Italian fashion house Valentino has paid tribute to William Shakespeare, marking the 400th anniversary of his death this year.  Inspiration from the Bard was on display in the 2016-2017 autumn/winter collection at Paris haute couture week on Wednesday. And designer Jean Paul Gaultier presented a nature-inspired fall collection highlighted by glamorous gowns and fur.

Designer duo Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri looked to Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era for Valentino's Couture Fall Winter 2016 show in Paris.

They brought back the ruff, the neck ruffle favored by the monarchs and their courtesans throughout mid-16th century Europe.

From crisp small white ruffs on black satin dresses to larger nude or tulle ruffs on flower embroidered organza floor-length see-through dresses and oversized carmine red ones attached to capes, ruffs were ubiquitous.

It was Chiuri's last show at Valentino.  The Italian designer is rumored to be named Dior's Creative Director any minute now.

Gaultier: Into the woods for high fashion

And Jean Paul Gaultier treated guests to a private lesson in dendrology, the study of wooded plants, for his Haute Couture Fall Winter 2016 collection.
 
Inspired by a trip last year to Japan, the French designer explained he wanted to go back to "the real nature".

"The beauty of the natural, the real nature. So it's what I tried to show in the fabric, I tried to show through the colors, through the prints, through the elements. You know I tried to make some texture that were not 'plate' (flat), not plain but with relief, you know. Like for example with the ribbons, a lot of ribbons together that makes, like a new fabric, you know," Gaultier said.

It’s all an ode to natural elements, with drapes like tree bark, marquetry forming wooden planks. The accessories as well, the dreadlocks in the hair have a natural feel.

The collection displayed a wide array of tones -- there are greens, woody landscapes, and landscapes of clearings with natural light.