After an exciting menswear season—which ended on a bittersweet note, with Véronique Nichanian’s final Hermès show—another round of fashion shows is now underway in Paris. The Spring/Summer 2026 couture season taking over the city is a noteworthy one, with two major debuts to look forward to: the first, from Jonathan Anderson, who will present his first couture show for Dior, and from Matthieu Blazy, who has been shaking things up at the house of Chanel.
Anderson has unveiled the first look of his debut Dior couture collection on Instagram: a pleated tulle gown that swirls around the body, poetically captured in black and white by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. That the dress resembles a sculpture is no coincidence: Anderson told Business of Fashion that his friend, the Kenyan-British sculptor Magdalene Odundo, and her amorphous, bulbous ceramic vessels served as an inspiration for the collection, which will also include bags, shoes and jewellery.
Chanel designer Matthieu Blazy, meanwhile, teased his couture debut for the maison with a whimsical animated video that sees adorable animals assembling a dress in the Chanel atelier. Since joining the French fashion house as its creative director, Blazy has already created a lot of buzz for the brand—first, with his debut Chanel show last September, and then with the Chanel Métiers d’Art presentation in New York. How will he write a new chapter for Chanel’s haute couture legacy, which dates back to 1915?
We’ll find out soon enough. Paris Couture Week kicks off on Monday, 26 January, with Daniel Roseberry’s latest Schiaparelli spectacle. Shows from Dior, Chanel and Giorgio Armani Privé will follow suit. Indian designers Rahul Mishra and Gaurav Gupta will showcase their new haute couture collections, as will returning guests designers Robert Wun and Sohee Park of Miss Sohee.
Stay tuned for all the highlights of Paris Couture Week Spring/Summer 2026, updated below.
Chanel
Matthieu Blazy didn’t show a single tweed jacket at his Chanel haute couture debut. Instead, the show opened with a ghost of the maison’s iconic skirt suit, rendered in sheer silk mousseline. Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was the first designer to use that fabric for a garment instead of merely as a backing for embroidery. Blazy followed suit: the fine, transparent silk was used across evening dresses, shirts, skirts and even a Chanel 2.55 bag, resulting in Chanel’s lightest collection ever.
Blazy wanted to capture the essence of Chanel. He was also inspired by a haiku about a “bird on a mushroom” that flies away—hence the giant pink fungi that bloomed all over the Chanel runway set at the Grand Palais, and the later looks that transformed women into birds, in a sense. These looks featured plumage that was created not with feathers but by fabric manipulation; the artisans of Le19M, Chanel’s craftsmanship hub, employed techniques like embroidery, layering, pleating and weaving. The final look, modelled by Bhavitha Mandava, Blazy’s Chanel muse, was poetic: a shirt and skirt completely covered in “feather” sequins with the mesmerising sheen of a Chanel pearl necklace.
Dior
Jonathan Anderson’s first haute couture show for Dior was a spectacle: pink-haired models came down the runway at the Musée Rodin wearing dresses with spherical, netted tops or voluminous skirts that ballooned like blooms. Even their earrings resembled bunches of fresh cyclamen flowers.
Former Dior creative director John Galliano, who was at the show, gifted cyclamen flowers to Anderson during a visit last year—and they inspired the bags, accessories, shoes and even the hairstyles of the models at the show. (Anderson also alluded to history and turned bags into works of art, reimagining the Lady Dior with rare, 18th-century French fabrics that are embroidered and patchworked.) For his collection, Anderson strived to copy nature: silk petals were densely embroidered to turn dresses and skirts into flowerbeds, while feathers were recreated with layers of shredded chiffon and organza.
It has been almost 80 years since Christian Dior presented his debut haute couture collection and changed fashion forever. The French couturier once said about his New Look styles, “I have designed flower women.” Now, Jonathan Anderson has done the same.
Valentino
Ahead of Valentino’s Spring/Summer 2026 haute couture show, Alessandro Michele shared a letter honouring the brand’s founder, Valentino Garavani, who passed away last week. “In Valentino, myth found a concrete form: an idea of generative beauty that continues to speak in the present, beyond the succession of seasons,” he wrote.
Michele referenced another source of myths and timeless beauty in his latest collection: the world of cinema. Instead of a runway, Michele staged the Valentino show within a “kaiserpanorama”—a circular device invented in the 19th century, featuring viewing holes through which an audience can look in and watch moving images. Instead of images, though, the Valentino audience saw models dressed in spectacular ensembles that referenced the golden age of Hollywood—literally. There were golden lamé gowns and ornate red carpet dresses embellished with sequins, crystals and beads, as well as dramatic capes and bolero jackets trimmed with feathers or crafted from lace—all fit for a star. It was cinema that inspired Garavani to become a fashion designer; the Italian couturier said he was particularly inspired by the glamour of the 1941 film, Ziegfeld Girl, starring Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr’s iconic, celestial look in the film was reimagined at the Valentino show: one model glittered in a sheer cape featuring sunburst crystal embroidery, with a golden crown on her head.
Schiaparelli
At Schiaparelli, Daniel Roseberry transformed women into mythical beings that are weird, wild and wonderful. In his latest haute couture show, titled “The Agony and The Ecstacy”, there were marvellous creations to behold: one model walked down the runway in a feather-covered jacket with pointed bird beaks sticking out of it, while another donned a sheer bustier and a pencil skirt with a scorpion’s tail behind her, ready to strike. Another standout is a black and green bustier gown, with a skirt that was as wide as an open umbrella, adorned with crystal-embellished peacock feathers. Plenty of models strutted down the runway in satin pumps with a sculpted bird’s head. “So many people ask me what the point is of couture,” said Roseberry, reflecting on his fantastical designs. “It’s certainly not to create clothing for daily life… Let the rest of the year be about reality. But nothing is more powerful—or timeless—or for me, more now, than getting to unchain my imagination.”
Armani Privé
Jonathan Anderson and Matthieu Blazy weren’t the only ones making their haute couture debuts this season. Silvana Armani, the niece of the late Giorgio Armani, presented her first haute couture collection for his label, Armani Privé. Silvana had spent the last 20 years working alongside her uncle on his couture collections, and it showed: the collection featured pared-back, precisely-cut tailoring and slink, shimmering evening dresses with delicate embellishments. Armani found inspiration in jade, “a stone said to bring good luck, and one my uncle loved,” she said. Hence the collection’s colour palette of seafoam and mint green, as well as pale pinks. Armani also explored the idea of wearable couture, introducing sheer silk blouses, glittering mesh sweaters, and relaxed satin pants that add elegance to the Armani woman’s everyday wardrobe.
This story first appeared here.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
