At the “best of” collections of Paris Fashion Week, most of the major designers went with signature looks to ensure sales during this hazy financial phase. Smaller design houses coming out of London, by contrast, chose to be more experimental, expanding on their collections with accessories lines that ranged from outlandish to sublime.

Henry Holland’s range of bow tie Swarovski-encrusted headbands were quaintly cute, and worked well with his pastel oversized t-shirts. Erdem came out with a patent toe, printed ankle boot with a wide set gold zip, which were made in conjunction with Mayfair shoe darling Georgina Goodman. The line is also ambitiously producing a luggage set with one of their divine prints lining the interior. Twin sisters Daniela and Annette Felder of Felder Felder carried their rock chic vibe of leather mini skirts and ankle boots into an accessories line that included studded belts and crucifix embellishment collars on chiffon panelled dresses. Todd Lynn’s severe tailoring transcended into footwear thanks to a collaboration with Christian Louboutin that yielded two-buckle sueded ankle shoes featuring a panel of hair that covers most of the foot. Emilio de La Morena is also finding brand extension in footwear, opting for a sky high merlot colored platform.

Mary Katrantzou is grabbing attention as much for her perfume bottle inspired clothes as she is for industrial chic mega necklaces and bracelets. Louise Gray’s panelled purple and blue seeded heels were purely playful, while her fluffy peep-toes went perfectly with the wide-set, fuchsia bags. KTZ, Marjan Pejoski’s secondary line showed aggressive Armageddon moon boots which only added to the ethnic warrior theme of his collection. Things were a little more precious over at Osman Yousefzada where his rock crystal and sapphire necklaces were the perfect foil to stiff separates. Maria Francesca Pepe meanwhile drew inspiration from 19th century French prostitutes with her collection of brass handled velvet bags plated in different finishes. The detachable spine-style handles can be worn as a bracelet or wrap around your wrist to turn the handbag into a clutch.

—Retna Wooller