So, after four weeks of 300-plus shows, what will we all be scrimping to save for next spring?

Hmm, well. Embellishment - chunky necklaces, fringing on bags and belts, embroidery, crystals hung from every vantage point - is key, and an easy way to make an old outfit new.

Shoulders are big, checks are everywhere, as is a palette of (predictably) black and white, but also rose pink, yellow and ice blue.

Something sheer will update any outfit next spring: almost every designer in Paris last week continued this theme.

Skirts are either very short or very long, and jackets either bolero-shaped or boyfriend. Trousers are tapered and cropped, often with cuffs.

The best bags are small and boxy (the huge slouchy tote has caused so much shoulder pain it is on its way out, thank God), although shoes continue to be ludicrously high and time consumingly strappy - I've already met so many fashionistas complaining of back or ankle pain that, surely, this trend must end soon.

In Paris, the last of the fashion capitals to show us its spring/summer 2009 wares, I was disappointed at the lack of craftsmanship or even vague wearability.

Sonia Rykiel, celebrating 40 years in the business, in a show that didn't start until 11pm after a star-studded dinner in St Cloud, sent out long tanks, lots of shiny black tulip skirts with blouses in hot colours, slouchy trouser suits and feathery evening dresses on barefoot models with Seventies crinkled hair.

But it was all a bit too loud and Eighties for my taste. Even John Galliano at Dior, who can normally be relied upon for innovation teamed with beauty, disappointed.

His collection, firmly rooted in the late Eighties, was filled with corseted waists, pointy bras and Lycra leggings.

I had my hopes pinned on the normally impeccable clothes from Stefano Pilati at YSL, but was dismayed to see that almost every garment - a dress, a skirt, a maxi, a tuxedo jump suit - had awful dhoti trousers built in, which made the models look as though they were wearing nappies.

An olive safari jacket was twisted and laced and lovely, but instead of dreaming about owning something by YSL, I could only think the great man himself was turning in his grave.

At Balenciaga, the designs were, to my eyes, unwearable, although I loved the shiny clutches and the jodhpurs, and the finale of super flirty skating dresses in iridescent gold, silver, green and pink.

While the designs might seem futuristic, rest assured designer Nicolas Ghesquiere's influence will be trickling down to a High Street shop near you very soon (his preppy blazer is the most copied garment on the High Street this autumn).

The fur, by the way, was actually made of horse hair. Can anyone tell me if this is ethical, or non?

Sophia Kokosalaki normally sends out lots of pretty dresses, but there was too much leather in this show, such as python patchworked into a dress, and spaghetti-strapped shoes.

It was all quite sculptural, with a lot going on at the neck, and while I found all the dresses nicely curvy, but very short, the jackets were too busy and boxy.

I liked a full-skirted halter dress in orange, but, to be frank, Bottega Veneta does dresses like this, but in a more sophisticated way. The long black dress with net overlay and bronze detail worn by British Vogue cover girl Jourdan Dunn felt like a costume, not a red-carpet dress.

The biggest disappointment was the show by Vivienne Westwood. I'm sorry, but much as I applaud her politics and intelligence - the amount of money we need each year, $30 billion, to save the rainforest was reproduced with all its noughts as a print - I found the programme notes left on each gilt chair at her show giving useful suggestions as to how one might economise, such as 'make a necklace out of safety pins, use shawls, blankets, tablecloths and towels enfolded around you' patronising.

I didn't expect her collection, watched adoringly from the front row by Tracey Emin, to be quite so shambolic and DIY and, frankly, rough around the edges. I liked only one piece, a black chiffon empire line top.

Dries van Noten's show in the Palais Royal Gardens received rave reviews - Suzy Menkes, writing in the Herald Tribune, said: 'Everything in the garden was lovely.' - but I was disappointed.

This is the man who took ethnic design, colour and embroidery and served it up in his own, unique way.

Among all the nonsense, Ann Demeulemeester showed a collection that was fresh, wearable and very pretty. She has a reputation for the black and the gothic, but her clothes for next spring are light and airy: the short cotton jersey T-shirt dresses, given a twist by being draped and gathered, were modern and sexy.

Stella McCartney, too, did not disappoint. This was my favourite show all week. She used silk and linen yarns, men's tailoring, laser-cut Perspex, oversized black, white and flesh palm prints, and shells placed on ivory silks.

It was very feminine, with huge trenches that were as floaty as clouds, a trouser suit that could have been mannish were it not in blush pink, tiny Alaia-esque skirts, and gossamer sequin shifts beneath sheer knitwear.

Karl Lagerfeld had recreated the Rue Cambon in a (freezing) Grand Palais, complete with pavements and a facade of the Chanel building at No 31.

He sent out the predictable Chanel classics - the cocktail dress, cardigan suit, tweeds, bows, the monochrome palate - but it was modern, in subtle pinks and greys.

There were few trousers, mainly smart little dresses and evening gowns, often teamed with a bolero. The silver chunky heels with a slender platform, often decorated with marabou feathers, were the most covetable shoes I've seen all season.

At Valentino, I loved the spotty day dresses, and the short suits with embroidery at the neck or shoulder. The one-shouldered Valentino red dress was exquisite, worn with flat slippers that suddenly made all the teetering platforms seem outdated.