There’s always a buzz of curiosity and excitement surrounding a Chanel Haute Couture show–I, for one, am always awed by Karl Lagerfeld’s seemingly endless ability to recombine (even reinvent) the vocabulary of basic elements we’ve all come to associate with this legendary maison.

Baptiste Giabiconi

Susan arrives at the Grand Palais

Alexa Chung and Poppy Delevigne

This season’s Haute Couture presentation took place inside the Grand Palais, which had been transformed to resemble the Place Vendôme by night. Ah yes: Paris is always beautiful, but there’s something about the city at night that’s like nowhere else. And Karl deliberately arranged for his défilé to start late (10:30 PM), in order to recreate an authentic vision of nighttime Paris. The guests gathered before the show for cocktails and canapés, then made their way inside the enormous venue and gradually took their places.

The whole production was beyond beautiful: there were 83 looks, starting with the classic tweeds (refreshed, of course, by a new approach). The main news here came from narrow-waisted jackets that flared over the hips, with endless variations to choose from. I particularly liked a white jacket with a black peplum and matching skirt (cut to the knee). In fact, there were no short skirts or dresses. But the proportions were perfect. And while most of the collection was made up in muted tones–black, white or grey–there were dashes of fuchsia, too, for a little surprise. The long dresses were very romantic, and took me back to another era. Indeed, the whole collection was very la femme en ville: impeccably dressed, by day or by night.

The finale–as always–was incredibly dramatic, as every model reappeared “onstage” and took her place on the Place Vendôme. It was yet another mesmerizing evening spent with Karl Lagerfeld and the house of Chanel.

Photographs by Stephane Israël. Runway images via Style.com