PARIS — “Oh what a beautiful bag! It’s flat, it’s not fancy, it will fit in all my belongings — until I do some more shopping. Then I’ll buy another. And another!”  Could those have been the thoughts going through the models’ minds Thursday when they opened the Balenciaga show carrying multiple, fancied-up shopping bags? Or was it a witty way for the designer Alexander Wang to acknowledge that luxury houses build their empires on handbags?  “I love the idea that something as simple as a shopping bag can come in croc!” the designer said backstage.  As Cristóbal Balenciaga himself found inspiration for couture hats from fisherman in his native Spain, why not take the same high/low concept for 2014?  This autumn/winter collection has some references to that heritage in fisherman sweaters, although it was tough to tell whether the gleaming and glistening cable stitches were knitted or embossed; and whether a cheery, canary yellow toggle-front jacket, worn with a primary-red lattice of a skirt, was made with old-fashioned stitching or a laser-cut technique.  Only the cute, fluffy, neck-to-wrist cover-ups with crystal sparkles seemed to be the definite product of knitting needles.  The designer said he had elaborated the industrial style of his pre-fall Balenciaga collection — hence the hefty zippers, perhaps in shocking pink and crisscrossing a khaki jacket. The texture story was the message. And there was a real modern glamour when a full-skirted dress, with the rounded shoulders that twirled through the entire collection, was cinched with a taut, shiny belt.  But Mr. Wang is up against two things at Balenciaga: first and foremost, the energy of his eponymous show during New York Fashion Week, when high technology met modern sportswear in a brilliant combination. And there is the long shadow still cast by Nicolas Ghesquière’s tenure at Balenciaga, especially as the French designer will make his debut at Louis Vuitton next week.  Mr. Wang is making quite a good job of presenting Balenciaga as being relevant to the current fashion world. But there is that frustrating feeling that if he had no other commitments, the result would be extraordinary. At this streamlined show he brought nothing exceptional to the runway — except the most glamorous (and don’t even ask the price) shopping bags.  At Carven, bags, small and loveable, were hugged to the chests of models whose long, smooth 1940s Rita Hayworth locks were melded with the flirty miniskirts and thigh-high boots of the 1960s.  Paradoxically, the combination worked, giving a foxy elegance to the show — whether it was a fitted, full-skirted coat above the thigh-grazing wader boots or a midcalf dress, split open to above the knees for easy striding.  The designer Guillaume Henry said that he had imagined a woman steeped in art, with references from Dadaism, Francis Picabia and Man Ray. Hence the painterly “off” colors like lobster pink and paprika; and the Dadaesque patterns of fingers and hands, either printed or even more intriguing as surreal fingers grabbing at appliqués of crystal.  Mr. Henry does not come across as a great designer pushing his creativity to the limits. But there is something original and individual about his take on women. It is a modern French look, with all the Gallic clichés removed, and that brings charm to Carven.
The designer continued his focus on industrial style but it was the fancy totes that dominated the runway.