Haute Couture Week in Paris for Fall/Winter 2025–26 wrapped up on Thursday, with four thrilling days of fabulous runway, emotional farewells, fabulous debuts, and cutting-edge innovation. Gowns in this season’s show averaged about €100,000 each. The season consisted of celebrations of high fashion artistry while hinting at the direction of future fashion.
A brief overview
A Blend of New Start and Farewell
The latest Haute Couture Week in Paris carried a sense of contrasting events: new creative ideas and emotional goodbyes. Celebrities flew into the City of Light for red-carpet looks, and storied fashion houses presented shows that balanced tradition with bold experimentation.
The most notable new collection was from Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela. Martens is known for his avant-garde aesthetic at Diesel and brought a reinterpretation of Margiela’s rawness and luxuriousness, depicting it as sculptural eveningwear, in a moody subterranean setting.
What set this collection apart was the sustainability story. Martens and his team sourced second-hand garments for as low as €5 each from Paris thrift stores, deconstructing them and reconstituting the garments, and proving that luxury can be made without plenty. “We’re not making €75,000 hand-embroidered gowns here, “he told Vogue”, but a new kind of opulence that fits within the Margiela name.”
The same day, Balenciaga said farewell to Demna with an intimate show in the apartment of the company founder. The past decade has been shaped by Demna’s provocative, modern language at Balenciaga, allowing the house to be catapulted to the top of the fashion world.
Kim Kardashian and Isabelle Huppert took to the catwalk in looks that nodded to Cristóbal Balenciaga’s codes yet were firmly stamped with Demna’s identity. At the end of his tenure, Demna stated he was keen on making a couture mix that didn’t honor palaces but real life.
The Changing of the Guard in Luxury Fashion
Fashion watchers will be counting down the days to a ready-to-wear showdown between Matthew Blazy at Chanel and Jonathan Anderson at Dior come September. Notably, Dior skipped out on this couture season completely, a first in its 78-year history. The two houses will showcase their couture collections in January 2026, setting the stage for a new era of creative competition.
As Chanel concluded the season, it showcased its last collection designed in the studio with a new team, attempting to present a new interpretation to the house’s inimitable heritage. Critics pointed to the new approach being dull with little to inspire.
Stay ahead of fashion’s evolution. Explore our curated clothing collections to find standout styles that blend innovation, sustainability, and classic elegance.
Other Notable Absences On the Runway
After a 20-year string of being present at the Armani Privé show, Giorgio Armani, who will turn 91 this year, did not make it to the runway, citing health reasons. Though he had been released from the hospital recently, Armani monitored from the comfort of his home in Milan.
Haute Couture Technology and Sustainability
Haute Couture Week is so much more than the beautiful gowns. There is grounded relevance to Haute Couture Week in the technology. The designers and the brands are exploring the cutting edge of textile science and eco-friendly luxury, and innovative ways to define what that shoud look like.
Dutch designer Iris van Herpen introduced a collection named Sympoiesis, made with lab-grown proteins and biodegradable supply in symbiosis with existing materials. The showstopper, “the Living Dress,” came with 125 million bioluminescent algae that glowed as it moved. “It’s like raising a living creature,” van Herpen said in a post-show interview. “It also requires care, attention and nurturing.”
Runway Highlights and Looking Ahead – Paris Haute Couture Week
From recycled haute couture at Margiela to biotechnology at van Herpen, Haute Couture Week established that innovation and craftsmanship coexist in its strongest form. The era of pretty dresses alone is over; brands show they are exploring new materials, sustainability and making design with a story.
