Is there an unwritten law that says the nearer a celebrity is to size 0, the more closely her bodyguard must resemble an Everest of flesh? Janet Jackson, newly svelte from a successful diet, obviously requires protection sometimes, but what the hulk surrounding her was saving her from in the front row at the Balenciaga show isn’t clear. Being pelted with Chanel bags?

The man mountain’s presence was, in its way, an appropriate comment on the Balenciaga collection, which presented a vision of a world where to be fashionably dressed is to be kitted out with so much aggressive, angular black patent armour and copper-coloured chain-mail, you look half-robot, half-knight (very) errant.

While most designers are busy serving up maternity smocks, Nicholas Ghesquiere, the quiet 35-year-old at the helm of Balenciaga, is catering to some kind of warrior who thinks babies are for wimps. This is a world where pod-shaped capes in polished black leather stand in for coats, where trousers are patent or in metallic organza; jackets are complex structures of felt, organza and patent and leggings come in patent, with patches of gold mirror, making legs look like articulated spiders. As for shoes, there have already been glimpses of how lethal they can be: metal studs erupting from the straps at Giles, spikes reminiscent of the ones that used to display severed heads on London Bridge protruding from the heels at Dolce e Gabbana. Balenciaga’s shoes, solid chunks with half a ton of hardware on them, should require a licence.

In its futuristic way, it was beautiful and sophisticated. As to what can be extrapolated: a lot, from slender tailoring, mini leather skirts and cap sleeves to beautiful trompe-l’oeil chain-mail-draped tops.The average high street shopper might not recognise Ghesquiere’s name, but she’s familiar with the skinny black trousers under long T-shirt dresses, the clompy wedge shoes and boots, the teeny, padded pleated skirts, the collarless coats and the egg shape (courtesy of the label’s founder, Cristóbal Balenciaga) that are all part of Ghesquiere’s vocabulary.

If Balenciaga’s sights are on the future, Vivienne Westwood is back in the past. Yesterday had its moments, mainly queenly ones that took a flattened bodice from Elizabeth I and superimposed it on to a pinafore dress or recreated a taffeta silk evening dress which, apart from its bottom resembling a nappy, could have been a coming-out dress for Queen Alexandra. But in a way she’s the victim of her success: remembered for corsets and huge platform shoes, now the rest of fashion is doing them, she’s lost interest.

Jean Paul Gaultier was also feeling nostalgic as he presented a round-up of the past 30 years in a mini-retrospective that took in everything from Madonna’s corset with conical breasts to Mongolian warriors. Was he trying to make a point with a token size 22 model when he showed his new collection? Presumably not, as it was loosely based on gym wear and this model, clearly, didn’t work out. Sporty satin tunics and hooded tops were teamed with leggings and Converse-style trainers shoved into high heels. Gimmicky perhaps, but elegant pinstripe tailoring and kitsch cocktail dresses were also on offer.

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