The Paris Fashion Week concluded a special edition on Tuesday evening. Behind the presentations of the women’s collections for spring-summer 2026, there were great interests for the heavyweights in the luxury industry, which are facing a slowdown in growth.
‘Historic’ was the term industry professionals used to describe this unique fashion week. This season, a large number of brands chose to start an important new chapter in their history with the unveiling of the very first collection of their new artistic director. While these debuts attracted a lot of public attention, there were other highlights that made an impression.
In summary, the Paris Fashion Week was divided into three different dynamics: the Grand Debuts, the Sophomores (the second presentation of an artistic director) and the Collections of Continuity. Each of these categories highlighted a unique strategy, tailored to the brand’s market position and its own growth cycle.
The Great Debuts
The arrival of a new creative director at a fashion house always brings with it many emotions and feelings: curiosity, impatience, excitement… Although this puts the brand in the spotlight, it is also important that the attention does not fizzle out and is lasting.
At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy, the new artistic director of fashion activities, seems to have lived up to expectations. The show, which ended with a standing ovation, moved the audience to tears. This may also have been due to the significance of the show itself, which definitively put an end to the era of Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s artistic director from 1983 to 2019.
Blazy’s proposal dusted off the image of the classic tweed suit and offered a distinctly modern silhouette thanks to creative use of materials, flexible fits and wearable styling. The apparent simplicity and great creativity of Matthieu Blazy’s pieces have already proven themselves commercially at Bottega Veneta, his previous employer. They could also give new impetus to sales of the famous French house.
What stood out: the rough earrings of the first model, but also all the tweed pieces that had been worked into a supple and organic knit.
At Balenciaga, Pierpaolo Piccioli gives the Kering group brand a new direction. After the fusion of haute couture and streetwear of his predecessor Demna, the Roman brings a modern and much less polarizing glamour. To describe his approach, the new artistic director spoke of a ‘recalibration’ of the house’s heritage.
What stood out: Pierpaolo Piccioli has carefully reinvented the City Bag, one of the brand’s bestsellers. An important point, because although the brand’s sales are declining, the leather goods segment is still performing well.
The house Christian Dior (LVMH) presented Jonathan Anderson’s first women’s collection. As with Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, the designer’s hand was clearly visible, continuing his creative exploration for Loewe, where he was in charge of creative for more than a decade.
Jonathan Anderson’s sometimes highly conceptual pieces break with the previous collections of Maria Grazia Chiuri, whose approach was considered too commercial by some. It is likely that the show’s retail offering will be supplemented with classic pieces, especially so as not to disappoint the loyal customer base of its predecessor.
Now that Jonathan Anderson is no longer the artistic director of Loewe, this has been entrusted to Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Their first show took place on the morning of Friday, October 3. No break here, but a clear continuation. The playful visual language developed by Anderson continues in a graphic collection that combines artistic pieces with everyday clothing.
What stood out: the reissue of the Amazona 180 bag, which the house describes as ‘a spacious, double-sided version’, which can be worn open or closed.
Another big novelty: Duran Lantink’s first collection at Jean Paul Gaultier. The designer of one of the most viral silhouettes of HW25 Fashion Week (a man with a pair of fake breasts on his torso) was given creative responsibility for the return of Jean Paul Gaultier’s ready-to-wear on the catwalks. The Dutchman, known for his provocative and innovative fashion, remained true to his style. The result: a proposal that divides opinion, with clear references to the JPG codes and provocative silhouettes that play with nudity.
This season also marked the debut of Miguel Castro Freitas at Mugler, the brand of the L’Oréal group whose image resonates with the adjectives dramatic, spectacular and glamorous. The new artistic director focused on a sensual language around the hourglass silhouette and monochrome ensembles, with a prominent role for the color nude.
What stood out: One of the most shared silhouettes on social media is a lightweight, draped dress, studded with stars and held up by small hoop earrings on the model’s nipples.
Sophomore
Givenchy, Tom Ford, Maison Margiela and Celine all presented the second collection of their artistic director. A crucial step that allows the brand to confirm a vision and identity, but also to gain credibility and legitimacy among both consumers and professional buyers.
