Chanel No.5’s influence has been so profound, its name so classic, that even those who have no interest in beauty know exactly what it is. But No.5 is only a fraction of Chanel’s fragrance story, and in order to shine a spotlight on the rest of it, the house has just reintroduced 11 scents from its Les Exclusifs de Chanel collection, including No.5, in a new, luxuriously concentrated form – Les Extraits de Chanel. With the reinvention of the product range, its packaging, and in-store services, the house tells the story of Gabrielle Chanel’s impact on perfumery to a new audience.

Les Extraits de Chanel

Les Extraits de Chanel is a celebration of Gabrielle Chanel’s revolutionary approach to fragrance, with each scent in the collection offering insight into her equally unconventional life. Take, for instance, Coromandel, a fragrance inspired by Gabrielle’s passion for Chinese lacquered folding ‘Coromandel’ screens, which she scattered around her apartment to create a dark, labyrinthine environment. To evoke that same atmosphere, the Coromandel perfume blends patchouli with balsamic resins, deep red rose, and white chocolate notes to create a warm, seductive, and slightly gourmand scent that evolves drastically as it is worn.

On a lighter note, 1957 is a scent designed to commemorate Gabrielle’s trip to America to receive the Neiman Marcus Award for services in the field of fashion. An olfactory love story between France and America, it blends white musk (popular in 1990s American fragrances) with iris (historically used in Versailles to scent gloves and wigs).

Also notable is our personal favourite, Cuir de Russie, a fragrance crafted in the 1920s by the same perfumer as No.5. Inspired by Russian soldiers' boots and Gabrielle’s brief affair with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, it features a tar-like smokiness, leather, and a hint of mud for a scent that is refined but also slightly dirty.

All the fragrances within Les Extraits de Chanel are crafted with the highest-quality perfume extracts in the industry, and it is one of the last fragrance ranges existing today that has been crafted entirely by hand. It begins in Chanel’s own fields in Grasse, France, where each flower is harvested by hand for the best quality. They are then processed within an hour of picking, to retain the highest concentration of their scent, and it’s this proximity between flower and formula that makes Les Extraits de Chanel uniquely dense, with olfactory profiles that are impossible to find in any other perfume.

The packaging of the fragrances is designed to echo the luxury of the formulas inside. Each bottle is sealed using a 19th-century process known as baudruchage, which consists of applying a fine membrane of baudruche (a rubber-like substance) over the neck of the bottle, and securing it with two pieces of lacquered black cotton thread, ensuring the closure remains airtight and protecting the fragrance from oxidation. Each bottle comes with a set of scissors, specially designed to cut the strings that seal it.

The fragrances also come with a glass applicator tool that is dipped into the bottle and then used to blot the scent on the wrist, rather than the user applying it as a traditional spray. In all these ways, Les Extraits de Chanel is designed to carry on the tradition Gabrielle Chanel started: offering a unique take on perfumery, executed to the most exacting standards.

When Chanel launched Bleu de Chanel in 2010, it marked a major turning point for the brand and masculine fragrances more widely.

It was Chanel’s first male scent in over twenty years (its previous launch was Égoïste in 1990) and, in a market dominated by fresh, clean colognes (think Acqua di Parma’s Colonia or Issey Mikaye’s L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme), Bleu de Chanel proposed a new approach to the genre with a scent that was still fresh and clean, but enriched by the addition of wood and amber notes.

Jacob Elordi is the face of Bleu de Chanel

In short, its aim was to set a new paradigm for what defines ‘masculinity’ in a fragrance, and the trajectory of the market in the past 16 years since its launch has proven it's done just that.

Bleu de Chanel’s top notes of grapefruit and lemon maintain that aforementioned freshness, but its signature blend of New Caledonian sandalwood with amber, cedar, patchouli, and labdanum gives it the rich, warm quality that has become the norm in male scents since.

Last year, it took that legacy even further by launching Bleu de Chanel L’Exclusif, an even richer and denser interpretation of the original fragrance that turned up the dial on its amber and leathery notes.

In keeping with its aim to bottle ‘modern masculinity’ and ‘a spirit that favours individuality over convention,’ the brand has enlisted two well-known male actors, the late Gaspard Ulliel and Timothée Chalamet, each embodying their own unique take on what it means to be a leading man in Hollywood today.

