Hong Kong, Sept. 30 -- Models in cocooning kaftans sashayed at the Paris Fashion Week after nearly seven months for Dior.

Three hundred masked movers and shakers braved the drizzle to worship at the 'cathedral of Dior', as wags dubbed the pavilion with stained glass windows the mythic French brand built in the Tuileries Garden for the occasion. Image: Courtesy Lucas Barioulet/AFP

If the first major live catwalk show in the world's style capital since the lockdown was meant to be a celebration of fashion, no one told the choir. A dozen sopranos screeched out an ear-splitting mourning dirge as the models winced by. The mounting atonal music was strangely at odds with the looks, which mostly comforted clothes to soothe nerves and souls add...