Oxford + Park

"[Raf Simons'] girl loves makeup"—specifically eye makeup that manifest itself as Spring's "techno-butterflies," as Pat McGrath tells it, replete with squared-off splashes of bright creams topped with shadows that were dragged across lids and accessorized with Swarovski crystals, lots of them.

"There were 55 girls. We started beading at 8:30 in the morning [for a 2:30 show]," she explained of the individual hand designs that were assigned to each model. "Once you've done that, you don't really need anything else."

John Galliano studied flowers to create his fall 2010 couture collection for Dior, even spending hours observing how the colors of petals would change when hit by the light. The result was an haute garden of ruffled, ruched and feathered  gowns in punchy colors. Stephen Jones created headpieces that looked like a florist's plastic wrap, and models were "tied" around the middle with raffia belts to create the perfect high fashion bouquet.