The travelling fashion press bid "ciao" to Milan and said "bonjour" to Paris on Wednesday — kicking off 50 fashion shows, endless parties, million-dollar business deals and the last leg of the menswear mania, which will sweep the French capital for five days.

Powerhouse Valentino will unveil its couture-infused fall-winter creations from designer Pierpaolo Piccioli on Day 1, alongside some lesser-known houses such as Julien David and Facetasm.

Here are the some highlights:

JULIEN DAVID'S DOG-EAT-DOG WORLD

That fashion is a dog-eat-dog world was perhaps the message from French designer Julien David, whose models for fall-winter previews all donned comic canine masks.

The looks — featuring huskies, Dalmatians, poodles and bulldogs — endowed David's 22 designs with a sense of surreal fun and relaxation. The models posed during Wednesday's 'show' sitting on chairs next to tables decorated with cards games and dominos, or slouched on a couch, as fashion insiders chuckled and snapped their cameras.

It was clever stage-managing by David, one of the rising stars in Paris menswear, to highlight his signature casual style. His clothes — baggy denims with turn-ups that revealed pulled-up wooly socks and white-laced sneakers — were just that.

Dungarees in deep indigo were worn over a utilitarian golden brown toggle sweater, and lined boots had big eyelets — riffs in Paris on the workmen styles that have been ubiquitous on the Milan runway shows.

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FACETASM DELIVERS CONTRASTS

Facetasm took the on-trend worker style as its starting point for a fall-winter collection that was ultimately hard to pin down.

Japanese-style thick denim fabric was given a great scrunched-up effect in a round-shouldered bomber with oversize proportions and baggy jeans. It was twinned with a black hoodie, which had a raw street-wear vibe that resonated with the show's warehouse venue and its wrought-iron columns.

The Tokyo-founded company has won plaudits for its conceptual styles with hints of punk — but Wednesday's show sometimes lacked focus.

Oversized garments, one of the show's major themes, were delivered with a dark palette that was cut with occasional bold colors — acid green, neon blue, lemon yellow or bright red. Several designs — like a big pale blue winter coat — riffed on the '80s.

The name of the house was based on its founder Hiromichi Ochiai's idea of the varying angular sides of a diamond — angles that seem contrasting that yet produce an inner harmony. Their show Wednesday was highly creative but could have done with less of the contrasts and more of the harmony.