There are also some trophy shoes. Sumptuous domineering lace-up knee-high boots and ankle boots come in leather, satin and velvet, in a sort of elegant-heeled mule-meets-boot. There are lantern sleeves to heighten the volume, drama and theatrical tension and balloon trousers on one look redolent of late Japanese designer Kansai Yamamoto's looks for David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972/73.

But since this is Shiatzy Chen, what starts out and stays dramatic, also choreographs to the rhythm of an English sonnet. These are literary lines, too – and with them, another poetic chapter of in the narrative of fashion is written.