Céline’s invitation was gummy with Latex, as rubbery yellow and orange leaked into a puddle of black. And that was the message from Creative Director Phoebe Philo: colour, a melting softness and a sloppy modernity.

The designer kept the beat to her rhythm of easy clothes for the modern woman, although in reality the pieces are complex – twisted, pulled, laid askew on the body, yet still allowing it all to look loose and relaxed. Gone were the fluffy slippers that the designer invented, replaced by sandals with a big toe strap.

Phoebe, who always seems to have an element of angst about making clothes that are as desirable to other women as they are to herself, explained her deeper thoughts backstage.

“It’s about possibilities and finding possibilities,” she said. “It’s finding the stillness inside it – in the process. In the touching of it. I mean every one of those looks was touched by my hands – they were twisted and moved and turned round and turned inside-out. It was a very tactile process.”

While it was easy to get lost in this torrent of complexity, so many of the clothes were simply lovely – gentle, draping the body, never squeezing the figure.

I asked the designer why yellow was the lead colour?

“I was very, very happy in the end to actually have very small amounts of colour,” Phoebe said. “It felt right to have yellow, beige, black and a touch of orange.” I wondered why Phoebe often seems so apologetic about doing what she does: making clothes for her generation of doing-it-all women who want their clothes to be easy to wear.

This may not have been a mind-shattering fashion moment, but to many women that is nothing to criticise. One of the best of her comfort blankets for career women was the giant sweater and floppy trousers for an undemanding way to face the day. Essentially, that was the collection’s essence – sophistication through simplicity, what every modern woman needs.