Hats and shiny leather come back in style

1980s Saint Laurent vamps in tight rippling leather outfit. [Photo/AFP]

As the Paris Fashion Week autumn-winter shows ended in their climax, we look at the biggest womenswear trends so far on the catwalk:

Alien burqa hats from sweatshirt sleeves by Rick Owens. [Photo/AFP]

Paris has fallen head over heels for hats. Last week has seen an unprecedented sprouting of headwear on the runways, from turbans to Dior's Black Panther leather berets. Wanda Nylon, too, also featured that most French of caps.

The American iconoclast Rick Owens created a whole gallery of miters, crowns and veils for the "contemporary ceremonial" of his show, making alien burqa hats from sweatshirt sleeves.

Pascal Millet went for glittery beanies, Faith Connection gaucho hats and borsalinos while Neith Nyers featured woolly elf and flowerpot numbers.

And one could only doff one's cap to Jacquemus for their stylish riff on vaguely Spanish black felt headgear, from jaunty bicorne Picasso monteras to stovepipe 1950s numbers.

Japanese label Undercover appeared to have topped everyone with a procession of wild plumed fascinators until the Andreas Kronthaler blew them away with a punk Statue of Liberty crowned helmet that almost felt as big as the real one.

The turbocharged Austrian designer, who like his partner Vivienne Westwood is an environmental activist, also concocted a series of headdresses made from rubbish and finished with his take on a sultan-sized Ottoman turban.