French fantasy: behind the scenes at the Paris Couture shows

In uncertain times, is haute couture relevant? The question didn't seem to matter any longer as Paris Haute Couture Week started at the beginning of July. Among its recession-defying flights of fancy were beautiful dresses, ravishing models, breathtaking locations, diamond presentations, dreamy hats, bejewelled clients and riotous parties. It was a return to real glamour and rich handcrafts.

'It's all about the bow,' exclaimed Alexis Mabille backstage. At 32, he is the youngest designer to present his haute couture collection in Paris. And indeed, bows were everywhere: big and bold on the front of his evening gowns; little ones on the heels of his candy-coloured shoes; and on wrist-to-elbow rhinestone bracelets. It was pure fashion fantasy: what a great way to start the week.

As soon as that show ended, I walked in the sunshine down the rue Saint Honoré towards the Italian jeweller Bulgari. There I inspected a series of bracelets in the new Serpenti collection, evoking one of the house's signature motifs in the form of snake-like white and yellow gold bracelets encrusted with the brightest of diamonds.

No time for lunch, couture was calling, so I went straight from there to Christian Dior, back at its home, showing the collection in the salons at 30 avenue Montaigne. The models, swinging down those fabulous staircases (left) that have seen some of the most beautiful women of the last 60 years, wore bright colours mixed with shifting chiffon and layered lace, in saucy Fifties corsetry.

'I call it "cabine" fever!' said John Galliano, referring to the backstage frenzy that inspired the clothes, and to a series of 1950s photographs of the Dior dressing rooms. Here the bows - a recurring trend - were on models' heads as hats, and made the whole audience, including Marion Cotillard, dream of the golden age of haute couture.

Dizzy with colour, I set off to be dazzled by Chanel's jewellery salon in Place Vendôme. The octagonal shape of the square was mirrored in giant Plexiglas Lego-like display cases showing off expensive bows made of the whitest and purest diamonds in town. Cartier, just around the corner, displayed a more colourful collection that included emeralds, rubies and pearls in its signature ethnic designs. They will soon adorn a very few lucky women...

After a night of dancing at the reopened Le Montana club in Saint Germain with Francisco Costa and Italo Zucchelli of Calvin Klein, I collapsed into bed at dawn.

Five hours later, the Giorgio Armani Privé collection was an ode to the sleek silhouette - from impeccable tweed day suits to richly embroidered evening dresses. It was pure glamour under the eyes of actresses Cate Blanchett, Megan Fox and Elsa Pataky.

I had a proper Russian lunch of caviar and vodka at Fabergé. The only egg in sight, apart from tiny black ones, was a flowerdecorated monolith in the courtyard of an elegant hôtel particulier, where the designer Frédéric Zaavy presented a collection of rose and peony blooms covered with thousands of tiny coloured stones.

More jewellery: Victoire de Castellane, the quirky designer at Dior Jewellery, introduced an intriguing collection of pendants and rings. Here crowns, ruffs and chains, all in diamonds, adorned pretty hard-stone skulls. The result was ravishing and witty.