It was the turn of the Belgian designer Dries Van Noten – a man known for a discreetly beautiful aesthetic that has earned him an unusually loyal clientele – to take to the Paris catwalk yesterday. For autumn-winter 2008, he offered up an homage to the work of the people whose job it is to craft fine clothing.

While the collection was in no way masquerading as haute couture – Van Noten is far too diffident a man to make such a claim – ...