PARIS HAUTE COUTURE WEEK S/S 2026

by Cecile Paul · Published February 3, 2026 · Updated February 3, 2026

SCHIAPARELLI, CHRISTIAN DIOR, CHANEL, VALENTINO and VIKTOR & ROLF.

Birds of Paradise or Birds of Prey? ‘Flight’ and ‘Escapism’ is a Recurring Theme, with Feathers Featuring in Many Offerings.

At Schiaparelli

Image Credit Paris Haute Couture Week, Page Six and WWD

Hands down the most glamorous of the all of Fashion Week Season, Paris Haute Couture Week exploded across the City of Light with celebrities, fashionistas and their seductive groupies lighting up every Paris street and historic venue. All looking (almost) as striking as the shows they dressed up to be seen at! (Do see our little collection of celebrities and their frocks!)

Schiaparelli kicked off events, laying the foundation for a week of unadulterated creativity, artistry and sheer fantasy.

Jonathan Anderson’s very first show for Christian Dior was a highly anticipated event, and one that set the tone for a week of the most wonderous, hand-crafted couture imaginable.

Day 2 saw legendary couture houses Chanel and Armani telling their stories through unrivalled imagination, wizard-like construction, hundreds and hundreds of hours of meticulous hand-stitching and nimble finger-work, bringing the already fabulous silks, satins and sequins to life on the runway.

Day 3 delivered a dose of hauntingly beautiful nostalgia when the House of Valentino paid tribute to their founder who passed away a few days prior to the show. It was a collection that properly got the chins wagging, and one that will no doubt go down in the fashion history books as simply epic.

Quirky Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf (who made ‘the bow’ famous a few decades ago now – and thankfully never stopped showcasing that festive accessory) pulled off a most memorable show with dramatic black silhouettes and, yes, that bow making a cameo appearance again.

All in all, the poetry, the romance, the magic and avant-garde nature of the shows made for a week that allowed the average mortal to drool, to dream, to be inspired and to escape to a world of blissful fantasy.

Long live fabulous couture, long live the folks who take their time to create it… and of course, a huge thumbs up to those who wear these beautiful works of art.

VALENTINO

Watch Valentino’s Show here:

Creative director Alessandro Michele pulled off a show that left the chins wagging well after the shows. Legendary founder of the House of Valentino, Valentino Garavani, passed away only days before the shows, and as the fashion world mourns the loss of yet another stalwart, they were somewhat consoled by a collection that remembered the very best of Valentino’s offerings over the decades.

To say it was a glamorous affair would not begin to do justice to a collection that was so over the top it will no doubt go down in fashion history. This while ‘voyeurs’ took a sneaky look though tiny windows at the runway.

Elizabethan collars and cuffs, oversized bows, headpieces that will make any epic 50s Hollywood film pale in comparison…. It was simply a spectacle to behold, with one piece outdoing the next in ‘wow’-factor.

Think Elizabeth Taylor in the epic film Cleopatra, with an infinite wardrobe of frocks, capes and accessories to choose from, and you’ll have nailed the essence of the offering.

There was simply no end to the enchanting array of cloaks, feather trims, fringing, sequins and other deliciously outrageous extravagances.

And above all, the haute couture essence of the collection didn’t go unnoticed: one could only imagine the hundreds of hours that went into creating these OTT theatrical pieces: the endless hand beading, the stitching on of infinite boa feathers and the weeks and months of hand-embroidery, to present us with this unbeatable otherworldly feat.

At Valentino

SCHIAPARELLI

Watch Schiaparelli’s Show here:

That creative director Daniel Roseberry was inspired by the ceiling Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel as well as the film Alien, was evident throughout a collection that posed the difficult question, what do we do when our world erupts into chaos – as it seems to have done already?

The collection was an eternal juxtaposition between the beautiful and the scary.

Rather than showcasing the ‘tame’ flower kingdom – a conventional subject for inspiration when it comes to haute couture – Roseberry turned instead to fauna, the animal kingdom, with its beauty and cruelty, its culture of being either predator or prey, hunter or hunted.

Scary alligator and venomous scorpion tails, the feathered wings of birds of prey, ominous-looking beaks and horns were incorporated into tailored jackets and dresses, to jaw-dropping effect.

Fish (a poisonous blowfish to be exact) inspired an organza suit that exploded into oversized shoulder spikes, and exaggerated bird beaks decorated (if that’s the term!) the front and back of jackets. A black jacket ended in a huge curled scorpion tail while a crocodile spine formed the front of a black ballgown.

If food for thought in today’s topsy-turvy world was the intention of this collection, Roseberry certainly succeeded. Beauty mixed with fear and anger is indeed a recipe that’s unforgettable! Hence silhouettes were uber-shapely, body-hugging (or rather, body-squeezing) and sharp.

