{"id":4594,"date":"2026-07-09T12:04:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4594"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:04:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:04:03","slug":"paris-couture-week-proved-innovation-is-fashions-greatest-luxury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=4594","title":{"rendered":"Paris Couture Week Proved Innovation Is Fashion\u2019s Greatest Luxury"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Dior’s artistic experimentation and Balenciaga’s bioengineered textiles to Iris van Herpen’s sculptural masterpieces, Paris Haute Couture Week FW26\/27 demonstrated that the future of luxury lies in fearless creativity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Elie<\/div>\n

Every six months, Paris Haute Couture Week dreams up a whole new wardrobe for fashion\u2019s top spenders while simultaneously displaying the latest ideas concocted by fashion\u2019s greatest laboratory. This week, with clothes offered for fall\/winter 2026\/27 couture season, was ferociously more science- and art-driven than style led.<\/p>\n

All week a flotilla of limousines ferried clients and movie stars between couture shows and VIC dinner parties staged by marques such as Dior, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga or Chanel. Couture, of course, remains the holy grail of the world\u2019s richest and most filmed women \u2013 those in search of something unique and exclusive become, in a sense, privileged guinea pigs of these labels. And the results can be extraordinary.<\/p>\n

See also: The Best of Paris Men\u2019s Fashion Week: From Pharrell\u2019s Wave to Dior\u2019s New Masculinity<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Dior<\/h2>\n
\"Dior
\u00a9Dior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Few couturiers today are as experimental or exciting as Dior\u2019s Jonathan Anderson. His inspiration this season was the American artist Lynda Benglis, who lived between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Ahmedabad, India.<\/p>\n

The designer took Benglis\u2019 metallic casting sculpture and use of gold leaf and zinc into remarkable metallic pliss\u00e9 silk fan-shaped dresses, and extended her 1970s gestural abstract sculptures in beeswax or polyurethane into magnificent suits \u2013 like a leaf shaped Bar jacket in knitted cashmere over a twisting beehive-like skirt.<\/p>\n

An early visit by Benglis to India led to several peacock works that were the inspiration for a beguiling set of huge embroidered fans, attached onto twisting silk columns. Very much a feminist designer, Benglis \u2013 feeling underrepresented in the male-dominated art world \u2013 famously paid for her own ad pages in Art Forum magazine. These featured a nude portrait of herself posing with a double dildo. Anderson featured a smeared version of that image in several bold looks in this show, staged on the opening Monday of the four-day season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously blurred the ad \u2013 that would have got us into trouble,\u201d laughed Anderson in a preview with Elite Traveler, before a show where models marched in an open-sided tent decorated with huge ferns built in the garden of the Rodin Museum.<\/p>\n

Dior had just dressed Taylor Swift in the most celebrated wedding of the decade, in Madison Square Garden, so it was fitting that the buzziest look was Dior\u2019s bridal ensemble. Especially, as Swift has yet to release a photo of the wedding.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irish-born couturier \u2013 normally a voluble figure \u2013 was demure when asked about Swift\u2019s ensemble: \u201cIt\u2019s been an honor to dress her for this special occasion,\u201d he said. But his final outfit in this superb show was a suitably romantic wedding dress embroidered with fabric fern stems and leaves. The lushest of laboratory looks.<\/p>\n

Schiaparelli<\/h2>\n
\"Schiaparelli
\u00a9Schiaparelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was synthetic surrealist couture at Schiaparelli. American couturier Daniel Roseberry banished silks, satins, and wool in exchange for latex, silicone, and paint-baked sheets sculpted into a dramatic new boleros and jackets with bravura bows.<\/p>\n

Roseberry continually tricked the eye with sculpted bustiers that morphed into clinker-built cocktails or phantasmagorical jumpsuits with tubular tentacles.<\/p>\n

