In a season where Couture dared to dream deeper, the Fall/Winter 2025/26 shows proved that fashion’s most rigorous discipline still has mysteries left to unveil. Here, take a closer look at the marvels and sacred legends of Ashi Studio, Balenciaga, Viktor&Rolf, and Maison Margiela.
Ashi Studio Keeps the Mystery Alive
Courtesy of Ashi Studio.
Courtesy of Ashi Studio.
Ashi Studio unearthed pure vibrations in the tangles of modernity for Couture fall/winter 2025/26. This unique thread, weaved of ancient veils, textiles, and drawings discovered in Parisian flea markets, culminated in the wardrobe of a contemporary temptress. Meticulously cut to match the angles of her face, embroidered with love and draped with reverence, a flurry of showpieces at once appeared.
“Ashi Studio unearthed pure vibrations in the tangles of modernity for Couture fall/winter 2025/26,”
Toeing the line between illusion and certainty, fabrics invoked the know-how of French-American artist Louise Bourgeois. At times beautifully distressed, the focus was placed on the journey of life and craftsmanship rather than the destination, with pleasing intervals of transparency and camouflage. Exaggerated corsets, raw hems, overflowing tulle, and thigh-high slits met with wispy feathers, embroidery extending from neck to ankle, and metallic profusions.
Demna Seals a Decade at Balenciaga
Courtesy of Balenciaga.
Courtesy of Balenciaga.
“This collection is the perfect way for me to finish my decade at Balenciaga,” said Demna, the house’s visionary Creative Director in notes for his final presentation. “I have come as close as possible to being satisfied in this endless pursuit of impossible perfection—the defining ethos of Cristóbal Balenciaga.” Fluid, architectural garments, photographed within the heart of Paris, evoked power and minimalism with a signature blend of magic potion.
“I have come as close as possible to being satisfied in this endless pursuit of impossible perfection,”
Demna
Revitalized corsets, Medici necklines, and tulip lapels had us wanting more, as did the technical silk bomber, the cashmere-vicuña maxi coat, and the perceptive nods to history and memory. The collection’s meaning deepened with precision tailoring alongside 4 family-run ateliers of Naples, as well as expressive fans renewed from Duvelleroy’s precious archives.
Viktor&Rolf’s “Angry Birds”
Photo: Carlo Scarpato / Gorunway.com, Courtesy of Viktor&Rolf.
“Angry Birds” was the high-flying theme of Viktor&Rolf’s Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, exploring the nuances of duality in 30 whimsical pieces. Precisely 15 pairs of identical creations took an onyx outfit to new heights. One version was adorned with feathers—cruelty free fabric iterations of couture magnificence–while the other embraced a minimalist design and silhouette. “In the world of Haute Couture, feathers evoke luxury and fantasy,” remarked the house’s collection notes. “True to their subversive spirit, Viktor&Rolf transforms this traditionally ornamental element into the very architecture of the collection itself.”
“In the world of Haute Couture, feathers evoke luxury and fantasy,”
Viktor&Rolf
This season reached back to the maison’s first Haute Couture FW98–99 presentation, where spectacle and tranquility were investigated in both fierce and softened garments. Viktor&Rolf’s “Angry Birds” found unmatched freedom in 11,500 individually hand-made feathers. A divine A-line dress flocked in black tulle, blooming with floral and check motifs, gave way to a feather-stuffed collar and tiered skirt, with a “Wide-awake” bonnet by expert milliner Stephen Jones. In extreme contrast, an A-line dress of black flocked tulle, boat neckline, and tiered skirt treaded gently and secretly.
Maison Margiela’s Haunting Artisanal Collection 2025
Courtesy of Maison Margiela.
Courtesy of Maison Margiela.
Proficiently designed by Creative Director Glenn Martens, the Maison Margiela Artisanal Collection 2025 was steeped in the haunting medieval architecture and aura of Flanders and the Netherlands. The rapture of Gothic towers and saintly shadows poised across churches was echoed in garments as chiseled as statues. Spirited interiors of Northern-European Renaissance houses provided fertile ground for avant-garde patterns and craftsmanship, while provocative draping, corsetry, and optical illusions were odes to the sensual human form.
“The rapture of Gothic towers and saintly shadows poised across churches was echoed in garments as chiseled as statues,”
Standout moments included collages of 17th-century Dutch nature morte paintings brilliantly printed on fabric, and trompe l’oeil hand-painted garments which mirrored the masterful gestures of painter Gustave Moreau. Lace as a second skin, vintage leather jackets, masks, and claw-toe leather boots pulsed to a deconstructed Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack.
