Paris Fashion Week once again revealed fashion’s remarkable capacity to shift between worlds in a matter of steps. One runway explored restraint and silence, another erupted in playful experimentation, while others returned to craft, heritage, or music as guiding forces. Whispering through the city, designers used the season to question how garments come into being—whether through discipline, intuition, collaboration, or cultural memory.
The result was a parade of perspectives that moved between art and technology, history and improvisation. Take time to wander in the quiet philosophy of Issey Miyake or the jubilant spirit of Loewe. Each presentation felt like a distinct chapter in an unfolding conversation about what clothing can carry: emotion, identity, community, and curiosity. Together, these collections offered a vivid portrait of fashion in radiant motion.
Issey Miyake: “Creating, Allowing”
Courtesy of ISSEY MIYAKE.
Courtesy of ISSEY MIYAKE.
At Carrousel du Louvre, Issey Miyake staged a meditation on restraint. The runway floor was layered with silvery fragments that shifted as models crossed the space, leaving delicate traces behind them. The setting mirrored the idea at the heart of the collection: that creation sometimes begins with stepping back. As the house noted, “A stone placed in a space speaks through its silence.”
Garments explored the tension between intention and surrender. The knit series Found Stone echoed the texture of objects discovered in nature, using ribbed, garter, and mesh structures to build soft shapes with a mineral character. Elsewhere, a single zipped panel of fabric formed tubular garments that transformed depending on how the wearer moved. Pleated pieces twisted by hand created rippling surfaces that reacted to every step. Throughout the show, the collection suggested that design might not impose form, but frame it—allowing the body and material to finish the gesture.
Loewe: The Spirit of Play
Courtesy of LOEWE.
Courtesy of LOEWE.
At Loewe, Creative Directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez approached fashion with the curiosity of an experiment. The collection played out as a dialogue between craft and humor, energized by the presence of artist Cosima von Bonin, whose sculptural creatures appeared throughout the space. As the designers wrote, “The act of making is, at its core, an expression of joy.”
Clothing danced between illusion and invention. Slip dresses and coats were transformed into latex replicas that looked poured into shape, creating surfaces with a glossy fluidity. Inflatable parkas and scarves appeared almost buoyant, produced through an industrial bonding process that sealed air within the seams. Leather took unexpected forms—bouclé coats constructed from looped strips, tartan knitwear created from ultra-thin leather yarn. Accessories continued the conversation with art, including delightful animal charms inspired by von Bonin’s sculptures. The overall effect felt mischievous yet thoughtful, a collection that treated fashion as a jubilant, open field of ideas.
Chloé: “The Devotion Collection”
Courtesy of CHLOÉ.
Courtesy of CHLOÉ.
For Chloé, Creative Director Chemena Kamali turned toward the emotional resonance of clothing itself. Her Winter 2026 collection reflected on the human hands behind garments—the hours of embroidery, weaving, and stitching that connect maker and wearer across time. In her words, the collection was “a reflection on humanity, empathy and devotion.”
Energized by traditional costume and folk craft, the runway revealed garments marked by small irregularities that spoke of care rather than precision. Embroidered threads, printed motifs, and knitted textures carried the importance of communal storytelling. Kamali emphasized that folk traditions represent something shared: the rituals and symbols passed through generations. In turn, silhouettes moved with a gentle softness, allowing these crafted surfaces to take focus. Every piece suggested that fashion could function as a form of memory, carrying fragments of culture and feeling within its construction. The collection offered renewal—a stunning invitation to see clothing as a bridge between people and the histories they inhabit.
Dries Van Noten: A Moment Before Becoming
Courtesy of DRIES VAN NOTEN.
Courtesy of DRIES VAN NOTEN.
Dries Van Noten’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection turned its gaze toward a fleeting period in life: the fragile threshold between adolescence and adulthood. Inspired by memories of school uniforms and the emotional intensity of teenage years, the collection explored how clothing shapes identity in moments when it is still forming. As the designer described it, this is the time when garments are borrowed, mixed, and collected until a personal language begins to emerge.
The runway translated that process into a wardrobe where tailored blazers, duffel coats, and crest-emblazoned jackets met rebellious denim and tactile knitwear. Prints drawn from seventeenth-century Flemish still-life paintings—peaches, flowers, and insects—appeared in intricate surfaces that danced between embroidery and pattern. The silhouette remained vertical, stabilized by sturdy boots, while fabrics moved between wool, silk, and flannel in a natural palette punctuated by flashes of magnificent color. The result felt instinctive and layered, like a collage of influences gathered during a moment of becoming.
Mugler: “The Commander”
Courtesy of MUGLER.
Courtesy of MUGLER.
At Mugler, Creative Director Miguel Castro Freitas examined the visual language of authority with a collection titled “The Commander.” The show built upon his trilogy exploring the clichés of power, revisiting the legacy of Manfred Thierry Mugler while questioning how symbols of dominance shift and change over time. Castro Freitas focused on the way clothing shapes presence, desire, and self-possession.
Military references ebbed and flowed with aristocratic tailoring and the geometry of art deco, producing silhouettes defined by sharp shoulders, sculpted waists, and provocative curves. The mood drew on multiple eras of power dressing—from 1940s flair to 1980s corporate style—while materials such as metallic leather, printed silk, and vibrant shearling reinforced the collection’s sense of mastery. Playing out within the Palais de la Porte Dorée, the presentation framed strength as something dazzlingly fluid. As Castro Freitas noted, the collection ultimately celebrates the most important form of power: “self-empowerment,” and the freedom it allows the wearer to claim.
Lanvin: “Bonjour Minuit”
Courtesy of LANVIN.
Courtesy of LANVIN.
At the Galerie de la Géologie et de la Minéralogie in the Jardin des Plantes, Lanvin raised the curtain on “Bonjour Minuit,” a collection that reflected Artistic Director Peter Copping’s ever-evolving vision for the historic house. The show voyaged through a dialogue between generations, blending gems of Jeanne Lanvin’s legacy with contemporary construction.
Copping revisited the Maison’s idea of le chic ultime, a philosophy of elegance that emerges through refinement. Tailored coats carried sculptural folds at the neckline, softening traditional structure. Dresses combined molded shapes with drifting panels of fabric, suggesting the motion of draping directly on the body. Historical references surfaced in subtle ways. The robe de style silhouette returned through full skirts that undulated with new ease, while oversized hats nodded to Lanvin’s beginnings as a milliner. Decorative details balanced craft and technology—hand-embroidered beads whispered beside laser-cut fringe. The runway proposed a wardrobe that revels in day and night, deeply honoring the house’s past while guiding it toward a ravishing, fresh identity.