Daniel Roseberry is couture’s greatest image maker, renowned for his bowl shapes, suggestive ideas and technical audacity. Bad Bunny who turned up with a custom-made, cream-colored Schiaparelli zoot suit, complemented by a golden knit tie, while most of the rest of the front row was dressed in black with gold touches.<\/p>\n

The collection itself was in lobster pink, blush porcelain, sea blues, tangerine and saffron, and even pale mint. The designer was given a standing ovation inside the Petit Palais, and rightly so \u2013 Schiaparelli is the most consistently coherent couturier in town this past decade.<\/p>\n

Armani Priv\u00e9<\/h2>\n
\"Armani
\u00a9Giorgio Armani Priv\u00e9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Couture houses compete for the most glistening front-row. Emma Corin wowed in a bird of paradise look at Schiaparelli; Chanel lured Michele Leo; Tilda Swinton wore French coup Catherine Deneuve, formerly a Yves Saint Laurent loyalist; Dior could boast Sabrina Carpenter, Josh O\u2019Connor, and Naomi Watts.<\/p>\n

But the classy quotient showed up at Armani Priv\u00e9, where Cate Blanchett, Rosamund Pyke, Lou Doillon, Laura Harrier, and Cindy Bruna all looked sensational in black velvet tuxedo looks. Dotted among them was fashion\u2019s favorite composer Ludovico Einaudi and dancer Etoile Hugo Marchand.<\/p>\n

Since Giorgio\u2019s passing last year, Priv\u00e9 has been designed by his niece Silvana Armani. The key here was classicism with experimentation, with a marvellous series of glistening masculine jackets in a dark palette of hunter green, burgundy, burnt amaranth, and scores of blacks. While for evening, a series of alligator pattern sequined columns cried out for an Oscar statuette as an accessory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how choosing an outfit becomes a ritual that reveals a woman\u2019s inner world and a secret facet of her personality,\u201d explained Silvana, who entitled the collection Boudoir.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, according to Giorgio\u2019s will, the Armani family are due to sell at least 15 percent of the brand by March 2027, and control within five years, yet Silvana and the house\u2019s menswear designer Leo Dell\u2019Orca \u2013 who sat front row \u2013 don\u2019t seem in any hurry to depart the stage. And, given the polish and sophisticated brio of these clothes, a stylish future seems assured.<\/p>\n

Chanel<\/h2>\n
\"Chanel
\u00a9Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A phantasmagorical, fairy tale from Chanel, served up to an audience perched among a comic book garden of poisoned ivy worthy of Jack and the Beanstalk or The Three Bears. This mood was reflected in the clothes: shaggy bird\u2019s nest redingotes and cloche hats; shoes with vine heels; red pepper-shaped clutches. The classic four-pocket suit was constructed in icy guipure lace or russet or golden tweed, presented alongside mannish three-piece Prince of Wales suits worn with miniskirts, or cocktails made of delicate wisps of chiffon trimmed with gold strings and pearls.<\/p>\n

However, the entire mood was juxtaposed by the soundtrack \u2013 a housewife bitterly recounting her banal duties, from washing dishes to arranging sweaters. And 35 years after Jean-Paul Goode shot Vanessa Paradis as a bird of paradise for Chanel, the singer performed at Chanel\u2019s post-show after-party.<\/p>\n

See also: The Standout Collections, Trends, and Moments From Milan Fashion Week<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Balenciaga<\/h2>\n
\"Balenciaga
\u00a9Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a brilliant couture debut at Balenciaga by Pierpaolo Piccioli, in the house\u2019s 55th couture collection since Spain\u2019s Cristobal Balenciaga opened his house in Paris in 1937. There was artful experimentation, where 3D digital scans helped develop moulded leather carapaces, used as architectonic structures under enveloping gowns; and curvaceous silk gazar dresses or bulb-shaped gowns in densely packed fabric flowers.<\/p>\n