Roseberry explained his philosophy for the collection by quoting philosopher David Whyte, “Anger is the deepest form of compassion, for another, for the world, for the self, for a life, for the body, for a family, and for all our ideals, possibly about to be hurt.”

Looking past the collection’s philosophy, the actual nitty gritty of the craftsmanship was awe-inspiring. As for man/woman hours, allegedly it took in access of 8000 hours to sew – by hand of course – 65000 raw silk electric blue feathers onto a floor-sweeping gown. And that’s just one of the pieces!

At Schiaparelli

At Schiaparell

CHRISTIAN DIOR

Watch Christian Dior’s Show here: https://www.fhcm.paris/en/collection/christian-dior-haute-couture-springsummer-2026

Everything came up roses for Jonathan Anderson in his debut creative directorship for the House of Christian Dior. In fact, the collection was blooming marvelous! (It must’ve been quite something to have one of your ultimate fashion heroes, John Galliano, sitting front row, too.) A star-studded crowd that included Brigitte Macron, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, was in attendance.

The show kicked off one hour late, with a set of sexy pleated dresses that paid tribute to a Kenyan-born artist, Magdalene Odundo – as soon as Rihanna, who was (very) fashionably late, arrived!

The collection was classic Dior, but a delightfully modernized version thereof: silhouettes were fluid and light – utterly wearable, and lo and behold, not a typical Dior corset in sight!

Transparent vests were juxtaposed with voluminous urn-shaped draped skirts (reminding one a little of Donna Karan’s 1990s silhouette), soft exaggerated bows decorated waistlines, bell-shaped skirts looked super elegant and silvery metallics were both fluid and structured at the same time.

The most striking accessories were the oversized floral earrings and elegant clutch bags.

Pops of colour – the likes of a tangerine shawl and lime green scarf – transformed the soft, pastel-based frocks. Loafers were made from antique cloth – sheer perfection!

This is a collection that achieves what few couture offerings can: it’s fresh, super elegant and avant-garde, but can quite easily be dressed down. What more can one ask for?

Christian Dior

CHANEL

Watch Chanel’s Show here: https://www.fhcm.paris/en/collection/chanel-haute-couture-springsummer-2026

It was impossible not to notice the giant, colourful toadstools that filled the runway at Matthieu Blazy’s first couture show for Chanel. An enchanted garden was created to host this first offering.

This set the tone for a show that, in many respects, required the Chanel woman to go right back to the roots of the brand, and pay tribute to Coco Chanel who championed freedom, emancipation and who famously said, “before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”

The designer played with that idea throughout the collection, stripping pieces to barely there, light and breezy garments. In fact, in some pieces the fabric was cut away so that skin and underwear were clearly visible, emphasizing the flimsiness of not just the garments, but to be philosophical, perhaps also our very existence?

The theme of birds, and flight, also surfaced throughout, and some pieces were covered in feathers, others boasted printed feather motifs. Some pieces were raven black, others depicted the strong red, purple, chocolate brown and charcoal plumage. Peacock feathers and the dull grey shades of the humble pigeon were to be seen in many pieces.

There wasn’t a typical Chanel’ tweed or boucle, or even Carl Lagerfeldt’ signature accessory, the camellia, to be seen. And yet… it was unmistakably Chanel – from the soft and nude pastels and black, to the many plain and printed chiffon pieces. A quilted handbag perhaps vaguely reminded one of ‘old’ Chanel.

In a collection that evidently wanted to emphasise the psychedelic and the idea of a flight into escapism, Blazy certainly managed to kill two birds with one stone – excuse the pun!

At Chanel

VIKTOR & ROLF

Watch Viktor & Rolf’s Show here:

The idea of lightness of being, also surfaced at Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf’s Spring/Summer presentations. This seems to have been a theme among designers this season – and how can we blame them for proposing some escapism if we look around us at what’s happening in our world?

Intrinsic to the mostly black collection that Viktor & Rolf presented, was the idea of flight.

In fact, one of the garments depicted a kite, with its connotations of lightness, freedom and the idea of being at the mercy of the elements.

And of course they also championed the idea of ‘general upliftment’ of one’s spirits, which can so easily be achieved by the mere addition of a spot of colour in the shape of a bow, a peplum, a ruffled neck piece, a row of colourful buttons or a decorative sleeve.

A simple addition can indeed transform a simple black outfit into something joyous.

It seems Viktor and Rolf gave us the option to ‘be normal’ and wear the basics, or be somewhat adventurous by layering and adding a touch of magic. The choice is yours!