PARIS

The name Kim Jones dominated Paris fashion for a second week running as the indefatigable Briton who designs for Dior Men’s returned to the runway for his latest couture collection for Fendi.

Following in the steps of the late Karl Lagerfeld at the Roman house’s creative helm is no easy task — but Jones again worked his contemporary sensibility into luxuriant designs to channel the Eternal City.

Here are some highlights of the final day of spring 2022 couture collections:

FENDI’S ROME

Fragments of architecture, incandescently lit, were suspended on a dark runway inside the neoclassical Brongniart Palace. Above it, adding to the drama hovered a giant orb of white light. This was, Jones said, the realm of “the celestial Rome” -- reinterpreted by his irreverent eye.

This season’s inspiration seemed, at first, mundane enough: Jones’ walk to work at the Fendi atelier in Rome, where he passes by historic monuments only to arrive in a contemporary environment. Yet, the designs explored a juxtaposition between the his commute’s “statuesque marbles” and its “ecclesiastical aesthetics” with another futuristic, very sensual vision.

Models walked out to a flash of a strobe light, in a slick effect suggesting they had just been produced by some heavenly seamstress.