Balenciaga\u2019s tradition of textile innovation triumphed with Amsilk, an advanced bioengineered, fossil-free material with 2.5 times the tensile strength of steel. It also boasts a rare glimmering sheen, seen in some fab dresses \u2013 the mood enhanced by the blinding morning sun in the Cit\u00e9 Universit\u00e9 campus.<\/p>\n

Couture is \u201ca territory for experimentation and engineering. It can be a prism through which to witness both the current moment, and the identity of Balenciaga,\u201d philosophized Piccioli, who sportingly took his bow with 40 atelier staff \u2013 all dressed in lab coats.<\/p>\n

Presented to the soundtrack of Anthony and The Johnson hits, it was a moment of grace amid the madding crowd of couture.<\/p>\n

Rahul Mishra<\/h2>\n
\"Rahul
\u00a9Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Delhi-based couturier Rahul Mishra unveiled a truly excellent collection, inspired by the Ajanta cave monuments. These second century BC Buddhist masterpieces led to a fantastic series of gray and black statuesque dresses, where hand embroidery<\/p>\n

mimicked the surface of sandstone and the contours suggested basalt. Rahul tapped into the ancient Indian embroidery techniques of Zardozzi or Dabka, applying crystals and bugle beads to create truly unique trompe-l\u2019oeil cocktails.<\/p>\n

In places the collection was erratic, not aided by dressing several models in monumental fabric arches, before a finale of body stockings, jumpsuits and bridal gowns dusted in beads and crystals. But it was spectacular. In the front row Cardi B caused a paparazzi feeding frenzy, which was exceeded by a storm of flashing lights for Rahul\u2019s ultimate major domo, Isha Mambani, the daughter of India\u2019s greatest billionaire Mukesh Ambani. Isha\u2019s key role in the Reliance \u2013 the Mukesh company that bankrolls Rahul \u2013 has led the Times of India to dub her The Fashion Baroness.<\/p>\n

Staged inside the medieval College des Bernadins, this was a powerful reminder of India\u2019s special source of inspiration in fashion.<\/p>\n

Standing Ground<\/h2>\n
\"Standing
\u00a9Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fashion loves a debut, and we witnessed a highly accomplished inauguration by Standing Ground by Michael Stewart inside the Irish Embassy. After a quiet decade, this County Clare-born couturier seemingly sprung out of nowhere with a hit capsule collection in 2023 for Fashion East, the most important talent scout display in the industry. He then won a Savoir Faire award in the 2024 LVMH Prize.<\/p>\n

Stewart crafts gowns of almost spiritual elegance, long pure mono-color robes finished with hidden beading and tubes. He drapes with aplomb and ruches with precision \u2013 creating twisting gowns in rivulets of fabrics in precise hues \u2013 Yves Klein blue, sinful crimson or burnt umber.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very welcomed in Paris and I really appreciate that,\u201d explained the affable red-headed Celtic couturier inside the 18th century mansion off the Champs Elys\u00e9es.<\/p>\n

For his Paris debut, he broke new ground with a remarkable wedding dress in abstract handmade Carrickmacross lace. Supported by the Design & Craft Council of Ireland, it took 26 pairs of hands and 4,000 hours to create this experimental bride — unlike any seen before in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to showcase Irish craft and enrich the heritage and skills in Ireland and bring them to a stage that I feel they deserve,\u201d concluded the gentle giant.<\/p>\n

St\u00e9phane Rolland<\/h2>\n
\"St\u00e9phane
\u00a9St\u00e9phane Rolland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One can always rely on St\u00e9phane Rolland for a memorable show. On Tuesday he presented a homage to beautiful Dalida, the Egyptian-born Italo-French singer, who captivated France until her death in 1987. Staged inside the Olympia theater \u2013 where Dalida\u2019s career first launched \u2013 the cast marched out before a massive video of her interpretation of lost love, Avec Le Temps.<\/p>\n

