As the saying goes amongst style insiders: it’s always Fashion Week somewhere. Yet even the most jaded amongst us can’t help but feel a tinge of awe when Haute Couture Week rolls around—at the sheer craftsmanship and creativity on display, with each house pushing their abilities to the maximum.
The Fall/Winter 2026 edition of fashion’s most exclusive showcase is in full swing, with presentations from couture heavyweights Dior and Chanel already complete. At Dior, Jonathan Anderson blanketed the Musée Rodin with lush, tropical vegetation, staging a show inspired by the textural and three-dimensional work of artist Lynda Benglis. At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy turned to the maison’s eponymous founder for inspiration, presenting a folklore-inspired collection drawing from Coco Chanel’s personal library.
Later in the week, we can expect to see highly anticipated debuts from both Duran Lantink and Pierpaolo Piccioli. Though neither designer is a stranger to couture, this week marks the first Haute Couture collection they will design for their respective houses—Lantink for Jean Paul Gaultier and Piccioli for Balenciaga. Notable absences from the calendar include Valentino and Giambattista Valli, while Fendi’s Maria Grazia Chiuri will present an off-calendar show in Rome on 9 July.
Ahead, get a closer look at the highlights of Paris Haute Couture Week Fall/Winter 2026.
Jean Paul Gaultier
All eyes turned to Jean Paul Gaultier on the third day of Couture Week, as creative director Duran Lantink prepared to present his debut Haute Couture collection for the maison. Lantink was taking on a storied legacy of rebellion—when Gaultier himself debuted at Couture Week in 1997, it was as the enfant terrible of Paris’ most exclusive, revered fashion stage. This season, Lantink took a number of Gaultier’s transgressive style codes—cone bras, exaggerated tailoring, sharply cinched waists—and turned them into a bold Haute Couture collection with an eye towards the future.
The Dutch designer was heavily inspired by Marie Antoinette and the lavish clothing customs of the 18th-century French court, and he blended them with a tech-inspired, futuristic material language. Ballooning tulle skirts were shown with exaggerated cutouts on the front and back, paired with sculptural bodices made of 3D-printed polymer. Elsewhere, the same tulle projections were attached onto a parka-dress in a synthetic satin that wouldn’t look out of place in a techwear line. Even when Lantink took his 18th-century inspirations literally, as he did with intricate sablé florals and curling rinceau patterns, he paired them with protruding shoulder pads or a tube-like bra top. In this push and pull between the past and the future, Lantink’s provocative new couture collection took shape. “Haute couture belongs to the realm of fantasy, and this coming together of experts is what makes it possible,” the designer stated in his show notes. “It allows the impossible to become possible.”
Giorgio Armani Privé
As many a couture insider will testify, Giorgio Armani Privé is the undisputed master of tailoring. The house has long been defined by its clean, precise approach to silhouette and cut, and for her sophomore Haute Couture showing, Silvana Armani took these codes into sleek, sensual territory. Armani Privé presented a Haute Couture collection defined by a contrast between restraint and glamour, where masculine tailoring codes coexisted with sleek, feminine silhouettes. Sharp-shouldered, oversized jackets were embroidered with shimmering, intricate embellishments, shown in between evening gowns in sumptuous velvet and satin. The palette was typically restrained for Armani Privé, flowing between deep purple, green, and midnight blue—but closer looks at the collection’s details also revealed playful animalic motifs even on its subtler looks. From rhinestones arranged into a crocodile print to fabric embellishments shaped like fish scales, the collection blended this touch of humour with a classically Armani refinement.
Robert Wun
Though he titled it Childsplay, Robert Wun’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection was anything but unsophisticated. “The intention is to be inspired by the un-serious, but to create seriously,” the designer wrote in his show notes. The striking collection was littered with playful, whimsical motifs associated with childhood, from paint-splattered gowns to hats and bags echoing clown noses. Certain Robert Wun signatures dominated—voluminous bell skirts, monochrome looks in vivid primary colours—but they were interspersed with more experimental takes on couture, featuring balloon-adorned dresses and giant, glittering rabbit ears. “What if the inspiration lies where everything is stripped down to the simplest essence?” asks Wun.
