12 Highlights from Paris Fashion Week

This week, the fashion world descended upon the City of Lights lights to conclude the Spring/Summer 2026 season, which has been a period of seismic change. Across the global schedule, a remarkable 14 creative directors presented their debut collections at some of the world’s biggest fashion houses, signaling a bold new era. In Paris, the runways lit up with high craftsmanship, wrapped by the most buzzed-about debut: Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, who unveiled his definitive vision for the future of the house. Other major highlights included collections from Jonathan Anderson for Dior; Pierpaolo Piccioli for Balenciaga; and Glenn Martens for  Maison Margiela.

Amid the directorial shift, trends emerged throughout the runways: florals ranged from watercolored prints to dramatic appliqué (McQueen, Celine), utilitarianism was seen in rugged textiles and pockets (Balmain, Dior), while structured leather appeared with ’80s and equestrian inflections (Saint Laurent, Hermès, Givenchy). A subverted, modern take on the “trad-wife-chic” aesthetic (Miu Miu, Chloé) shared the week with cocoons and capes (Comme des Garçons, Alaïa). Finally, unabashed transparency—often with visible nudity—dominated looks crafted from sheer chiffon and jersey (Mugler, Dries Van Notten, Jean Paul Gaultier). An explosion of color reigned, and the decisive palette for the season was bright blues, pale greys, mossy greens, and bright oranges (Tom Ford, Loewe, Lanvin).

Below, find 12 major moments from the week:

1. Chanel

Since Matthieu Blazy’s arrival from Bottega Veneta in December 2024, Chanel’s Spring 2026 show stood as the season’s most anticipated debut. For four decades, Chanel was dominated by the iconic Karl Lagerfeld’s familiar codes of reinvented tweed, black and white, camellias, and pearls. On Monday, Blazy’s reinvigorated “Chanel-verse” debuted inside the Grand Palais Éphémère, which he stunningly transformed into a planetarium, complete with jumbo light-up planets seemingly suspended in a star-lit sky. The opener—a cropped tweed suit with slouchy trousers, reworked 2.55, and starburst earrings—set a tone for this new chapter. As music shifted from an urban thrum to classical tones, new interpretations of tweed, lace, pearls, jersey moved with ease. Bags came in new forms of relaxed leather, eggs, spheres, nests, and even solid gold. Two-tone pumps gained a sharp Y-point. Color exploded in acid-green crocodile bags, lunar-teal tweeds, and ember-pink lace. In Blazy’s hands, the trailblazing spirit of Coco Chanel comes alive—a rebirth through motion, freedom, and craft.

2. Dior

“Do you dare enter the House of Dior?” was the question that opened Adam Curtis’s supercut film displayed on a pyramidal screen. It was an homage to the house’s storied lineage, saluting former creative directors Bohan, Saint Laurent, Galliano, and Simons before ushering in the new Creative Director, Jonathan Anderson. Anderson immediately boxed up the archive, shifting the focus to a new slogan, “House of Dreams.”Anderson’s new Dior girl is dreamy with an intriguing twist: think elaborate capes layered over a plain shirt and jeans; floral bubble skirts cooled with button-ups and loafers; and ties worn prim or playfully teasing. There were new top-handle bags and Eighteenth-century flourishes like Marie Antoinette slingbacks that met with modern staples like denim, sharp mini-skirts, and neat polos. Bows recurred throughout the collection, and evening shapes paid a nod to Venus.

3. Loewe

At Loewe, Jack McCoullough and Lazaro Hernandez’s highly anticipated debut collection steered the house toward beach heat. Leather was molded like wetsuits, sheaths were draped like towels, and there were even 3D-printed trompe-l’œil “terry” frocks. The hits: a striped polo mini with sun-bleached swagger, a bouclé blue jacket over metallic-weave trousers, and a shaggy orange coat gripping a little oyster bag. The bags were roomy, rubber shoes with swap-in liners were cheeky, and the leather crafting was strong.

4. Saint Laurent

Under a sparkling Eiffel Tower, a gargantuan YSL monogram cut in white hydrangeas was Anthony Vaccarello’s love letter to the maison’s French history. The collection unfolded in three movements. First came the Robert Mapplethorpe-inspired current with dark 1980s-style leathers, swaggering pussy bows, pencil skirts, and double belts. Then a Rive Gauche pulse with sporty, techy fabrics cut into sharp separates and trenches, colorful silhouettes to capture the cool essence of YSL’s late-‘70s/early-‘80s era. Finally, the opera: sweeping taffeta gowns with cathedral sleeves and saturated color—dresses to move in, dream in, live in. The models were jeweled decadently with crosses and chandelier drops that frame the face and anchor the volume, a riff on Loulou de la Falaise and Yves’s Byzantine trove.

5. Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton returned to the Louvre, this time inside Anne of Austria’s summer apartments, where Nicolas Ghesquière let the rooms speak for themselves. To the tune of Cate Blanchett’s “This Must Be the Place,” the opener’s gauzy, piped camisole-pant-robe trio sang like antique lingerie remade for daylight. Later, a shaggy, fringe dress drifted from pastel into moss, like wallpaper giving way to garden. Needlepointed flats, slouchy socks, and even wooden discs tracing seams echoed the interiors.

6. Hermès

For Spring 2026, Nadège Vanhee eased out a free-spirited equestrienne’s wardrobe with a fierce streak: supple hand-burnished leather separates, lightweight dust coats, and quilted frocks. There were harness-like straps, suede and leather jackets, sharp prints, and reimagined riding boots, which kept the saddle in view without losing the city. And the bags hit: a slouchy Arcon in army sage, a mini-Kelly worn as a belt bag in electric purple, and a slew of stealthy suede Birkins.

7. Dries van Noten

Julian Klausner’s sophomore Dries van Noten collection chased ease and uplift with a jolt of surf. The show opened with an ivory coat, porcelain bright, featuring foam-swirl embroidery and brass buttons, paired with ruby socks and sneakers that winked playfully below. He let the tide rise with dots colliding with checks, stripes curling into moiré, prints layered until they shimmered like heat over water. Sunset oranges met sea-glass greens and shoulders stayed compact, a nod to wetsuit guards. Look 60 crested the wave with green-pink op-art chiffon over patterned shorts, a jeweled collar, and sneakers ready to run.

8. Schiaparelli

Atop the Centre Pompidou roof, one of its last hurrahs pre-renovation, Daniel Roseberry set Schiaparelli to Aaliyah with a Bowie under tow and let the glow loose. Roseberry reimagined the maison’s Salvador Dalí-era “tears,” making much of the collection an homage to Elsa Schiaparelli and Dalí”s 1938 “Tears Dress” through cutouts on jersey, silk, leather, and even crystal and metal mesh. One look landed in inky satin with cut-away panes, a classic face tote, and molten head jewelry (look 25). Another model drifted out in a sheer white wrap suit, liquid yet sharp, anchored by a glowing salt-rock pendant at the sternum (look 32).

9. Stella McCartney

Stella McCartney opened with Helen Mirren rising in a sharp Stella suit, square-toed pumps, and red lipstick, as the spoken words of “Come Together” by The Beatles rang throughout the space. Opposites came together: masculine with feminine, ethics with desire, structure with slip, romance with rebellion. Hence, PureTech denim that cleans air and plant-based “Fevvers” in place of plumes. Look 39 nailed the brief with open-work black tailoring with slouch trousers and an office-scale tote.

10. Lanvin

Peter Copping’s Lanvin bathed in Jeanne Lanvin’s many blues, featuring a gallery-like set to frame an artsy, eccentric mix. He spliced 1940s poise with 1980s attitude with slinky wrap dresses, cinched waists, and sculpted shoulders. Art Deco geometry ran through arching seams and tiered drape, while embroideries were lush and exacting with jet beading fanned into sunbursts, bullion threads edged scallops, and domed glass stones set into necklaces.

11. Tom Ford

A cinematic runway experience that’s “all about a midnight swim” unfolded in Haider Ackermann’s sophomore dual-gender collection at Tom Ford. In the opening triptych, three figures emerged from darkness onto the glossy midnight-blue runway, sporting burgundy, black, and acid green micro-laser-cut patent sheaths with high funnel collars, mirror shades, and whisper-thing belts. From there, Ackermann dialed up seduction with a wet-look tailoring in shock blue, neon green, and citric orange. Snakeskin-gloss bags, luring lace, vampy heels, and draped jersey and silk that were one tug away from disaster followed.

12. Maison Margiela

Glenn Martens’s first ready-to-wear women’s collection for Maison Margiela was self-assured, cerebral, and unexpectedly tender. Models grinned through jarring mouthpieces, a clever nod to the house’s four-stitch signature, while a children’s choir hummed slightly off key. The clothes spoke in layers of tied silhouettes recalling Spring 1991, lapel-less leather jackets, gauzy knits, duct-taped slips, and collages of florals.