Paris Haute Couture Week Fall/Winter  2026–2027: Where Craft Meets Imagination

ENG

Everything starts in Paris. Haute Couture Week laid the foundations of the modern fashion system long before ready-to-wear and today’s global fashion calendar. More than a series of runway shows, it remains fashion’s most prestigious stage, where craftsmanship, creativity and innovation come together in their purest form.

For Fall/Winter 2026–2027, couture moved beyond conventional ideas of elegance towards a more imaginative and expressive vision. Designers experimented with volume, movement, sculptural forms and unexpected materials, transforming garments into expressions of creativity as much as craftsmanship.

At a time when artificial intelligence and digital innovation are reshaping the creative industries, haute couture carries an even more particular significance. Behind every creation remain les petites mains — the master artisans whose exceptional techniques, patience and dedication can require hundreds of hours for a single piece. Their knowledge, passed from one generation to another, remains one of the elements that makes couture unlike anything else in fashion.

Schiaparelli

Paris Haute Couture Week opened with Schiaparelli, where Daniel Roseberry once again explored his unmistakable surrealist language, moving freely between fashion, art and imagination.

This season, much of the impact came from the contrast between light and material. Illuminated silhouettes and luminous details met sculptural creations made from industrial materials such as silicone and latex. Moulded into organic, almost otherworldly forms, they seemed to transform the body itself rather than simply dress it.

These were not merely garments decorated with surrealist motifs. Roseberry approached couture almost as a form of speculative anatomy, imagining new possibilities for the human form and demonstrating once again Schiaparelli’s ability to find the extraordinary in the unexpected.

Chanel

For his second Haute Couture show since taking the helm at Chanel, Matthieu Blazy continued to develop the dreamlike universe that has begun to define his approach to the maison’s couture.

This time, inspiration came from Les Fées, Contes des Contes by Charles Perrault, a book of fairy tales once owned by Gabrielle Chanel. Goldilocks, Puss in Boots and The Ugly Duckling found their way into the collection through imaginative details, embroidery, whimsical buttons and accessories.

Even the shoes became part of the story, with fantastical characters concealed within their sculptural heels, which remain among Blazy’s most distinctive accessories. Yet the result never felt childish. Instead, Blazy translated the irrational freedom of fairy tales into an elegant wardrobe for grown women, bringing fantasy and craftsmanship together within a contemporary Chanel vocabulary.

Balenciaga

One of the defining moments of the season was Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Haute Couture debut at Balenciaga. From the outset, the designer placed the human element at the centre of his vision, drawing attention to the time, knowledge, dedication and passion of the artisans behind the collection.

Piccioli approached the legacy of Cristóbal Balenciaga with respect rather than nostalgia. The house’s historic relationship with volume, structure and architectural silhouettes remained clearly visible, but was filtered through Piccioli’s own sensibility, introducing intense colour and a more emotional energy.

Accompanied by Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, the show found its strength in the meeting of two creative identities: Balenciaga’s discipline and Piccioli’s expressive instinct. Rather than attempting to recreate the past, his first couture collection suggested a way of carrying an extraordinary heritage forward through a contemporary and deeply personal perspective.

Elie Saab

With Ball of Untamed Dreams, Elie Saab brought his signature glamour into a mysterious and imaginative world where reality and fantasy seemed to constantly overlap.

As always, one of Saab’s greatest strengths was his understanding of the female silhouette. Precise construction, intricate embroidery, delicate lace, featherwork and luminous fabrics followed and enhanced the natural lines of the body. Fluid gowns alternated with more sculptural silhouettes, showcasing the exceptional craftsmanship that continues to define the maison’s approach to couture.

One of the first details to capture the eye throughout the show was the recurring use of sculptural masks, immediately reinforcing the atmosphere of an enigmatic masked ball. Some gently framed the face, while others partially concealed it in increasingly elaborate forms. One particularly memorable look was crowned by an extraordinary feathered headpiece shaped like a majestic black swan, creating one of the runway’s most striking images.

The result balanced the femininity and glamour associated with Elie Saab with a more theatrical dimension, allowing the clothes, masks and extraordinary workmanship to become part of the same dreamlike narrative.

Stéphane Rolland

For Fall/Winter 2026–2027, Stéphane Rolland paid tribute to Dalida, exploring the strength, vulnerability and capacity for reinvention that defined the iconic French singer. Her legendary return to the stage at the Olympia became a starting point for a collection centred on the emotional relationship between a woman and the clothes she wears.

Presented almost entirely in white, the collection allowed form and construction to take precedence over colour. Rolland’s characteristic purity was expressed through precise, architectural silhouettes in which volume framed the woman rather than overwhelming her.

Gazar played an important role in this exploration of structure, connecting the collection to the architectural vocabulary that has long informed Rolland’s approach to couture. Crystals, amethysts and quartz introduced carefully controlled reflections of light, adding movement and radiance to the purity of the silhouettes.

Ultimately, the collection returned to one of the principles at the heart of Rolland’s work: however extraordinary the garment may be, couture should reveal the woman rather than overshadow her. The woman must always come before the dress.

Eva Minge x Esotiq

A particularly significant moment for Polish fashion came with Eva Minge’s return to the Paris runway after eight years. Created in collaboration with Esotiq and presented during Paris Haute Couture Week outside the official calendar, Seven Contemporary Sins brought together fashion, performance and choreography in a highly personal exploration of contemporary femininity.

Our team was also present at the presentation, witnessing a project that brought a distinctive Polish presence to Paris during couture week. Rather than approaching lingerie solely through the language of intimacy, Minge transformed it into an expressive part of the silhouette, combining sensuality with the structure and craftsmanship associated with couture.

Fine silk, French lace, embroidery and handcrafted details shaped predominantly monochromatic looks in which the female body remained central. Developed together with Esotiq, the collection explored the space between lingerie and fashion, allowing pieces traditionally hidden beneath clothing to become part of a confident and visible statement.

Through Seven Contemporary Sins, Minge explored femininity, freedom and self-expression while marking an important return to Paris. For a Polish designer with a long-standing international career, the presentation was also a reminder of the place Polish creativity can occupy within the wider international conversation surrounding couture.

Couture, Still Human

Across very different collections, Fall/Winter 2026–2027 revealed a shared desire to take couture beyond the idea of the beautiful object. Schiaparelli questioned the human form; Chanel rediscovered the freedom of fantasy; Balenciaga brought heritage into dialogue with a new creative identity; Elie Saab transformed glamour into an enigmatic dream; Stéphane Rolland explored the relationship between dress and woman; and Eva Minge used fashion, lingerie and performance as a language of contemporary femininity.

Yet behind these very different visions lies the same fundamental element: human skill. Technology may continue to change the way fashion is imagined, created and communicated, but haute couture still begins with hands, knowledge, time and imagination. Perhaps that is precisely why, in a world changing faster than ever, couture continues to matter.

Aldy Gdowska Przylipiak de Cappadocia