At Paris Couture Week, All or Nothing

PARIS — Set amid violent protests after the police shooting of a North African teenager, which took France by storm and says so much about socio-economic inequality in today’s world, the Paris haute couture week that closed Thursday was a polarised affair, opposing restraint and excess, calm and loudness, technique and showmanship, real clothes and wild storytelling, with little in between.

Restraint was not even an option at Schiaparelli,…