Paris haute couture calendar roared back to life in early July 2025. Designers went for the jugular of the internet’s attention span: Schiaparelli opened with a Dalí-inspired red gown complete with a throbbing mechanical heart, and Iris van Herpen returned with a gown glowing from living bioluminescent algae. Even Chanel’s understated salon show carried quiet theatrics – the studio played vintage Coco motifs (quilted sofas and wheat-ears) against a serene tweed-and-boot palette. Each house delivered its standout moments and viral-ready looks, from Demna’s tongue-in-cheek Balenciaga finale to Glenn Martens’s reinvented Margiela codes. Below, we recap each couture collection in turn.
Schiaparelli
Daniel Roseberry’s Schiaparelli collection was a study in mid-20th-century fantasy, updated with tech tricks. He kicked off with New Look-inspired tweed suits and embroidered dresses – including bullfighter-style bolero jackets and skirts trimmed with velvet and fur – but the real showstopper was a scarlet evening gown worn inside-out. Its key feature: a three-dimensional beaded “heart” at the nape, modelled after Elsa Schiaparelli’s original Dalí brooch. Thanks to hidden mechanics, the heart pulsed on the runway. (Roseberry even posted the red-heart dress on Instagram, where it drew millions of views overnight.) The effect was equal parts surreal and visceral, underscoring couture’s crafty artistry.
Paris’s haute couture
Iris van Herpen
Iris van Herpen’s return to couture brought science fiction to Paris. Titled Sympoiesis, her collection envisioned fashion as a living system. The centrepiece was a “living dress” pulsing with 250 million bioluminescent algae: under a darkened tent, the gown glowed electric blue as the microbes thrived in its structure. It lit up the runway, quickly becoming the most talked-about look of the week (the designer even made headlines in Nature magazine). Elsewhere, Van Herpen played with ultra-light woven textiles (a metallic fabric hung on a model like drifting smoke), hinting at future bio-fabrics. The overall effect was otherworldly yet rooted in craftsmanship: couture as both organism and artefact.
Georges Hobeika
Lebanese house Georges Hobeika presented a quietly elegant “New Order” collection. It began with sharply sculpted corsets over frilled bloomers and architectural tops that exaggerated the waist and hips. These gave way to gossamer chiffon gowns scattered with glass beads and paillettes. The colour story cycled from bone white and nude through mocha to intense red and black. Look details ranged from Gatsby-era flapper dresses and pleated skirts to off-the-shoulder draped gowns with delicate petal appliqués. Notable pieces included a gold satin column dress with bejewelled origami-like pleats. The finale was a bridal gown encrusted in silvery beads so densely it seemed the wearer’s hips were clad in hammered metal, a fitting climax to a collection defined by meticulous handwork and timeless glamour.
Chanel
Chanel’s last in-house haute couture under the studio team was a study in quiet refinement. The Grand Palais Salon d’Honneur was transformed into a lived-in salon à la Gabrielle Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment. The neutral palette (ivory, beige, khaki) was peaceful and purposeful, each look grounded by thigh-high leather boots. Tweeds appeared with a twist: fringing on the hem gave a bohemian edge, and short tweed jackets were paired with belted mini-skirts or buttoned overskirts. The house’s signature wheat-ear motif (a nod to Coco’s decor) reappeared everywhere – on brass buttons, on feathers woven into a chiffon dress, and even as golden ears placed on guests’ seats and in the bride’s bouquet. The eveningwear was also demurely modern: a coral wool wrap or a white lace blouse under a shredded-sequin skirt. The finale was a bridal gown of simple mermaid cut – a sequin-covered ivory dress with subtle padded shoulders and a cascade of frothy tulle petals – a demure swan song before Matthieu Blazy’s arrival.
Giorgio Armani Privé
Giorgio Armani Privé’s “Noir Séduisant” collection played up classic film noir. The house stuck almost entirely to shades of black and grey, evoking 1930s glamour and the archetype of the femme fatale. The show opened with a procession of sumptuous evening gowns – some in glossy lamé, others in matte knits – all in a grayscale palette. Mid-show, Armani began mixing in menswear details: a tuxedo-inspired bodice on a silk dress, or a strapless gown trimmed with jacket lapels and a floating bow tie at the neck. Tailored black suits followed, often worn over bare skin or paired with crisp white shirts and slim trousers: dramatic bows, sheer plastrons, and bracelet-like cuffs punctuated evening pieces. In true Armani fashion, textures varied widely: jet-black velvet, deep satin, lacquered silks, and even sparkling pavé crystals. Military-style jackets met velvet pants, and accessories like leather berets and opera gloves injected a masculine, playfully subversive touch. By the end, models processed solo on stage in a gesture honouring the designer’s legacy – a disciplined yet seductive finale befitting a master of understated elegance.
