However Van Noten had a very particular passion in mind when he was building his show, the one shared between Marchesa Casati and her lover Gabriele D’Annunzio. If all you know about Marchesa is that it happens to be the name of a successful fashion brand then get online now to discover one of the world’s most eccentric aristocrats. Lady Gaga has nothing on this Italian heiress who famously once wore a dress of light bulbs with a generator built in. She also loved to walk her bejeweled live cheetahs on the streets of Venice after dark and drape herself in her pet boa constrictors at lavish parties. But she finished her days in abject poverty in London, having burned through her inheritance thanks to years of decadent living.

Casati’s life long goal was to transform herself into a living piece of art. In much the same way, Van Noten’s show was another manifestation of living artwork. Each of his ensembles was a faultless interpretation of extravagant beauty where the masculine/feminine mix and the singularity of the surreal heightened the potency of each piece. From the chunky pearl-wrapped heels – some of the designer’s best footwear in recent memory – and roomy trousers through to aristocratic striped jackets, coat-of-arms embellished tops, men’s ties and a plethora of faux fur cheetah print garments, this collection had a truly seductive self-indulgent soul.

The models, with their eyes ringed in smudgy black and their hair slicked down, looked hauntingly elegant in their serpent-embroidered dresses and their chain-link pearl overlay tops. Nothing was going to stop them from sucking the marrow out of life.

Likewise nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to be able to stop women from turning up in droves at Van Noten’s stores when this rich, complex and hedonist collection hits the shelves.