Manish Malhotra
For Indian designer Manish Malhotra, his Couture Week debut is only the latest milestone in an already remarkable career. Malhotra has been at the forefront of Indian fashion for decades: first by designing film costumes for Bollywood’s A-list, then outfitting them for weddings and red carpets, eventually even becoming a favourite of Western stars like Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez. It was perhaps his Bollywood origins, though, that informed Malhotra’s cinematic approach to couture. His debut collection was divided into four distinct chapters, each slotting into an overall narrative about identity, family, and legacy. Malhotra envisioned the collection as a tribute to his late mother, rendering her memory through silhouette, colour, craftsmanship, and more—blush pink and floral motifs evoked his mother’s favourite blooms, and a sweeping white coat was adorned with sculptural elements depicting scenes between a mother and child. Fabric was wrapped and cocooned around the body not to obscure it, but to recall a protective and comforting hold. Malhotra’s tributes to Indian artisanship were also filtered through a conceptual, modern lens—intricate techniques like salli and zardozi embroidery, resham work, and taban sequins adorned evening gowns and architectural mini-dresses.
Dior
For his sophomore Haute Couture collection at Dior, Jonathan Anderson began with an artist: Lynda Benglis, famed for her unconventional, three-dimensional work blurring the boundaries between painting and sculpture. He drew particular inspiration from Benglis’ mesh work from the 1980s and 1990s, which he mimicked through hand-plissé on lamé, silk satin, tulle, and denim. A series of bubble skirts in a patchwork of textural materials also recalled Benglis’ mixed-material sculptures.
Anderson also zeroed in on an unexpected aspect of Benglis’ practice: her longstanding relationship with Indian art and culture, particularly that of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. On the runway, brightly-coloured floral and beaded embellishments paid tribute to Benglis’ Peacock series, inspired by the birds spotted during her stays in Ahmedabad.
Anderson’s research also led him beyond Benglis’ work, into deeper questions about Indian craftsmanship and textiles—particularly the traditions of gemstone carving and chintz. Couture jewellery was designed in collaboration with Indian artisans in Jaipur, while mini Lady Diors and Petit Dîners were adorned with 18th-century fragments of chintz and indiennes, sourced from a specialist dealer. The result was a collection rich with historic and artistic influences, blending Anderson’s refined Dior style codes with a refreshingly global outlook.
Chanel
As the oldest operating couture house in history, Chanel is almost synonymous with haute couture—making Matthieu Blazy’s presentation one of the most highly anticipated shows of the season. This show came just months after his debut couture collection in January, and echoed much of its restraint, choosing to emphasise the maison’s savoir-faire through delicacy and translucency.
Blazy has been known to dip into Gabrielle Chanel’s personal life for sartorial inspiration, and this season’s point of departure was a discovery made in her personal library. “I started to wonder, was Gabrielle Chanel’s life a fairy tale?” Blazy asked in the collection notes. “I found a small book in her library, Les Fées, Contes des Contes, and asked myself if, together with the Haute Couture ateliers, we could make garments that tell stories like a book.”
In translating fairytales into the language of couture, Blazy took a whimsical approach, blending fantastical motifs with classic Chanel style codes. Guipure lace took the shape of magic beans, while curling vines and florals were embroidered onto silk mousseline. Models wore shoes with ferns twisting up the heels, and carried minaudières shaped like hens and sleeping bears. Texture was explored through straw-like embellishments—most strikingly, in a raffia-knit skirt suit inspired by the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.
Touchingly, Blazy’s cast of Chanel models have also become icons in their own right. From ingenue Bhavitha Mandava to veteran Stephanie Cavalli, the designer’s favourite muses all made appearances on the couture runway.
Schiaparelli
Daniel Roseberry has never been one to shy away from the experimental, and this season, the Schiaparelli creative director leaned into his most daring instincts. As stars like Michelle Yeoh and Emma Corrin watched on from the front row, Roseberry presented a dreamlike collection designed to leave viewers with more questions than answers. The designer’s stated aim for this season was to firmly push back on house codes, redefining the accepted building blocks of couture. “We paired haute couture techniques with synthetic materials,” Roseberry wrote in the collection statement. “Instead of the traditional silks, satins, and wools, we used latex, silicone, and pools of paint baked into sheets and sculpted into silhouettes.”
What emerged was a sculptural, unusual collection that veered sharply between humanoid and alien. Some creations came with lush, pretty florals and bodices mimicking the naked form, whereas others were altogether more alien, featuring menacing black protrusions in kinetic latex. “A skirt’s floral motif is made of hundreds of flowers rendered from hosiery stretched on metal wires and pearls,” explains the collection statement. “Another dress bristles with weightless sculpted crinoline tubes, [while] a pair of leggings are encrusted with real flowers, fish scales, and ribbon flowers.” Here, the collection’s central tension is revealed: Roseberry might aim to rewrite the rules of couture, but he does so by honouring its most sacred commitment to artisanship and elevated technique.
This story first appeared in Grazia Singapore.
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