Fat, fuzzy, felted flowers on a bold dress, zebra stripes, mismatching bodices and bras half clasped, half open at the back - could this really be Céline, the dream closet filler for every hardworking, dynamic modern woman?
The effect of seeing on the orange and white tiled runway, models, often quite simply dressed - but carrying strings of fur bobbles or with whimsical animal drawings on the blouses - brought two responses: shock and excitement. Phoebe Philo, the go-to designer of the twenty-first century, had set herself a real challenge, and it was invigorating to see her striving.
"I'm just trying to work out glamour that I find intriguing - it was like hyper-heightened glamour, and how that can work for the very practical," said the designer backstage.
"There are lots of questions - the whole process was very questioning,'' she continued. "When is it too much? When is it not enough? When is it authentic? When it didn't feel authentic, it just didn't seem to work. So I wanted to go quite far into it and then pull back. It was a real push-pull, push-pull."
It is rare to hear a designer talking about their process. Phoebe took the sleek severity of her tailoring - and then made an arm semi-detached, or perhaps removable, at the shoulder. There were still plenty of sleek pieces, not least the infamous onesie, sliced knife-sharp to follow the body loosely, with a big bold bag on the shoulder. The Céline woman has always been purposeful.
But it was the nature of the show that seemed so different. Phoebe has added a touch of the oddball before - like the furry slippers that set off a major footwear trend. (This time they were lattice sandals.) She has sourced wild prints from Africa and countered them with the polished serenity of her tailoring. But never before have her clothes seemed so literally undone.
Some effects were charming: animal drawings on a satin blouse as just the thing to soften a workday wardrobe. Creatures in prints and a little gilded animal hanging on a neck chain were those little touches - like Phoebe's collar jewellery in the past - that make her beloved by women who want to bring their femininity into the world of work.
But will clients be prepared for something quite so "unravelled" - to use Phoebe's own word? We can be sure that buyers will be both picky and wary of this deconstruction. They are more likely to choose the designer's streamlined offerings. But backstage she said, "there is this natural thing that happens with luxury goods when everything becomes superb. "
The fact that Phoebe is constantly questioning herself about her work, updating it and taking risks - even big risks - is part of her strength, and why the Céline show is always unmissable.
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