Paris Fashion Week AW26 (Part 2)

SAINT LAURENT

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Le Smoking - Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic, and indeed iconoclastic at its 1966 debut, black tuxedo suit, the first to be designed specifically for women. And so, for AW26, Anthony Vaccarello returned to the source, positioning tailoring and power dressing firmly at the centre of the collection.

The opening sequence was a masterclass in suiting: fourteen single and double-breasted daytime suits with elongated trouser legs, exaggerated shoulders and subtly cinched waists, all worn with nothing underneath. The minimal styling only served to emphasise the striking architecture and power of the silhouette.

Contrasting the suits’ sharp lines, though echoing the same sculptural approach, were enormous fur coats with dropped waists that delivered a dose of old Hollywood glamour. The palette was quintessentially autumnal - umber, chocolate brown, burgundy, rust and flashes of bronze and gold. Ever entranced by the seductiveness of a semi-sheer garment, Vaccarello’s delicate counterpoint to the suit this time around was floral lace, crafted into bodysuits with plunging necklines and knee-length slip skirts that were paired together with heavy-duty statement jewellery and stilettos with an almost threatening degree of pointed toe. 

Unlike many of this season’s runways, Saint Laurent’s did not hold back on the beauty: slick side-parted hair, dark lips and strong smoky eyes gave an air of seduction and strength, announcing the Saint Laurent woman as one not to be messed with. Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent characteristically oscillates between masculine tailoring and lingerie-like delicacy, and here that contrast felt particularly assured and enticing.

MIU MIU 

Asserting its unwavering status as an It-girl label, Miu Miu rivalled Gucci this season in the level of celebrity on its runway. A-listers modelling the collection included Chloë Sevigny, Gillian Anderson, Diana Silvers and Kristen McMenamy, alongside a new generation of musicians. But celebrity wattage alone is not a metric of success.

Staged inside the grand Palais d’Iéna, the show unfolded within a forest-like set that amplified the idea at the core of the collection: the smallness of the human body against the vastness of the world. Miuccia Prada wanted to draw attention to the role of clothes in self-preservation; the collection therefore centred on expressing both agency and tenderness towards the body.

This balance of fragility and resilience appeared in the styling. Furry Russian ushankas offset the more delicate, feminine looks - namely babydoll dresses - and stated pragmatism. Belted A-line suits appeared pristine and stiff from afar, but up close their edges looked deliberately scuffed and water-damaged, hinting that a Miu Miu girl isn’t too precious. In a similar tone, the moss-covered floor through which too-long trousers trailed crept into the garments themselves: murky shearling trimmed the hems of leather trenches, pinafores and blazers.

Midway through the show, the rigid tailoring softened, giving way to creases and crumples. A series of wrinkled leather pieces - narrow trousers, longline coats, blazers and dresses - looked as though they might have been dug out of the attic of a vintage store. The same could be said of cocooning duvet coats lined with fur. The lived-in quality gave the impression of garments with a history but also presents the kind of dishevelled image that is frequently at the centre of fashion debate.

The final looks offered a striking mood shift. Flapper-style tulle dresses glittering with diamanté were a highlight of the show and a seeming ode to Chanel - a house that shares Prada’s principles around clothes designed to liberate rather than constrain women. Whether or not this collection achieves that is ultimately for the wearer to decide.

CECILE BAHNSEN

For AW26, Cecilie Bahnsen set aside the traditional runway format and instead invited her audience into the rehearsal. Here, practice wasn’t something that happens before the performance - it was the mastery itself.

Balletcore returned with conviction: blush-pink tones, leg warmers, and an easy sense of movement threaded throughout. Delicate lace met cropped puffers, navy polka-dot mini dresses, and metallic florals grounded by harness style vests. The language of rehearsal was everywhere - garments that felt ready to move, pause, and begin again, while quieter silk dresses offered moments to catch your breath. 

The collection read as an ode to the possibilities found in play and embracing the rehearsal.  Bahnsen wants to keep growing and moving alongside the women who wear her clothes and season proved she’s doing exactly that. The maturity of the transparent organzas balanced with the comfort of the wrapping knits, proves Bahnsen knows her women, and with her reinvention of the traditional runway, she is ready to strive ahead with them.

CHANEL 

If there were any doubts about Matthieu Blazy’s arrival at Chanel, they evaporated long before the AW26 show began. In the days leading up to it, his debut SS26 collection quietly landed in stores and promptly caused a kind of Chanel mania. Fashion editors suddenly found themselves adding emergency shopping trips to their Fashion Week schedules, desperately trying to get their hands on pieces before they disappeared. By the time the show rolled around, half the room seemed to be wearing the same cropped jacket and pumps.

The show itself leaned into transformation, a theme Gabrielle Chanel once described as the journey from the “caterpillar” of day to the “butterfly” of night. Blazy ran with it. Above the runway, glowing neon cranes hovered like constellations against a cosmic sky, while the floor shimmered beneath them like something vaguely galactic.

The casting added another layer to the story. Models moved through the space across a genuinely wide age range, a reminder that Chanel’s wardrobe has always been designed for women living real lives, not just a single runway archetype. It felt natural rather than performative, which, in today’s casting climate, is refreshing.

On the runway, the suit remained the anchor point. But Blazy treated it less like a fixed uniform and more like something capable of evolving. Ribbed knits, tweeds and sharply cut jackets grounded the early looks, before fabrics loosened and began to glow,  silk jerseys catching the light, silhouettes softening, eveningwear drifting into view.

ISSEY MIYAKE

In a world when fashion often feels caught in a cycle of endless production and overdesign, Issey Miyake’s AW26 show proposed something far more radical: restraint. Satoshi Kondo used the collection to ask a deceptively simple question, when should a designer create, and when is it better to leave things alone?

The show space itself hinted at that tension. A narrow path of fine silver sand cut across the floor, its stillness broken only as the first looks entered the room. Each opening piece was constructed from a single length of cloth, quietly demonstrating how much can be achieved with very little.

From there, the collection expanded into sculptural territory. Knitwear fused into bulbous volumes, sleeves merged together, and shapes swelled from the shoulders. These forms traced back to an unlikely reference: a stone Kondo noticed on a walk, its surface shaped slowly by time and weather.

The theme of restraint reached its peak with a striking full-length coat. When the model lifted its corners above her head, the garment revealed itself as a perfect rectangle, fabric left almost completely untouched. Bold blue and yellow versions followed, this time rendered paper-thin.

Elsewhere, experimentation continued. Corset bodices were created by tearing sheets of washi paper by hand and layering them with tomoro glue over 3D-printed moulds.

In the end, the collection felt like a meditation on knowing when to stop, a designer recognising that sometimes the most powerful gesture is simply letting the material speak.