It-designer Nicolas Ghesquiere lives up to his billing for Balenciaga

Tuesday at Paris fashion week saw fashion's most influential designer Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquiere deliver yet another stand-out show. The 36-year-old Frenchman lived up to his recent description in US Vogue as "fashion's most sought-after and hippest figure" with an ultra-chic and futuristic collection.

Taking the silhouettes that label founder Cristobal Balenciaga was so famous for - rounded backs and stiffened shoulders - as a starting point, Ghesquiere reworked these with updated fabrics such as molded vinyl and photographic printed latex.

Less minimalist were a biker jacket - patch-worked and printed in reptilian sheens - and beautiful but wearable draped tops that combined velvet and washed silk.