Paris has spoken and fashion’s final authority has laid down the law: This fall it’s all about power shoulders, enveloping outerwear and a color palette that runs the gamut from somber to surreal.

PARIS – Christian Dior on Tuesday was the first major fashion house to stage a traditional ready-to-wear runway show in Paris since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March. The show headlined the first day of a hybrid-style Paris Fashion Week. Guests were unusually relaxed, with some fashion editors commenting that it was because they had not just flown in, exhausted, from a week of covering Milan. Paris, like Milan, is trying to kick off an unusual fashion season for spring-summer 2021. MARINE SERREFrench wunderkind Marine Serre found new fame last season for a series of masked looks in her Paris ready-to-wear show in February that were branded prophetic.