Rethinking Haute Couture
Watching the haute couture collections this season felt like witnessing a disconnect. With the world in full-on political and social meltdown mode, admiring garments designed for a fraction of the 1% can feel hollow. Yet there is no denying that couture remains the industry’s essential laboratory—an experimentation hub that preserves increasingly endangered atelier techniques. But if this season made one thing clear, it’s that any maison showing a runway full of mermaid evening gowns left one feeling that they weren’t moving with the times. Even in the rarefied world of haute couture, the name of the game now is wearability and innovation.
At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy continued to strip away the archival motifs Karl Lagerfeld endlessly spun out, returning the house to the core values of Coco Chanel. I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Blazy wove a narrative of birds and mushrooms into a beautiful collection defined by movement, lightness and novelty. He continued to reinvent the classic suit, this time exploring whisper-sheer layers of silk mousseline—a technique even applied to the house’s signature 2.55 handbag (stunning). I was particularly struck by the dresses embellished with raw-edge organza collages and the contemporary “bride” who closed the show in an oversized shirt and knee-length skirt embellished with shimmery paillettes. But perhaps most importantly, Blazy’s casting included older, ethnically diverse models—something we haven’t seen much of for some reason—including opening the show with the striking Stefania Cavalli.
Over at Dior, Jonathan Anderson’s haute couture debut felt decidedly fresh. The collection was characteristically Anderson: product-driven and focused on individual statement looks. And it largely succeeded by offering a breadth of options, from bell-shaped silhouettes and a deconstructed Bar jacket to elegant bias-cut gowns. But what made this collection really sing were the novelty accessories—the funky floor-length, waterfall fringe pouch with sculptural handles, the lacquered ladybug handbag suspended from a delicate chain, and chunky jewelry adorned with fossils and meteorites rather than traditional fine jewelry. Whether this resonates with the couture client (an area where Maria Grazia Chiuri excelled but Raf Simons struggled) remains to be seen. But one thing to keep in mind: The showroom presentation included additional pieces for clients— presumably, less editorial ones—that never hit the runway, showing that Anderson understands he needs to balance his vision with actual sales.
The Schiaparelli show was another standout, with Daniel Roseberry channeling his frustration with the current state of the world into a collection of beautiful aggression. Featuring giant scorpion tails, alligator scales, horns, and sharp spikes, it turned the idea of fashion as armor into an extraordinary narrative—the kind of provocative fashion that evoked the spirit of the late Alexander McQueen.
Beyond the major house shifts, other collections that were season highlights include:
Yuima Nakazato: Nakazato, who was originally selected as a guest designer for Haute Couture Week way back in 2016 and is still its only member from Japan, delivered a poetic collection inspired by the ancient forests of Yakushima Island. The materials were groundbreaking, featuring glazed white earthenware sewn onto knit webbing and metallic-coated dresses with crinkled surfaces meant to evoke raw bark.
Valentino: Alessandro Michele leaned into a Hollywood starlet and showgirl vibe that fully embraced his maximalist aesthetic. While I thought the less opulent looks were the real winners for their fluidity and movement, the collection’s embroideries were mind-blowing and offered a masterclass in detail.
RVDK: Ronald Van Der Kemp continues to dream up a sustainable couture collection that is a bold, colorful fantasy. Crafted almost entirely from surplus and remnant materials, his work remains the conscience of the couture calendar.
Armani Privè: Now helmed by the late founder’s niece Silvana Armani, the house sought to make couture “more wearable”. This translated into elegant masculine-inspired tailoring punctuated by airy organza blouses and tops.
Alexis Mabille: Mabille partnered with French AI studio Glor’IA to develop his haute couture silhouettes, which were shown on virtual models. The designer stressed this wasn’t "push-button" AI; the process took months and, according to WWD, required a team of ten to execute, showing that even AI-assisted design requires deep human craft to reach the level of haute couture.
Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2026 image courtesy of the Associated Press. Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2018 image courtesy of antoniobarrosfr / Shutterstock.