Like the opening clip, the entire collection was in black and white \u2013 90 percent the latter \u2013 in a sustained display of classy French glamor by Rolland, France\u2019s last great Indie<\/p>\n

couturier. Working with silk gazar, satin macram\u00e9 or pleated crepe he sent out Zouave trouser jumpsuits; bustier dresses finished with ostrich feathers; and an exquisite long scarf dress, its arms and shoulders embroidered in onyx and gold silicone. Not so much experimentation but elegant refinement.<\/p>\n

Iris Van Herpen<\/h2>\n
\"Iris
\u00a9Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Couture at its most wilfully turbulent from the Dutch creator whose inspiration was the Victorian artist and inventor Margaret Watts Hughes\u2019 experiments with materializing her own voice, long before scientists translated the oscillations of stars into music.<\/p>\n

The result was metaphysical. Starting with fractal fashion \u2013 flowing chiffons and organzas hand-pleated into sweeping half-wheels and suspended within moon-curved bonings of laser-cut carbon fiber, before climaxing with a one-shoulder tulle dress covered with 10,000 hand-blown glass spheres.<\/p>\n

These clothes are mostly to end up in a well-endowed fashion museum rather than in a wardrobe, but when it comes to innovation Iris hit a home run.<\/p>\n

Boloria<\/h2>\n
\"Boloria
\u00a9Boloria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Couture always attracts the odd avant garde ready-to-wear show and this season that role fell to Boloria, an unexpected project backed by the Beers brothers, founders of dance-music festival Tomorrowland, and designed by Belgian Olivier Theyskens.<\/p>\n

This turned out to be an exhilarating return by Theyskens \u2013 one of the most talented designers of his generation. He reinvented his early Gothic ideas which so seduced Madonna into giant flowing dark goddess gowns made in acres of anthracite technical taffeta. And dreamt up a great series of slimline wool or lambskin redingotes and sexy governess dresses, before finishing this co-ed with a gang of piratical lads in britches and barely-on silk shirts ideal for an after-midnight summer rave.<\/p>\n

Elie Saab<\/h2>\n
\"Elie
\u00a9Elie Saab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A masked moment and a dash of surrealism at Elie Saab, where a sweeping organza creation evoked the deft clouds of Magritte, and a floor-sweeping gown in silk was overprinted by Dali roses.<\/p>\n

Working with consummate skill as a draper, Elie twisted and scrunched lilac metallic silk or Pacific blue shantung into organic dresses that seemed to suggest they bloomed naturally from nature. In a new direction for the Lebanese couturier, ball gowns soared with winged columns, justifying Saab\u2019s title for the collection: The Ball of Untamed Dreams.<\/p>\n

Jean-Paul Gaultier<\/h2>\n
\"Jean-Paul
\u00a9Jean-Paul Gaultier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last but by no means least, Duran Lantink at Jean-Paul Gaultier staged the season\u2019s last vital show, a bravura interpretation of the house\u2019s codes. And structurally the most experimental show of all.<\/p>\n

Proposing Jean-Paul\u2019s famed bustiers \u2013 in blood-red Meccano leather; or upside-down blouse. Revolutionizing Versailles courtier jackets in faded denim and patchwork biker looks.<\/p>\n

His most bizarre trick was switching the tulle trains of ball gowns to the front, as tuxedo jackets and satin blousons sprouted acres of fabric. The collection took on Chapman Brothers levels of shock, with a remarkable pink feathered column where a trio of swan\u2019s necks all disappeared into the torso. Hallucinatory haute couture to the end.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Dior’s artistic experimentation and Balenciaga’s bioengineered textiles to Iris van Herpen’s sculptural masterpieces, Paris Haute Couture Week FW26\/27 demonstrated that the future of luxury lies in fearless creativity.\u00a0 Every six months, Paris Haute Couture Week dreams up a whole new wardrobe for fashion\u2019s top spenders while simultaneously displaying the latest ideas concocted by fashion\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}