In March 2025, British Sarah Burton, artistic director of Givenchy (LVMH), charmed the world with sculptural fits and looks with viral potential. Her position as a woman at the head of the artistic direction of a luxury giant is a rarity in a sector where mainly men are appointed to this post. Her feminine vision therefore arouses special interest in the sector, regardless of her characteristic talent.
Sarah Burton was likely aware of this unique position when she wrote the following sentence to accompany the show notes for Givenchy’s SS26 show: “A powerful femininity. I wanted to explore the power of women through the lens of feminine archetypes.”
The collection plays with contrasts between classic and subversive, with couture or artistic proposals, but also with more commercial pieces such as a cropped jacket, a trendy and everyday jacket.
The Celine brand (LVMH) opted for an original strategy by presenting this new collection by Michael Rider as a continuation of the first, which was shown this summer and was also dedicated to the 2026 summer collection for women.
“We treated this collection as a continuation, as if the July show never really ended,” Michael Rider explains in the show notes. There are two possible reasons for this decision: the desire to permanently anchor the new image of Michael Rider’s Celine woman, to prevent the stylistic language of the new artistic director from dissolving into yet another collection with no connection to the previous one, or a style that is still searching and takes its time.
For his first Celine collection, Michael Rider was inspired by elements from the era of Hedi Slimane and the years of Phoebe Philo (his two predecessors, whose achievements led to an increase in sales). So this second part follows the same idea.
On social media, what will be remembered from Glenn Martens’ second show – and first ready-to-wear collection – for Margiela is the open mouths of the models, who wore metal bits that resembled dentists’ tools.
The collection was nevertheless well received. The new artistic director focused on an essential segment for the brand: tailoring. His silhouettes were wearable, designed for ‘real life’, with a subtle sleeve construction with rounded shoulders.
Collections of Continuity
Given the attention paid to the shows of the big debuts (Chanel, Dior, etc.), the biggest challenge for luxury brands that opted for Collections of Continuity was to stand out and turn the spotlight on themselves. But in the current uncertain economic context, there was no room for sensationalism or overly striking images that wanted to attract attention at all costs. That is why most brands preferred to reassure their customers with a sober approach: a down-to-earth message focused on wearable clothing that avoids any scandal and maintains a positive tone, far from the gloomy climate that many countries face.
One of the brands that expresses a clear desire for stability through its creations is Saint Laurent. Although the house of the Kering group saw its figures decline in the first half of 2025 (a decline in operating profit by 17 percent), the creative proposal of Anthony Vaccarello – in office for almost ten years – does not change: the same silhouettes with broad shoulders, the same large leather pieces and the same refusal to send models with bags onto the catwalk, a segment that is nevertheless crucial for the luxury industry.
What remains of this show are the impressive, colorful and, as it were, inflated dresses that seemed to fit in a handbag, as well as a long series of trench coat dresses.
As usual, Nicolas Ghesquière built a collection around powerful storytelling. This season, the inspiration from the former summer apartments of Anne of Austria, Queen of France, formed the basis for a very ‘lounge’-like proposal, focused on indoor clothing. The show notes speak of a ‘great freedom of clothing’ and the ‘ultimate luxury of dressing for yourself and revealing your true personality’.
“All we can do is follow the rhythm of our customers’ hearts,” Daniel Roseberry wrote in the Schiaparelli show notes. His statement shows the brand’s will to anchor its offering in a more modest approach, linked not to a designer’s fantasy, but to the desires of its customers.
Among the highlights of the Schiaparelli SS26 ready-to-wear, the knitted trompe-l’œil stands out, which is both wearable and powerful for the Instagram image.
At Alaïa (Richemont), Pieter Mulier continued his exploration of an innovative and apparently simple wardrobe, with a focus on ’emotional clothing’. Here, the inventiveness surprises and moves with clothing that feels new (a rarity in 2025) and technical highlights that are admired by connoisseurs.
Furthermore, the choice of scenography, with a mirrored ceiling and a digital floor that projected images, reinforced the idea of introspection and contemplation, inviting the audience to really look at the clothes. Attention was focused on strong and distinctive pieces that enable the brand to create an immediately recognizable signature.
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