Paris
CNN
—
After a week’s pause following the men’s fashion shows, celebrities, editors and influencers were back in Paris for Haute Couture — where bespoke collections are shown and eventually sold to the world’s wealthiest customers.
The official fall 2025 schedule felt lighter than usual, with absences from major labels like Valentino (the brand only stages a couture show once a year) and Dior (whose new creative director, Jonathan Anderson, was only appointed a month ago). Many houses are also awaiting official runway debuts from their new designers in September — among these include Chanel, Gucci, Balenciaga, Loewe, and Bottega Veneta. However, there were some bright spots.
Glenn Martens’ first outing as the creative director of Maison Margiela was a formidable debut. True to Margiela’s love for upcycling and reinvention, repurposed materials were given new life, including leather jackets distressed to a cracked, decaying finish. A bodycon dress was stitched from prints of moulding and wallpapers, with raw, fraying edges and paired with a papier-mâché–style mask. Several silhouettes were encased in rigid, transparent plastic shells, and veiled, sometimes with bejeweled faces.
Chanel presented its last collection designed by its in-house studio, which has been responsible for the French luxury house’s designs following the departure of its creative director Virginie Viard in June 2024 and ahead of her successor Mathieu Blazy’s arrival (he will present his first collection this fall).
Traditionally held under the glass nave of the Grand Palais, this season, guests were requested to enter through a side entrance into a quieter wing of the building. Here, the brand recreated founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s original couture salons, featuring plush cream carpeting, quilted seating, mirrored walls, and softly lit interiors. A golden wheat stalk and a name tag were placed on each seat — including one for Lorde, who was seated alongside Gracie Abrams, Naomi Campbell, and Caroline de Monaco.
The collection drew from Coco Chanel’s lifelong affair with British culture — especially the Scottish Highlands, where she first discovered tweed during her decade-long romance with Hugh Grosvenor, the second Duke of Westminster. Standout looks included a chartreuse tweed blouson paired with a baby-blue satin draped skirt; a black satin halter-neck gown cinched with a utility belt complete with flap pockets; and a double-breasted tweed coat layered over a tiered pleated skirt trimmed with lace.
“There was something incredibly graceful and airy… like a fairy tale… coupled with very structured shoulders,” Caroline de Maigret, a model and longtime muse of the brand, told CNN after the show. “It was a powerful yet graceful woman — and it was almost goth sometimes.”
Designer Demna (who only goes by his first name) staged his final collection for Balenciaga, ahead of his departure for Gucci. To mark the end of his ten-year tenure at the house, a plethora of famous faces turned up to show their support. That included Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, Alexis Stone (channeling Morticia Addams, complete with “Thing” on their shoulder), Patrick Schwarzenegger, Katy Perry, recently wedded Lauren Sánchez Bezos — even Demna’s successor, Pierpaolo Piccioli.
On the runway, Kim Kardashian appeared in a white silk gown inspired by the one worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 film “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” and paired with earrings once owned by Taylor herself. Also walking the show was French actress Isabelle Huppert, a longtime ambassador of the brand.
Inspired by the “dress codes of “La Bourgeoisie”, as Demna stated in the show notes, the collection featured polka-dot coat dresses with exaggerated satin lapels; a sculpted black leather gown with an hourglass silhouette; and a houndstooth ensemble referencing founder Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1967 design, which was worn by his muse Danielle Slavik. Waxed floral prints — a nod to Demna’s grandmother’s tablecloths as well as his early work at Vetements, the edgy label he co-founded — reappeared in the form of a belted, floor-length skirt-suit.
Italian fashion designer Giambattista Valli combined two milestones in one day: After being named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres at a medal ceremony held at his headquarters, he presented his latest couture collection featuring voluminous sorbet dresses with intricately embroidered flowers and “colors you want to smell and eat,” the designer told CNN during the presentation, which he opted for this season instead of a runway show. France’s Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, was in attendance.
Of the award, Valli said: “It’s an extraordinary recognition.” He added: “It’s beautiful to be honored by a country that is half my life — a country that gave me a volume to my voice, that taught me so much.”
