There are two ways for a designer to approach embellishment. The typical one is to treat embellishment as decor, a little bonus pizzazz on the surface of a garment. The other, rarer one—to which Sharon Wauchob subscribes—is to make embellishments absolutely integral to the personality of the clothes on which they appear. In Wauchob's show today, you could hardly have imagined the satin tops with dotted feather embroidery without those feathers—the pieces might have worked plain, but they would have worked in an entirely different way. Ditto the smocked chiffon gowns, with their starry scatter of crystals, or the satin pencil skirt with a mossy burst of embroidery near the hem. Not all the looks in Wauchob's latest collection featured embellishment, but it was the embroideries, especially, that marked them as unique.

It wasn't all a stitched-and-feathered affair. Wauchob had success with simpler pieces, too. There were on-trend slipdresses and camisoles in lace and silk satin, as well as a slew of nice jackets and coats—a surprising number, in fact, given the season—with the standout being a robelike coat in reflective velvet, which pulled off the feat of seeming both relaxed and glam.

BRAND: SHARON WAUCHOB  |  SHARON WAUCHOB OFFICIAL WEBSITE

"It's masculine meets feminine." As many times as we've heard that, it's never been uttered by Peter Copping at Nina Ricci. This Paris label is as femme as it gets, so Copping's Spring collection was something new. "I was looking at the eighteenth century, when men were romantic," he said. In other words, there were no Wall Street-ready pinstripes here, but rather modern interpretations of tailcoats. As a sheer white scrim was drawn across the length of the Tuileries tent, the first model emerged in a collarless redingote, only a sliver of her appliquéd lace dress peeking out from its hem. From there on, Copping set up the boy-girl interplay in countless ways: a bib-front tuxedo top was married to a mirror-strewn pencil skirt; other skirts came with shirttail-shaped hems; and a delicate knit was accompanied by cropped pants in a suit-lining stripe.

The details invited close study. The only thing is, Copping did nearly the first half of the show entirely in white. It would've been more compelling to see him turn his delightful color sense to his chosen topic. When the Sevres blue did arrive on strapless duchesse satin dresses, it was a revelation. Pictures do it little justice. The flower-print silks were just as riveting patchworked on a pleated V-neck dress or collaged with lace on a halterneck style. The whole collection was pretty, but it only really came alive at the end.

BRAND: NINA RICCI  |  NINA RICCI OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Before her show today, Barbara Bui defended denim as a "noble" material. Its usual destiny as a sturdy fabric need not preclude it from being made over into a more delicate, decadent, or decorated state of being. (Some trivia: The etymology of denim is actually French, as in de Nîmes—from Nîmes). In the role of fairy godmother, Bui transformed it by shearing, fraying, sculpting, embroidering, and adding appliqué and monochromatic beading for textural dimension. She also paid homage to denim with blousons in faded blue leather and python. Bui's bandeau underpinnings and bloomer/sport-short hybrids skewed young, although the designer said she'd have no qualms wearing the latter.

Bui was smart, though, to hedge her bets with jackets. The least classic came cropped and boxy; oversized and sans sleeves; rounded and paneled in leather; or long, pleated, and worn as a shoulder cape. The designer established early on in her career that she knows how to cut a pant—here, she shifted her skills upward and succeeded.

In the last quarter, Bui showed two rubber toppers printed with a red engraved flora print, followed by a poppy-red organza suit that dictated a looser fit and benefited from a higher waist. The digression felt odd, if only because it was so short lived. The footwear, meanwhile, stayed entirely fixed on oxfords vented to resemble sandals, or laceless white versions tipped in metal bits to catch the light. By eschewing heels, Bui altered the spirit of her line more radically than with her focus on the humble blue jean. Her signature stilettos may yet appear by the time the collection hits stores, but on the runway, at least, these steps pushed her brand forward.

BRAND: BARBARA BUI  |  BARBARA BUI OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

BRAND: LANVIN  |  LANVIN OFFICIAL WEBSITE

This evening's Christian Wijnants show left you with a sense of gnawing dissatisfaction. Not because he lacks for ideas or talent, but rather because he patently has the goods, and this seemed a missed opportunity for a breakthrough collection. Wijnants' concept was rich: He was paying homage to the Islamic women in Somalia who play basketball, in transgression of religious custom and at risk to their own lives. And the designer took the right elements from that reference, mixing up traditional African prints and sport-influenced silhouettes and graphics, and elaborating a more abstract theme involving concealment and exposure. That resulted in a clutch of very strong pieces: His drooped basketball shorts are among the cooler looks to appear thus far on a catwalk for Spring, and his sheer printed dresses and anoraks had a real poetry. But the looks never properly cohered. It was hard to figure out exactly how Wijnants was getting in his own way. The styling was an issue, frankly, and he almost completely eschewed his signature technical knits, which was something akin to making a collection with one hand tied behind his back. (Such is Wijnants' way with knitwear that he was, just last season, awarded the Woolmark Prize as a result of it.) Both those qualms are rather easily addressed. The bigger issue may be that Wijnants has yet to summon the nerve to meet his formidable potential. Last season was a more coherent and, in some ways, ambitious outing. But given this designer's keen intellectual gifts and his remarkable technical prowess, you really have to demand he keep pushing.

BRAND: CHRISTIAN WIJNANTS  |  CHRISTIAN WIJNANTS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

A season ago, Damir Doma's collection felt dour. But over the course of the summer, he made a correction. Backstage, he reported that his trip to Florence's Pitti trade show, where he was invited to present his Resort collection, was a fairly life-affirming rite of passage. Apparently, he's still basking in the afterglow. For Spring, he displayed a renewed interest in decoration and color, and they warmed up his familiar asceticism.

Doma started off with all-white looks in graphic lines. A cotton dress sliced diagonally down the front revealed the all-in-one underneath, while a horizontal vent on the back of a crisp sleeveless jacket exposed a flash of skin. Khaki dresses, meanwhile, were built from the elements of trenchcoats. Business as usual for Doma. But then came the polka dots. Printing them would've proved too heavy-handed, so instead he laser-cut them, adding a sense of feminine froth to everything from boxy linen T-shirts to skirts whipped up in silk plissé.

The show came alive when Doma injected color. Tiger-lily orange looked particularly strong paired with a black and white check, although bright yellow also resonated. He came back to a trio of little black dresses at the end, but he kept them light with the polka dots or with an asymmetric sleeve. A much improved effort.

BRAND: DAMIR DOMA  |  DAMIR DOMA OFFICIAL WEBSITE