Paris Fashion Week: Valentino autumn/winter 2012 Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli balanced their butter-wouldn't-melt femininity with austere touches at Valentino. Tapestry is having its biggest moment since Carole King. Hot on the heels of Dolce & Gabbana and Balmain, Valentino today showed a collection blooming with needlepoint flowers that was sometimes girlish and sometimes utterly grown up. There was a fittingly Catholic severity - Valentino's Roman headquarters is a quick-step from the Vatican - in much of this; it recurred from the vaguely sinister section of cleanly cut leather capes, tunics, trench coats, skirts and dresses (although not the culottes) at the beginning right through to the haunting, mournful-infanta-style square necked scallop hemmed black gown at the end. Some Valentino-red dresses with accentuated hiplines had a touch of ceremonial vestment to them. There were also ornamentally military manoeuvres in the military brocade - think Sergeant Pepper - that twisted and bowed its way across sleeves and chests on woollen pea coats and fitted skirt-dresses. IN PICS: The best fashion show settings These more austere touches, though, served to counterbalance the ethereal, butter-wouldn't-melt femininity that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli have made their trademark since taking over at the house. Often before they have articulated this via sheer layers of tulle and lace garlanded with applique flowers on chastely-shaped dresses. There were more of these today - still very, very, fine - but the formula was zooshed up a bit with the addition of silver sparkles and a rustically complicated horizontal pattern first used on knitwear and then an intricately sequinned floor-lengthe at the end. Those needlepoint flowers sprouted amongst a subtle, home-made quilting effect detail, and there were - another seasonal trend - plenty of crisply tailored trousers that stopped just above the ankle-straps of the low square heeled shoes. This may have been one of the most buttoned-up collections of the season (although the designers are lingeringly keen on a racily sheer-armed shirt) but that didn't stop it from also being easily amongst the most beguiling - and beautiful.