At Alaïa, Peter Mulier introduced the idea of the spiral, while the Möbius strip made an appearance at Courrèges, where Nicolas Di Felice addressed the feeling of nostalgia-soaked postmodernism running as if in a continuous loop. “In the period that we live in, it’s always a comeback to something else—and I’m not talking only about fashion—so I decided we’re going to work on cycles and repetition,” the designer said. Indeed this season’s trends are largely a remix of tendencies designers have been playing with for the past two years or so, such as Madame Grès–inspired draping, balletcore, etc. These ideas are reframed to be sure, but it is hard to shake the feeling that the world is at a tipping point, and forward motion will be determined based on the results of November’s US presidential election.

Still, stasis is not an option; the world, and fashion, must proceed. There is work to be done. In a strangely apolitical season, Willy Chavarría’s América show told the story of the USA “through the voice of the immigrants, and the people who make this motherfucker run,” as the designer put it. And it stood out. If you think about it, utilitarian workers’ gear forms the basis of American style: jeans, t-shirts and tank tops, khakis. Fashion isn’t finished with barn-jacket beige and for spring the hue appeared in scouting and military-inspired looks. Olive drab, a hue known to army brats (not to be confused with Charli’s brats), expanded the palette.

Seemingly no collection was without some kind of slim and sleek tank silhouette; fashion’s Olympics-fueled athletic fixation has not yet waned. At Christian Dior, tanks had a sporty aspect. We also saw sophisticated takes on sportiness like billowy polo dresses and windbreakers in materials from nylon to satin to wear with sequined dresses.

Circles and discs, symbols associated with femininity, were also abundant. The invitation to Jonathan Anderson’s spring show for Loewe was a ring, and on the runway the man who resurrected the structured pannier for spring 2023, went further back in history to bring the bell-shaped hoop skirt back into rotation. His had a weightlessness the originals lacked. Panniers put in an appearance too, most notably on side-bolstered robe de style dresses popularized a century ago by Jeanne Lanvin. Also coming out from the shadows were bewitching looks. These ranged from the darkly mysterious (banshees were referenced at McQueen; Disney’s Wicked antiheroines made their presence known) to the romantic á la Stevie Nicks’s Rhiannon (who, as “a woman taken by the wind” is exceedingly on trend). Seduction is a kind of sorcery that designers played with via cone bras and transparent (tulle) veiling that was like a physical replication of a soft filter.