Paris Haute Couture Week is in full swing, and Chanel’s runway show was among the most anticipated events of the second day. Franco-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy unveiled his second haute couture collection for the legendary French fashion house, transforming the Grand Palais runway into an enchanting garden filled with oversized flowers, climbing vines and storybook-inspired scenery.

The Autumn/Winter 2026/27 collection continues the narrative Blazy began with his debut for Chanel. This season, he drew inspiration from fairy tales – most notably Jack and the Beanstalk – as well as from the rare volume Les Fées, Contes des Contes, once owned by Gabrielle Chanel. The book itself was carried by the model who opened the show.

«I found myself wondering whether Gabrielle Chanel’s life was, in many ways, a fairy tale of its own. In her library, I discovered a small book titled Les Fées, Contes des Contes, and together with the couture ateliers we explored the idea of garments that preserve stories in the same way books do», Matthieu Blazy said.

The show opened with a sheer tweed suit, offering a fresh interpretation of one of Chanel’s most enduring signatures. This season, Blazy reimagined the house’s iconic tweed in organza. The fabric became one of the collection’s defining materials, appearing in sheath dresses embellished with appliqués, crystal threads and intricate embroidery that resembled traditional tweed only from a distance.

At the heart of the collection was an imaginary garden where fairytale imagery merged seamlessly with Chanel’s iconic design codes. Flowers blossomed across jackets, dresses and skirts in the form of sculptural embroidery, elaborate beadwork, feathers, sequins and crystals. Coats evoked moss-covered forests, waistcoats resembled delicate spiderwebs, while sheer dresses intertwined with embroidered vines, appearing to dissolve into the runway set itself.

At the same time, Blazy remained faithful to the fashion house’s classic signatures. Familiar Chanel suits returned in a contemporary interpretation – sleeveless, paired with ultra-short skirts and jackets fastened at the back. The designer also presented several variations of the little black dress: one layered and richly trimmed with feathers, another designed to be worn as an elongated top.

The accessories were equally captivating. Alongside Chanel’s iconic two-tone shoes featuring decorative heels inspired by miniature fairytale scenes, the collection included handbags shaped like cats, a teddy bear and beans, as well as buttons crafted in the form of tiny chairs – another reference to the magical world Blazy created.

Following Chanel tradition, the collection also featured a bridal look. Blazy offered his own interpretation of the wedding dress, creating the illusion of a voluminous skirt paired with a white shirt worn backwards. He then surprised the audience by closing the show with a minimalist off-the-shoulder black dress – a subtle tribute to the fact that Gabrielle Chanel herself never married.

One of the show’s most unexpected elements was the participation of French artist Joël Blanc. Throughout the presentation, he painted a watercolour in real time, capturing the collection’s looks as they appeared on the runway.

Photo: chanel.com

As part of Paris Haute Couture Week, Indian designer Rahul Mishra unveiled his new haute couture collection, «Devi: The Eternal Muse», a tribute to India’s centuries-old history, art, and architectural heritage. Mishra himself describes it as his «most Indian» collection to date – a journey through time in which the past is reimagined through a contemporary lens.

The collection draws inspiration from the ancient temple complexes and sculptures of South India, including the Ajanta Caves, the Tarakeshwara Temple in the state of Karnataka, and a 12th-century stone sculpture of a dancer. Reinterpreting the visual language of these historic monuments, Mishra transformed his models into living sculptures, with silhouettes echoing the arches, columns, and bas-reliefs of ancient temples.

The collection features gowns in a restrained palette of black, grey, beige, and gold. Through intricate hand embroidery, the traditional zardozi technique, beads, crystals, and metallic embellishments, the designer masterfully recreated the textures of stone, granite, and weathered bronze. Particularly striking were the trompe-l’œil draperies, which created the illusion that the garments had been carved from a single block of stone.

The architectural character of the looks was further emphasized by sculptural structured silhouettes, bold shoulders and collars, as well as dramatic headpieces created in collaboration with British milliner Stephen Jones and ceramic artist Sumant Kumar. Their designs referenced traditional temple crowns and Hindu iconography.

Another highlight of the presentation was the debut of Rahul Mishra’s jewellery line, created in partnership with the Indian brand Tanishq. Featuring natural diamonds and geometric motifs, the jewellery was seamlessly integrated into the construction of the gowns, becoming an organic extension of the collection’s architectural concept.

It is worth noting that in 2020 Rahul Mishra became the first Indian designer to be officially invited to the Paris Haute Couture Week calendar. Since then, he has consistently presented his couture collections in the French capital, combining traditional Indian craftsmanship with the contemporary language of haute couture.

Photo: Vogue Runway

Paris has kicked off Haute Couture Week, which will run for four days – until the 29th. One of the first collections to be presented was by Dior’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson.

The show took place at the Rodin Museum – a space that perfectly underscored the philosophy of the collection. Its central theme was flowers. Floral motifs have been integral to Dior’s visual language from the start and are deeply connected to the founder’s family history. It is no coincidence that Christian Dior’s first collection in 1947 was named Corolle.

According to Anderson, a key focus in developing the couture line was exploring the moment where garment meets body – how the fabric «merges» with the silhouette, while the body, in turn, brings the form to life.

The show opened with voluminous tulle dresses named Magdalena, in honor of the ceramic artist and one of the designer’s closest friends, Magdalena Ordundo.

«I wanted the dress to be pleated and to evoke rotating clay at the moment when a shape is born from it», Anderson explained.

This idea formed the foundation for many other looks in the collection: the silhouettes echoed the smooth curves and soft plasticity of clay, as if frozen in motion.

The runway also featured a variety of clutches – velvet, plush, sequined – as well as a wealth of knitted pieces. This emphasis has become a recognizable signature of Anderson, who has not abandoned the iconic Bar jacket even within the realm of haute couture.

Guests attending Jonathan Anderson’s first couture collection for Dior included Jennifer Lawrence, billionaire Bernard Arnault, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos with his wife Lauren Sánchez, Rihanna, France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, Anya Taylor-Joy, Laetitia Casta, Déva Cassel, Carla Bruni, Parker Posey, Josh O’Connor, and many others.

Photo: Vogue Runway