•Miuccia Prada: One of the most influential designers, she is currently obsessed with lace, not the conventional fall fabric. To use small bits would have been tacky, she told reporters. So she went all out, pushing the mills in Switzerland into frenetic overtime.

We’re not talking sweet frou-frou lace; it had a hardened patina. “Not quite goth, not quite dominatrix,” Style.com reported. The lace was apparently buttoned over a stretch top before making a debut in diaphanous pieces, offering little coverage for panties and bras with industrial metal straps.

•Giorgio Armani: The show was soft and feminine, without the machete-sharp edges he has sometimes fielded. Velvet pants were topped by blouses with crisscross tiers of pleated ruffles. Flowers were worked into print skirts and evening gowns and even knitted into the lining of a fur jacket.

Short cardigan jackets moved seamlessly into matching skirts. Evening meant fringed gypsy dresses and flowing shawls.

•Donatella Versace: The collection had little resemblance to the exuberant high flash that marked the shows of her brother Gianni Versace in the ’80s. Standouts were short, minimal swing cocktail dresses or elegant mini-coats.

•Burberry Prorsum: Designer Christopher Bailey left python coats in the past to wow his audience with beautiful tailoring, shapely dresses and girlish overcoats. Models wore oversized knit beanies, adding a bit of cartoon levity. Washington Post reporter Robin Givhan praised the precise cut of a pea coat.

Meanwhile the fashion circuit has switched to Paris, where the shows are under way this week. Stay tuned.