Haute Couture news and archive

Haute couture: Moment of truth for Matthieu Blazy at Chanel

Will Matthieu Blazy build on his success at Chanel? Following a highly praised womenswear collection in October, Paris eagerly awaits the designer's first haute couture show on Tuesday. This unprecedented undertaking will be closely scrutinised. The show, held as usual at the Grand Palais in the morning, is the highlight of this haute couture...

Fashion

Giambattista Valli cancels couture show, raising questions over Pinault’s Artémis strategy

As Paris Haute Couture Week opens this Monday, January 26, 2026, the couture house Giambattista Valli has cancelled its show, scheduled for the first day, at the last minute. In a statement, the house of Giambattista Valli announced it will not present a haute couture show: “This decision is part of a thorough review of the organisation and...

Fashion

Haute couture, a French exception under high protection

Paris - Haute couture returns to Paris on Monday for four days of shows. This highly codified and exclusively Parisian event brings together a handful of houses that meet specific criteria. Often used to describe luxury fashion, the term “haute couture” is actually a legally protected designation, not to be confused with ready-to-wear. Here are...

Featured

Retail|In Pictures

Inside couturier Rahul Mishra's museum-like flagship store in Mumbai

Couturier Rahul Mishra, who shows on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar, has announced a unique opening. This is his largest and most ambitious flagship in Mumbai, India, envisioned as a "living museum of couture". Committed to traditional Indian craftsmanship, Mishra has integrated his manufacturing process within several Indian...

Featured

Fashion |Interview

When fashion meets protein fibres: “Biotechnology can be a powerful force for good”

Spiber a is bio-venture from Japan that has been harnessing the power of fermentation to produce fibres. How does one have to picture this? It started with bioinformatics researchers Kazuhide Sekiyama and Junichi Sugahara investigating methods for producing spider web fibres through fermentation in 2004. Three years later, they used their...

Featured

Fashion |In Pictures

Haute Couture AW25: Which shows will influence the fashion of seasons to come?

Among the highlights of Paris Haute Couture Week in July 2025, after Demna's final show for Balenciaga, the autumn/winter 2025/2026 Couture collections paved the way for fashion that is both artisanal and technological. Upcycling was joyfully celebrated by Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela and Germanier. Respect for nature was at the heart of...

Fashion

Rami Al Ali becomes first Syrian in Paris fashion programme

Syrian couturier Rami Al Ali made history Thursday as the first fashion designer from his country to feature in the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar in a new landmark for Arab representation in the luxury business. After years of showing his tailored evening dresses on the sidelines of Couture Week, he was invited this year by France's...

Fashion |In Pictures

In Pictures: Glenn Martens' debut at Maison Margiela unveiled

Belgian fashion designer Glenn Martens made his debut as creative director of Maison Margiela in Paris on July 9. The Paris-based fashion house presented the Artisanal Collection 2025, filled with imagery from 16th and 17th century Flanders and the Netherlands. This was stated in Maison Margiela's press release. The most striking looks featured...

Fashion

Viktor & Rolf's "inflated" proposal in Paris

The Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf once again employed irony with a show that displayed 15 pairs of black dresses. The dresses were replete with pleats and layers of fabric (tulle, crinoline and others), in a style reminiscent of the austere gowns of the 19th century. Each pair of garments was exactly the same. However, one of the two was inflated with...

Fashion

Syrian designer Rami Al Ali to make history at Paris Couture Week

As well as being optimistic about the future of his war-ravaged country, Rami Al Ali has other reasons to be upbeat: he is about to become the first Syrian fashion designer to show his work at Paris Haute Couture Week. The invitation to appear on the world's most prestigious fashion stage is a huge endorsement for the 53-year-old from the...

Featured

Fashion

Balenciaga bids farewell to Demna with a couture collection rooted in craft, not controversy

Demna’s final bow at Balenciaga arrived not with spectacle but with subtlety, a word rarely associated with the designer who has redefined the house over nearly a decade. The maison's 54th haute couture collection, shown Wednesday in Paris, was both a personal farewell and a statement of return: to construction, to silhouette, and to the...

Fashion

Robert Wun unveils theatrical silhouettes at Haute Couture Week

Paris - Hong Kong designer Robert Wun presented his new collection with cinematic accents in Paris on Wednesday, the third day of Haute Couture Week. Entitled "Becoming", this AW25 collection is "a nostalgic exploration of the ritual of dressing and the profound role fashion plays in life's most important moments," the designer explained in a...