Paris Fashion Week blog: Balenciaga barmy

Balenciaga's spring 09 show in Paris yesterday

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1960s air stewardesses met with a self consciously futuristic slant at Balenciaga's spring 09 show in Paris yesterday.

And boy, is it a good job that Nicolas Ghesquière is a talented chap.

The creative director experimented with shape and texture – as is his wont – to pull together disparate ideas, from the use of metallic, iridescent corrugated fabrics on jackets to a restrictive sleeve construction on dresses that resembled phase one in the mummification of models. Sounds bewildering doesn't it?

Don't worry, it all falls into place when you look at the pictures – as will the functional looking panels on the skin tight trousers (a touch of shape control perhaps?) and the Femmebot glitter on the leggings, which morph into towering heels.

Heaven knows how you put them on. But for those willing to put in the effort in, going head-to-toe in Balenciaga's blend of candy-sweet pastels and shimmering metallics will certainly make you stand out from the crowd. Unless you're on board Virgin Galactic and bound for the solar system's outer reaches, in which case you'll fit right in.