Paris Fashion Week AW26 (Part 1)

HERMÈS

by Eve Bailey

If there’s one house you can rely on to deliver season after season, it’s Hermès. Quality, craft and a crystal-clear identity are baked into everything the brand does, which explains why its famously loyal VIC (very important clients!) will quite happily buy almost anything that leaves the runway.

For AW26, Nadège Vanhée stayed firmly within that universe. Tailoring was razor-sharp, leather (naturally) took centre stage, and silhouettes carried the kind of precision that only really comes from years of refining a house language.

Riding references threaded through the collection, from jodhpur-style trousers to structured jackets and riding boots. But nothing felt costume-like. Instead, the codes were distilled into sleek, wearable pieces that balanced the level of quality with ease. Texture did much of the talking. Glossy leather caught the light against softer wool and knitwear, while zips, slashes and subtle cut-outs added flashes of skin and movement to otherwise controlled silhouettes.

Hermès isn’t a brand chasing spectacle. Its power lies elsewhere, in clothes that feel impeccably made, deeply considered and instantly recognisable to those who know. And judging by the devotion of its clientele, that formula isn’t changing anytime soon.

GIVENCHY

By Eve Bailey

For her third outing at Givenchy, Sarah Burton continues to build the house around the fundamentals she knows best: cut, silhouette and the power of clothes that feel considered rather than overstated. AW26 moved between strict tailoring and softer, more fluid draping, revealing Burton’s clear sense of intention in how the collection was constructed.

Burton’s eye for process and craft subtly revealed itself throughout the collection. One standout look began life as a kimono sample discovered in the studio, its print reworked and then expanded into patterns that appeared across other pieces. Some garments shown this season had originally been draped during Burton’s very first Givenchy collection but didn’t quite find their moment until now. There’s something refreshing in that patience, a reminder that good design sometimes means knowing when to hold onto an idea until the time feels right.

Elsewhere, one of the most memorable details came from the hats by Stephen Jones. Inspired, rather brilliantly, by the simple act of someone backstage wrapping their hair in a T-shirt, the result was elevated into something entirely chic. Twisted headwraps sat atop the models with effortless confidence,  proof that sometimes the best ideas begin with the most ordinary gestures.

It’s this thoughtful approach that continues to shape Burton’s Givenchy: elegant, considered, and grounded in the quiet confidence of craft.

DIOR

By Eve Bailey

Paris really showed off for Dior this season. Under the suspiciously perfect blue skies of the Jardin des Tuileries, guests arrived with their sculptural invitations referencing the park’s iconic green metal chairs, those slightly squeaky fixtures scattered across the gravel paths. Jonathan Anderson had turned them into miniature collectible objects, a small but telling gesture. He has a knack for spotting something utterly ordinary and nudging it into something suddenly desirable.

That instinct ran neatly through the collection. The clothes carried a certain delicacy as they moved through the garden setting, their surfaces rich with intricate detail. Anderson leaned into highly crafted construction, sumptuous flounces bursting from hems and peeking beneath shrunken Bar jackets, built from layers upon layers of chiffon. It’s part of his strategy at Dior: pushing the house’s craftsmanship forward while folding it into pieces that still belong in everyday life.

Seeing the collection again at the re-see the following day reinforced that idea. Up close, the craft was even more impressive, yet the pieces never felt overly precious, garments clearly designed to be worn and lived in rather than kept for special occasions.

Anderson’s sense of humour surfaced in the details. Charms, fast becoming something of a signature for his Dior, appeared throughout: measuring tape snails curled around bags, fabric scissors and tiny bees nodded to the tools of the atelier. The accessories, in particular, drew smiles, including one bag shaped like a peanut.

It’s this mix of craft, wit and quiet desirability that makes Anderson’s Dior feel so engaging, clothes designed not just for spectacle, but for the everyday moments where fashion really lives.

LOEWE

by Eve Bailey

For their second outing at LOEWE, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez leaned fully into the idea of play. Not play as chaos, but as process, the kind that comes from obsessive making, testing and reworking until something unexpected clicks into place.

If their first season felt sun-drenched and optimistic, this one expanded that language into something slightly stranger, more layered. The clothes carried that familiar Loewe physicality, sculptural silhouettes, tactile surfaces, craft pushed just far enough to feel surprising, but there was a lighter, more mischievous energy running through it.

That mood was reinforced by the presence of artist Cosima von Bonin, whose sculptures populated the show space. Known for cloaking sharp critique in humour, her work created a fitting backdrop: playful on the surface, quietly probing underneath. It mirrored the collection’s own balance between wit and rigour.

McCollough and Hernandez seem particularly interested in what happens when experimentation is taken seriously. Their approach treats fashion almost like a studio practice, ideas tested, materials pushed, techniques stretched. Craft remains central, but never static. Instead, it becomes the playground.

And perhaps that’s the most compelling shift in their Loewe so far. Rather than presenting fashion as a finished statement, the collection felt like part of an ongoing conversation, an open field for curiosity, humour and invention.

After all, the best kind of play isn’t about winning. It’s about keeping the game going.

RABANNE

By Amelia McGarvey

It’s written into Rabanne’s DNA to be one of the most dazzling, celebratory shows of any given season, and Julien Dossena, twelve years’ strong into his role as creative director, is showing no signs of dulling down. From the lax hands-in-pockets tailoring to the pops of purple fur on coat collars, each look feels intentional but not contrived. The collection, aptly named “a little louche”, dresses a woman who is precisely that: stylish but not exactly so, she stomps down the runway in clothes which seem truly her own. 

These pieces do not sacrifice maximalism for wearability. Flamboyant fairisle jumpers give way to seductive embellished slips. T-bar shoes and pastel tights are bookish and polite, but a shearling and leather bomber upends any prissiness and implores authority. Everything from the colour palettes to the hairstyling screams 70s-does-40s, but shies away from ever being nostalgic or reactionary. The cool pastels and dropped waistlines serve as a reminder of the cyclicality of fashion: what were once stalwarts in the disco era re-emerge as chic and fashion forward in our own.