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Paris's couture houses dazzled with outlandish and scintillating suits and evening wear, at Couture Fashion Week early this July

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The Armani Privé collection, a sensuous mix of soft suits and barely-there evening wear, on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013.Alessandro Lucioni

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Maison Martin Margiela on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013. The collection included cropped vests and dickeys that left wide areas of midriff exposed before arriving at the relaxed waistline of couture vintage jeans.Alessandro Lucioni

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Atelier Versace on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013. This is now the fourth season for Atelier Versace but the first that pushed the house forward.Alessandro Lucioni

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Valentino on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013. While there was no shortage of ornamentation this season, designers also considered how to create more wearable looks that still conveyed the same degree of savoir faire.Alessandro Lucioni

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Giambattistsa Valli's porcelain-themed collection on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013.ANDREA ADRIANI

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Iris Van Herpen on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013. “I think people respond intuitively to these ideas with a mixture of fascination and disorientation; there’s a warmth to wildness,” Philip Beesley, a Toronto-based architect who collaborated with Van Herpen to produce silicon-based fabrics for this collection, said post-show.ANDREA ADRIANI

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Chanel on display at Couture Fashion Week in Paris, July 1, 2013.Alessandro Lucioni

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