In Paris this week, with autumn cascading across the city, the runways breathed with rhythm and radiance. Collections by Alain Paul, Acne Studios, Cecilie Bahnsen, and more presented garments as entire worlds woven from memory, activism, craft, and imagination. Beneath the grand architecture of the city, where crisp fall air mingled with anticipation, designers sculpted silhouettes that felt timeless and vital, shaping stories of humanity and possibility.
The Audition as Eternal Gesture by Alain Paul
Courtesy of Alain Paul.
Courtesy of Alain Paul.
Alain Paul’s riveting show unfolded as a prologue, where each garment became a movement in an unfinished masterpiece. Inspired by his past as a ballet dancer, the collection translated the vulnerability and resilience of the audition odyssey into cloth. Blazers juxtaposed with draped shirts echoed a performer caught mid-transition, while trousers seemed in flux, shadowing the pause before an optimistic leap. Floral motifs of poppies and carnations shimmered across see-through overlays, recalling fragility and ovation.
Collaborations with artist Cécile Feilchenfeldt transformed elastic bands into architectural knits, while antique stage costume fragments carried past performances into the contemporary imagination. The result was a wardrobe steeped in theatrical duality—light and powerful, disciplined yet liquid. Alain Paul’s protagonists stepped between stages, their garments alive with the quiet tension of being seen, audition after audition.
Stella McCartney’s Manifesto in Motion
Courtesy of Stella McCartney.
Courtesy of Stella McCartney.
At the Centre Pompidou, Stella McCartney unveiled her show with Helen Mirren’s voice carrying the words of The Beatles’ “Come Together,” evolving melody into proclamation. Here, sustainability and sensuality converged, with 98% conscious materials framing silhouettes that were as inventive as they were ethical. Corseted gowns thrived with feather-like vegan innovation, and denim that literally purified air through pioneering fabric technology, showed how activism could be sewn directly into form.
The palette oscillated between heavenly pastels and down-to-earth tones, while sleek Savile Row tailoring met buoyant crinoline hems. Hand-painted Spiral Cornflower prints and sculptural raffia knits added layers of craft to the vision. McCartney’s accessories—reimagined Falabella clutches and supple Ryder totes—embraced circularity, constructed from upcycled denim waistbands and gleaming vegan suedes. In this collection, harmony between humanity, animals, and earth became tangible. Fashion cascaded beyond adornment, into a lived, breathing call for collective care.
The Spirit of Exploration with Lanvin
Courtesy of Lanvin.
Courtesy of Lanvin.
Artistic Director Peter Copping’s second chapter for Lanvin, “Vers le monde,” was a bold act of expansion, a poetic gesture beyond the Maison’s heritage toward new horizons. Jeanne Lanvin’s essence lingered in compassion and grace, but Copping infused her codes with discovery. Lanvin blue, reimagined in multiple tones of peace and liberation, washed across dresses that felt archival and unrestrained. Chiffon veils softened cabochons, while grosgrain ribbons—once hidden within couture seams—took off into decorative flourishes, suspending gowns or sculpting men’s tops. Jackets revealed their inner linings outward, celebrating construction as symphony.
The Lanvin heroine takes on the evening with delicacy and prowess, allowing the intimate reverse of garments to become the focus, and honoring Jeanne’s fascination with hidden details. Accessories carried forward new classics: the Compagnon handbag in matelassé leather, razor-sharp mules punctuated with ribbon motifs. For SS26, Lanvin offered a beguiling map, following in the footsteps of past as foundation for a freer tomorrow.
A Solar Ascension at Courrèges
Courtesy of Courrèges.
Courtesy of Courrèges.
At Courrèges, Nicolas Di Felice staged a celestial rise through light, temperature, and time. Designed alongside Remy Brière and Matiere Noire, the circular runway was imagined as a solar cycle, where silhouettes shifted with the heat of the day. At dawn, cool aqua and swimming pool blues cast calm, their sheerness suggesting the morning’s first light. By midday, swimsuit-cut dresses with provocative detail made way for statuesque forms, while skirt-shorts whirled with kinetic energy. As the cycle reached a fever pitch, the palette smoked with sunset oranges and bleached whites, silhouettes built from plant-based vinyl and anti-UV textiles, protective yet luminous.
Mini skirts patterned like solar panels recalled space-age archives, recharged for a new era. Accessories, from smooth leather bags to shapely mules, embodied versatility without compromise. Sunglasses—sent as VIP invitations—framed the show’s narrative of clarity and allure. Here, Courrèges gifted a living orbit mirroring the gravitational pull of the glitterati themselves.
Cecilie Bahnsen’s Heartfelt Light
Courtesy of Cecilie Bahnsen.
Courtesy of Cecilie Bahnsen.
For Cecilie Bahnsen, SS26 was an ode to love distilled through perfect rhythm. At the majestic Palais de Tokyo, guests entered a stripped-back space where light itself became set design. Garments swelled with three-dimensional patchwork, lace-trimmed anoraks, and glimmering ripstop silks—utilitarian forms mellowed by dream logic. Embedded LED hearts beneath select creations glowed in sync with music, garments breathing like living beings.
The show felt tender and visceral, born of her son’s imagination, where play carried as much gravity as craft. Spontaneous color pairings and silhouettes revealed a designer letting her spirit lead. “I wanted to let go of all the words and just create,” said Bahnsen. “To trust the instinct, the emotion, the immediacy of it all. A show collection can be like a child’s drawing, both imperfect and messy, but also full of truth. There’s such strength in softness, in doing something from the heart.”
“There’s such strength in softness, in doing something from the heart,”
Cecilie Bahnsen
Collaborations with The North Face and ASICS extended Bahnsen’s vision, where modular jackets and floral-cutout sneakers blurred utility with wonder. This collection pulsed with the truth that fashion’s deepest resonance lies in the presence of love.
Acne Studios Reveals Strength and Subversion
Courtesy of Acne Studios.
Courtesy of Acne Studios.
Acne Studios’ Spring-Summer 2026 presentation was a deeply felt study in transformation. In a vaulted hall at the Collège des Bernardins, the brand revised archetypes of femininity, collaging everyday ease with striking forms. Jackets and shirts took on an androgynous vitality, while lace, poplin, and denim were reshaped into second-skin silhouettes that challenged traditional notions of craft and refinement. “I’ve always felt that creativity is perhaps about being able to see the world in a way you didn’t realize could be seen,” said Jonny Johansson, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Acne Studios. “There are people who can do that to you, they make the world feel different, they stand out and tell you a new story.”
“I’ve always felt that creativity is perhaps about being able to see the world in a way you didn’t realize could be seen,”
Jonny Johansson
Leather, suede, and knits were donned with a relaxed confidence, often distressed, waxed, or spray-painted, creating textures that invited touch and flow. Lush accessories including colossal earrings, glossy aviators, and statement belts underscored individualism, while new interpretations of the Camero bag married function with starry style. Pacifico Silano’s graphics grooved through the space, echoing the collection’s aura of homoeroticism, while Robyn’s curated soundtrack vibed from gentle to audacious, amplifying the season’s main characters: powerful, whimsical, calm, and unapologetically free.
