Indeed, dance is the theme of CR Fashion Book’s new issue, released this month, which accounts for today’s top-volume playing of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Roitfeld appears, camera-ready, to a fanfare of horns, prompting her to strike a series of graceful, balletic poses in a Saint Laurent djellaba. Swathed in voluminous dusky chiffon, she appears a regal black swan, heavy black kohl lining her sparkling green eyes.

Minutes later, that sharp, hawk-eyed gaze surveys the rails laden with new-season pieces as she contemplates her next look. Intently, she inspects the front, back and inside seams of each and every piece in the line-up, which runs the gamut from Altuzarra to her own Junya Watanabe. There’s never a negative comment or even a skeptical raising of her carefully arched eyebrows. “She’s a new designer,” she explains to a member of her entourage, who enquires about Alessandra Rich,

after Roitfeld inspects a languid gown by the London red-carpet specialist. “Love!” she purrs, surveying a pretty pink Christopher Kane cocktail dress. (Roitfeld admits she mostly wears clothes by designers with whom she is friends.) “This is the pair I meant to buy!” she enthuses, placing her French-manicured hands upon Azzedine Alaïa bandage stilettos. “I love shoes,” she confesses. She favors Gianvito Rossi’s footwear because, she says, like Manolo Blahnik, he has mastered the skill for sculpting seductive stilettos, which are both “chic and comfortable”.

It was Testino, again, who prompted her to ditch her ballet flats and commandeer high heels. While the move helped to