Escaping reality in a pair of quilted raver platforms, this season Balmain found strength in the ethereally elegant. Designer Olivier Rousteing’s story unfolded over three gripping acts in a mix of immersive tribal dance breaks and gold-plated armbands. Bodices were given hard, shiny exteriors for the warriors who wore them, while structural finishes abounded from cream coloured corsets and boxy blazers. This was a uniform of lavender-furred opulence, of baggy leathers, stonewashed cargo pants and jaw-dropping gowns. Roughness in tire-like shoulder pads faced off with a multitude of delicate threads that combined bulky pockets and cyber-print knits. For Rousteing, the body is an impenetrable fortress – and if FW22 is anything to go by, it should be adorned accordingly.