Balenciaga (Demna’s Final Show)
Paris buzzed for Demna Gvasalia’s last Balenciaga couture show. Held in Cristóbal Balenciaga’s 1960s Paris atelier, the star-studded front row (Kim Kardashian in a mink coat, Nicole Kidman chatting with Kyle MacLachlan, even Lauren Sanchez representing Jeff Bezos) hinted at the spectacle to come. Demna’s theme was “La Bourgeoisie”, and he dressed it with playful irony. Early looks included a sugar-pink debutante dress cut from the world’s lightest organza and a sequined brown-and-white skirt suit patterned after Demna’s grandmother’s kitchen tablecloth. Breathable corset dresses (wearable without boning) exemplified his egalitarian approach. In a subversive highlight, he cast bodybuilders in traditional three-piece suits – nine Neapolitan cuts with the shoulders removed – to upend couture norms. The collection also nodded to Demna’s legacy of hybrid sportswear: a seamless oversized puffer coat and an embellished high-heel sneaker appeared down the runway. Demna closed his chapter at Balenciaga with reverence: a flowing cream guipure lace ball gown harked back to Cristóbal’s 1950s archives. It was a show filled with visual in-jokes and high craftsmanship – a witty, theatrical bow as he exited for Milan.
Elie Saab
Elie Saab’s La Nouvelle Cour brought 19th-century court romanticism into modern couture. Presented in a classical marble setting, the collection featured velvet corsets, jewel-encrusted chokers, and pastel chiffon gowns embellished with floral appliqués and bows. Black and gold grounded the palette, adding depth to the otherwise delicate range.
One viral look, an hourglass velvet dress exploding into a brocade train, captured the show’s balance of restraint and grandeur. Saab also leaned into Art Deco structure with pearl-latticed embellishments and architectural silhouettes. The finale, a floral bridal gown framed on a grand staircase amid falling confetti, sealed the collection’s cinematic finish.
Paris’s haute couture
Viktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf explored duality in “Angry Birds” by presenting mirrored couture looks: one inflated with over 1,100 silk-gauze feathers, the other stripped back to its minimalist core and staged in silence at Salle Wagram, the show emphasised contrast, volume vs. restraint, through precise tailoring and maximalist construction. A standout was the viral pairing of a feathered black gown beside its duchesse satin twin, dubbed “before and after couture” online. It marked the designers’ first couture use of feathers and reaffirmed their mastery of concept-driven spectacle.
Paris’s haute couture
Zuhair Murad
Zuhair Murad plunged into Old Hollywood. His “A Sheer Desire” collection riffed on 1930s film divas and Egyptian goddesses. The runway opened with a fur-trimmed old-gold jacket paired with a satin gown with pronounced, sculpted shoulders and a heavily bejewelled waist, straight out of a period drama. Long bias skirts swirled under coat-dresses edged in beads, while draped chiffon goddess gowns glided by in a palette of peach, ivory, chocolate, slate and aubergine. Hair was waved into vintage Marcel rolls; operatic accessories included shimmering opera gloves embroidered in foliage and luxuriously long fur stoles (on one dress, the stole fed into the hem like a nod to Erté’s paintings). Murad’s craftsmanship was on full display, with each fabric and bead arranged for maximum drama. True to form, he closed with an unexpected bride: instead of white lace, a radiant golden miniature dress encrusted in pearls and sequins. Youthful and optimistic, it provided a playful, modern twist on couture’s traditional wedding finale.
Paris’s haute couture
Maison Margiela (Glenn Martens’s Debut)
Maison Margiela’s evening show marked Glenn Martens’s debut with maximalist flair. Martens was not afraid of spectacle: models emerged wearing fully encrusted face masks studded with crushed shards of jewellery and crystals. In one standout, a gown arrived, appearing to be a giant piece of crushed candy wrapper, its metallic foil-like fabric crumpled around the body. The collection’s theme of “decayed decadence” played out literally: garments were shrouded in plastic wraps, assembled from patchworked vintage leathers and tattered feathers, as if unearthed from an antique shop. Every look felt like an artefact reclaimed from the past, yet refined by couture technique. Martens nodded to Margiela’s heritage – enumerating references via the show notes for insiders – while proving he can push it forward. The result was a bonkers yet deliberate spectacle: a house iconoclastic as ever, reimagined in a postmodern age.
Paris’s haute couture
