The industry is now addressing switched-on customers who are far from the fashion novices of the 1990s. Today’s clients go back and forth between big and niche brands and more or less expensive offerings.

This spring will bring what is widely awaited as Slimane’s first “real” shows for Yves Saint Laurent, after last October’s spring-summer collection by the cult designer seen as a homage to the house’s late founder.

Dior’s new designer Simons has already made a mark in Paris with two collections, one couture and one ready-to-wear, that reworked the house’s iconic nipped-waist silhouette with a clean-lined, contemporary twist.

And Wang, the darling of the New York fashion scene, will be taking his first steps at Balenciaga at the autumn-winter ready-to-wear shows this spring.

At 28, Wang is already a seasoned businessman, at the helm of an own-name fashion house that has been pushing into Asia, where the Taiwanese-American designer has his family roots.

His arrival at Balenciaga may or may not herald a more aggressive market strategy, but whatever direction the house takes, for Picart, Wang’s appointment “seals the arrival of a new generation” of designers at the high table of fashion — in the style capital of the world.