Apparently everybody got the memo about minimalism.

The fall ready-to-wear collections continued their clean sweep as Stella McCartney sent out linear coats with only a little notch in the front for a detail and crewnecks and slacks so plain and simple, you had to remind yourself you weren’t looking at Ann Taylor.

Give the retail chain six months to catch up.

That’s how long it took for Phoebe Philo’s first Céline show, last October, to have an influence. Ms. Philo isn’t the only designer who likes simplified clothes. Indeed, Ms. McCartney’s spring clothes had the same attitude. But Ms. Philo’s ability to give Céline a look makes her the equivalent of a yardstick. Suddenly, it seems, everybody is using her strict measure as the rule.

Ms. McCartney’s collection was super clean, with V-neck tunics and skinny wool pants, sleeveless wool coats, mini-shifts and graphic uses of color amid the neutrals, like a cropped sleeveless jacket in burnt-orange wool over a salmon turtleneck.

At Givenchy, Riccardo Tisci also toned things down, opening with a plain beige coat buttoned over a prim lace top and slim pants. Yet the striking difference at Givenchy is that while the silhouette might be more strict than in the past, there is more variety and sexiness in his clothes than in other collections toeing the minimalist line.

Among the standout looks were shifts that mixed leather and lace and black velvet parkas. Jolts of Lido red also saved everything from looking too serious. Skirts and high-waist pants peeled opened in the front with the release of a zipper, creating a contrasting fold. It was an interesting effect that Mr. Tisci might have refined or, with further thought, eliminated.

It’s fair to say that the chief interest of Karl Lagerfeld is Lagerfeld. He is not a minimalist today and something else tomorrow. His fashion always balances two opposing ideas: the love of domestic order and self control, expressed in rigorous tailoring, and an interest in the new, reflected in the slick black materials in his latest Karl Lagerfeld line. Trim skirts and leggings have the gloss of a touch-pad screen or, if you like, the kinkiness of latex. The material is actually patent leather. Mr. Lagerfeld’s idea for jackets, in black wool, was to cut them close to the body, with zippers and pressed-down folds for a sense of geometry.

In the last weeks a lot of people have had Alexander McQueen on their minds. The collection he was working on at the time of his death will be shown informally, starting Tuesday. A number of designers, including Ms. McCartney, mentioned his name in their show notes.Hussein Chalayan actually went to the trouble to compose something. In a voice-over before his show, he said that Mr. McQueen was interested in history and myth. He ended by saying, “Really, his sensitivity was his genius.”

Then, in a simple and effective way, Mr. Chalayan evoked the arbitrariness of taste and style, indeed of events. The first sound as the models appeared in beautiful tailored coats was of road traffic and birds. Although well done, the coats maybe weren’t so special, as Mr. Chalayan seemed to imply by showing them with sneakers and Dutch bonnets.

With the flick of a radio dial, the noise shifted to a news report of a hurricane in Texas. The fashion, too, changed: sweatshirts with metallic-looking craters on the shoulders and leather jackets covered with crocheted piñata curls. Each garment was distinctive and well done, but like the weather or our interest, it was also subject to change. The effect of that visual experience, as Mr. Chalayan suggested in his one-word title, was like that of a “Mirage.”

Special effects have become a feature of John Galliano’s shows, with fire and glitter spouting from jets near the runway. But instead of adding to the spectacle, the features just serve to remind us that a Galliano show is mostly smoke and mirrors. It’s easy enough to spot the fab pieces — a taupe astrakhan blouson, printed tribal trousers and leggings, a sweet peasant blouse — but the ground is pretty familiar.