Fendi Ready-To-Wear Autumn/ Winter 2012-13 Milan Fashion Week

"I started with stingray, which is very stiff so I used it on belts, on worn stockings and on handbags. And I ended with photos of tiny orchids," explained Lagerfeld, dressed in a pair of pants he designed for Internet retail giant, Net-a-Porter, composed of black profile logos of himself.

"That's because I am the only person who can wear his face on his legs," cracked Lagerfeld, whose orchid imagery was used on theatrically colored fox and sable coats.

Nothing had been spared: antelope, goat, mink, crocodile – one bright yellow shaggy coat, modelled by Joan Smalls, even meant Big Bird was no more – and they were layered and wrapped around the models with lustrous abandon, the girls’ narrow double plaits across their foreheads giving them a primitive look, as if natural skins were once the only option available to them.

But of course the Fendi woman can have anything she wants – no expectation too high, no idea too exotic. Next summer they’ll have huge square studded patent handbags, stiff shiny iPad bags panelled with astrakhan, and sleek high heeled ankle boots.

In a warmly muted, wintery colour palette that Lagerfeld called “the warm glow before snow”, there were leather shift dresses with silk, puffed sleeves – worn with leopard print tights – heavy cashmere shawls with pointed backs, and double layered (one short, one long) coats that freed panels of glimmering pleated inserts down one side.

Wide leather corset belts had double buckles at the front, and the clean lines of tailored cashmere skirt suits were emphasised by shining zips up the central back seam.

Less formal were patchwork mohair dresses, tops with goat hair embroidered into the mohair and leopard print silk blouses, while the final line-up of multicoloured fur coats brought to mind again Lagerfeld’s determination to provide unapologetic, over-the-top luxury when that is what’s expected.