First it took hold at New York Fashion Week. Black feathers spilling out the front of a beige car coat at Brandon Maxwell. An Altuzarra knit two-piece that made its wearer look like they had been tarred and feathered, but beautifully rather than as some heinous ancient punishment. A strapless gown that appeared cloud-like through rows and rows of delicate white plumes at Prabal Gurung.

The London shows were in on the game too — the cascading, multi-colored plumage of a Roksanda evening gown, or feral, feather-stuffed Converse high tops at Oscar Ouyang. In Paris, designers moved with the synchronization of a swallow murmuration. Pierpaolo Piccoli’s proposition for Balenciaga rested on feather-work: There was the full, plume-covered maxi skirt paired with a casual T-shirt, since worn in the wild by Elle Fanning, as well as a number of boxy dresses finished with delicate feather trims.

For Chanel, Matthieu Blazy set its specialist atelier Maison Lemarié on the task of creating feather Camellias, headpieces, earrings and large skirts. At Victoria Beckham the dresses were smaller, but no less quilled. Even The Row, the cult favorite of every millennial minimalist, dipped its toe into the showy textile with mid-length skirts that were given a feathery facade. Stella McCartney, fashion’s stalwart eco-warrior, joined in too with the invention of the world’s first plant-based alternative to feathers.

Prabal Gurung at New York Fashi