The View From Couture Week in Paris So Far

Edward Enninful, the editor of British Vogue, was standing with the designer Nicolas Ghesquière near the head table at Louis Vuitton’s dinner for Frank Gehry on Monday, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the contemporary art center Gehry designed in the Bois de Boulogne that looks like a sailing ship. Or a flock of gulls come for a rest. Floating high above the tables — set with mounds of blue and white hydrangea and gleaming crystal — were giant paper clouds.

Ordinarily, I don’t cover the Paris haute couture — that is, the made-to-measure collections produced by fewer than a dozen houses for the super-rich and discerning — although in recent years they’ve become an engine of creativity. But these shows mark the return of actual showings after the only pause since the German occupation during the Second World War, and I wanted to see how the couturiers and ateliers would respond.

People are making out again — everywhere. The cost of inequity (not to be confused with inequality), in dollars and cents. “Cat Person” was fictional, author Kristen Roupenian always insisted — but that’s not the whole truth. Done right, individualism has tremendous benefits for our senses of competence, effectiveness, and life direction. Michael Pollan is back with mind-bending thoughts on drugs, ego death, and the healing power of plants. How to stay cool when you don’t have air-conditioning. It’s no secret that much of reality television is fake, but reality stars are pushing back on “frankenbiting,” a practice of misleadingly editing audio to generate sound bites. And a reminder that color doesn’t fade with age.

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