When she took over after her brother Gianni’s murder, few expected her to last 27 years and become a household name

• News: Donatella Versace hails brother as she bows out as creative director

When Donatella Versace took over the house of Versace in the aftermath of her brother Gianni’s murder, most observers privately assumed that her reign would be no more than a postscript. The bottle-blond younger sister, with no formal training and a drug addiction that was the fashion industry’s worst kept secret, was seen as a sentimental appointment by a shell-shocked family.

She proved everyone wrong. Versace is now defined as much by Donatella as by Gianni. She steps down from designing after 27 years as an icon in her own right, one of the most successful female designers in modern fashion history. Sober for 20 years, she has steered Versace to become a global household name, valued at $2bn (£1.6bn) when it was sold to Capri Holdings six and a half years ago.

Broad shoulders and slim skirts reflected designer Anthony Vaccarello’s intention to create a ‘simplicity of silhouette’

Saint Laurent has cross-generational cool. On the last night of Paris fashion week, Kate Moss sat next to Catherine Deneuve, both in black tailoring, sheer blouses and high heels. Pedro Almodóvar and Rossy de Palma smiled for the cameras, while Hailey Bieber and Charli XCX kept their shades on.

Saint Laurent’s daytime silhouette this season is an inverted triangle, with broad shoulders narrowing to slim skirts and sheer tights. For evening, it flipped upside down, with slinky sweaters and grand ball skirts. The colours were of cocktail ring gemstones: emerald, sapphire, ruby and garnet.

Fashion week also brings Louis Vuitton showcasing cinematic romance of train travel

Chanel came gift-wrapped in black ribbon at Paris fashion week. The ribbon was made of steel, not silk. It was the width of a city street and 368 metres long, soaring skywards beside the long catwalk like very pretty scaffolding. The message: the house of Chanel is as tough as it is chic.

New designer Matthieu Blazy is expected to take up his role next month, by which time Chanel will have been without a creative lead for almost a year. This design vacuum poses a challenge for the house, but Chanel still has a star designer – albeit one who has been dead for 54 years.