From plant-based feathers to seven-year-olds playing the violin to the most controversial creative debuts, Paris Fashion Week SS26 was yet another reminder that France and fashion will always share the same capital. Not just because of the city’s craftsmanship but also because of its creatives’ approach to the art surrounding it. After merging these two, here are our top 5 highlights.
View this post on Instagram
Best Show Opening
Do you dare enter, the house of Dior? Written in a giant screen pyramid in the middle of the runway, this was the first thought we absorbed in Jonathan Anderson’s debut for Dior. The creative teamed-up with filmmaker Adam Curtis to open with a video that revisited the house’s highlights, including Christian Dior himself. Anderson celebrated the ones who came before and took the courage to claim his own place in a storied house seconds later.
View this post on Instagram
Best Set Design
For his first ready-to-wear collection under the Maison Margiela name, Glenn Martens placed an off-key orchestra of sixty-one children, aged seven to fifteen, on the runway. The raw unrefined sound of Beethoven, surprisingly echoed the house’s character of imperfection and tradition of finding beauty in harshness.
View this post on Instagram
Best Dressed Celebrity
The most surprising appearance of the week was also the most polished. Meghan Markle attended the Balenciaga show, once again wearing a custom Pierpaolo Piccioli piece. The Duchess chose to make an all-white entrance with a bold ground-touching cape layered over a white oversized button-down shirt and wide-leg trousers, which she paired with black pointed heels and a black clutch in hand.
View this post on Instagram
Best Invitation
Pierpaolo Piccioli made a walkman and a cassette player his weapon of choice for his debut at Balenciaga. Guests were eagerly unboxing the invitation, searching for clues about the house’s new collection, “The Heartbeat”, only to hear a literal heartbeat. The sounds of the tape merged with the quickened pulse of the guest list, building a rhythm of suspense.
View this post on Instagram
Best Beauty
At Maison Margiela’s catwalk, Glenn Martens made sure the show’s beauty wasn’t about makeup. Models walked the runway with surreal mouthpieces, an avant-garde reference to the brand’s four stitch logo, creating the impression of walking puppets. A conversation between past and future, inviting us into Margiela’s story.
