Paris Fashion Week SS26 yielded a vivid display of creative reinvention. As designers stepped into new roles and long-standing brands evolved, this season felt like a threshold: a moment when couture codices were refracted through fresh eyes.
In Part II of our series, we track the visions behind thirty marquee names, from technicolor revivals to sculptural minimalism, and explore how each drew on memory, myth, or material to articulate a future self.
LEONARD PARIS
Leonard Paris embraced an airy sensuality for Spring/Summer 2026, evoking the serenity of seaside gardens and the elegance of motion. Flowing silhouettes were painted in watercolor-like prints, suggesting a world of natural harmony and soft liberation.
LOEWE
Loewe explored surreal craftsmanship and domestic absurdity, turning the ordinary into objects of quiet desire. Sculpted dresses mimicked ceramic textures, while familiar shapes: a chair, a sleeve, a shoe, became provocations of perception.
ISSEY MIYAKE
Issey Miyake continued its study of nature and physics through movement. The SS26 collection reinterpreted light and shadow, with kinetic pleats and modular garments inspired by wind currents, creating a poetic dance between fabric and form.
GIAMBATTISTA VALLI
Romanticism met modern sculpture at Giambattista Valli, where cascading tulle, rose appliqués, and fluid chiffon framed a renewed sense of femininity. Inspired by the intimacy of gardens at dusk, the collection shimmered with effortless grandeur.
NINA RICCI
Nina Ricci balanced whimsy and structure with pastel tailoring and sculptural minis. The collection drew on 1960s optimism and cinematic glamour, reimagined for a new generation through bold proportions and joyful ease.
GIVENCHY
Givenchy channeled quiet sensuality this season, revisiting archival elegance with stripped-back confidence. Soft tailoring and translucent layers reflected a new romantic minimalism: modern, graceful, and deeply introspective.
YOHJI YAMAMOTO
Yohji Yamamoto’s SS26 felt like a meditation on impermanence. Deconstructed garments in layered black, grey, and off-white unfolded like poetry, exploring the tension between decay and renewal, silence and expression.
VICTORIA BECKHAM
Victoria Beckham offered architectural restraint and fluid precision. The collection reimagined femininity through elongated tailoring and liquid silk, inspired by the balance between vulnerability and self-possession.
ALAÏA
Alaïa celebrated the language of the body with hypnotic knit constructions that clung and released like breath. Pieter Mulier explored intimacy and geometry, blending architectural precision with primal sensuality.
JUNYA WATANABE
Watanabe’s SS26 was a study in metallic futurism and streetwear engineering. Patchwork denim, silver panels, and cyberpunk detailing merged industrial rigor with avant-garde rebellion, a wearable ode to controlled chaos.
MAISON MARGIELA
Margiela continued his exploration of memory and metamorphosis through artisanal layering and theatrical distortion. The collection blurred gender, time, and identity and garments becoming fragments of dreams remembered and reimagined.
HERMÈS
Hermès embodied earthy sensuality through craftsmanship rooted in tactility. Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski drew inspiration from desert horizons and equestrian heritage, transforming leather and linen into a quietly powerful meditation on freedom.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
Andreas Kronthaler paid tribute to Vivienne’s legacy through subversive romanticism. Corsetry met rebellion; tartans collided with drapery. The show became both love letter and protest, a celebration of radical beauty.
ELIE SAAB
Elie Saab’s SS26 was a symphony of floral opulence, inspired by Mediterranean sunlight and cinematic fantasy. Lace, sequins, and chiffon merged in fluid silhouettes that captured the spirit of eternal glamour.
ANN DEMEULEMEESTER
Ann Demeulemeester returned to poetic melancholy: soft tailoring, fluid transparency, and delicate leather echoed a mood of introspective romance. The collection felt like a whispered dialogue between darkness and light.
BALENCIAGA
Balenciaga dissected fashion’s facade of power with stark contrasts: oversized suiting, reworked couture gowns, and pieces made from found materials. It was both a satire and a confession: fashion as raw truth.
LACOSTE
Lacoste reimagined sport with minimal futurism, sleek jersey, nylon layers, and geometric knits in muted tones. The spirit of motion was distilled into elegance, merging function with quiet sophistication.
CELINE
Celine channeled a cinematic Paris, youth, rebellion, and rock ‘n’ roll energy. The SS26 collection echoed New Wave icons and Riviera nostalgia, mixing metallic minis with razor-sharp tailoring.
AKRIS
Albert Kriemler drew inspiration from the interplay of art and light, translating modern architecture into fluid elegance. Sheer silks and geometric prints created a serene, intelligent simplicity.
VALENTINO
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Valentino sought emotional resonance through purity. White lace, monastic cuts, and fluid draping expressed vulnerability as strength, a poetic renewal of couture ideals.
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
For SS26, the Gaultier designer revisited the maison’s codes of liberation and gender play, blending corsetry and tailoring with rebellious sensuality, fashion as fearless self-expression.
CHLOÉ
Chloé’s SS26 captured the rhythm of the earth, airy cottons, woven raffia, and sculptural silhouettes inspired by nature’s resilience. A vision of sustainability wrapped in soft, poetic femininity.
MCQUEEN
Under Seán McGirr, Alexander McQueen balanced anatomical precision with fluid sensuality. The SS26 collection was inspired by the body’s inner architecture: beauty seen through muscle, bone, and instinct.
SACAI
Chitose Abe deconstructed uniformity, blending military and romantic codes into hybrid silhouettes. Layered tailoring and asymmetric cuts created an evolving narrative of duality.
COPERNI
Coperni continued its tech-infused narrative, this time exploring light as material. From reflective fabrics to airbrushed tailoring, the collection redefined sensual minimalism through innovation.
MIU MIU
Miuccia Prada’s Miu Miu extended her study of imperfection: shrunken knits, undone hems, and transparent skirts hinted at vulnerability and rebellion, turning dishevelment into modern desire.
ZIMMERMANN
Zimmermann delivered romantic escapism through floral broderie, lace ruffles, and airy pastels inspired by coastal nostalgia: a sunlit vision of effortless opulence.
THOM BROWNE
Thom Browne’s Paris takeover turned tailoring into theatre. Anchored by surreal Americana and couture precision, his SS26 show blurred costume and craft, a witty, operatic ode to individuality.
CHANEL
Matthieu Blazy’s debut at Chanel for SS26 reimagined the house through a cosmic lens, blending reverence and rebellion beneath glowing planetary orbs at the Grand Palais.
Classic tweeds were frayed and fluid, pearls and camellias reworked into sculptural forms, and silhouettes oscillated between masculine tailoring and ethereal drape.
The collection unfolded as a study in paradox: Chanel heritage stretched toward the universal, where tradition shimmered in the light of reinvention.
CHRISTOPHER ESBER
Christopher Esber offered sculptural sensuality with cutouts, draped jersey, and fluid tailoring that mirrored the body’s natural movement, minimalism charged with emotion.
