and shrugging them free of the shoulder, loosening the tie and injecting sorbet licks of peach and pistachio. Female designers Grace Wales Bonner and Emily Adams Bode continued to push the menswear envelope.