For its latest campaign, Chanel has carried on the tradition by enlisting Australian actor Jacob Elordi to be the new face of Bleu de Chanel L’Exclusif. Written and directed by five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón, the short film adopts the tropes of action films to create a playful, fast-paced and acrobatics-fuelled approach to a fragrance campaign.

Watch the film above.

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‘I always knew one day I wanted to create a collection inspired by games, connecting Chanel and the watch world,’ says Arnaud Chastaingt, director of Chanel’s watch creation studio. ‘Chess is a traditional game, and there is a connection with the graphic world of Chanel – in the duality of the black and white, and also the fact that the objects are very essential. There’s no ornamentation. It’s like when you have a domino on the table, you quickly understand how to use it. There’s a minimalist simplification and functionality.’

The French house’s one-of-a-kind chess set draws on its high jewellery and watchmaking acumen, crafting a ceramic chessboard, in deep black and pearly white, that was two years in the making. It is populated with a cast of sculpted 18k white gold figures studded with diamonds, all familiar characters in Chanel’s universe. And how does it tell the time? In the base of the figure of the queen – represented, naturally, by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel – is concealed a clock. A loop on the top means that she can also be hung on a white gold chain set with diamonds and onyx, which is secreted away in the chessboard drawer. In a neatly playful twist, the winner can, quite literally, wear time.

‘This chessboard is a metaphor for Chanel time,’ Chastaingt adds. ‘I played chess when I was young, and I think it helped to develop my imagination. For me, chess is like a little theatre. You play and you understand the power of the different elements. It offers you the opportunity to reflect. There are different actors, and they all have a different power.’

We recognise the actors here – Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite motifs, which often pop up across watches and jewellery. The king is a lion, the knight is Chanel’s distinctive quilted motif, the bishop a couture bust and the rook the Vendôme column, which stands outside Chanel’s Paris boutique. Each piece epitomises a sharp goldsmithing ability, and is shaped using the traditional lost-wax casting technique from bespoke moulds before being sandblasted, polished, rhodium-plated and set with diamonds

‘It is interesting for me that the spirit of Gabrielle Chanel is a guardian of time here,’ says Chastaingt. ‘You play chess, discover a watch under the queen, and the winner can wear her. The story doesn’t finish at the end of the game. In all nice stories, you have a secret.'

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This article appears in the June 2026 Issue of Wallpaper*, available from 7 May in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

As seen in the June 2026 Travel Issue of Wallpaper* – a series of ‘horizon-expanding adventures and voyages of discovery’ – here’s how to stand out this summer with our pick of the season’s most eye-catching accessories, from the fantastical (Prada opera gloves; Givenchy feathered mules) to the functional (Mulberry denim sun hat; Celine oversized sunglasses). Each is primed to make a sartorial statement over the warmer months – a time for dressing with joy and abandon.

Prada opera gloves (above left)

A glove might not immediately call to mind the summer months, though the elongated opera glove was ubiquitous on the S/S 2026 runways, including this pink satin pair at Prada, where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons mixed up the working uniform with flourishes of eveningwear (often in a single look). ‘There is the license to combine different elements, to compose,’ said the latter post-show.

Loewe’s ‘Amazona 180’ bag (above right)

A reinterpretation of the archival Amazona bag has become the hallmark accessory of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s tenure at Loewe so far (they debuted for the S/S 2026 season). The ‘Amazona 180’ – referring to the 180th anniversary of the Spanish house this year – reimagines the boxy shape of the original with a slouchy new structure, designed to hang open when worn. Our favourite? This mini version in bold azure blue.

Celine sunglasses

Celine’s Michael Rider, who formerly worked at the house under Phoebe Philo before heading up Polo Ralph Lauren, marries his American roots – he was born in Washington D.C. and attended Brown University – with the house’s Parisian sensibility. Like these gleefully oversized sunglasses, which are a nod towards the bourgeois-inflected uniform of house founder Céline Vipiana in her 1970s heyday.

Givenchy’s ‘Boudoir’ mules

The summer months are primed for dressing with abandon – particularly this S/S 2026 season, where designers channelled a mood of colour, optimism and joy. These slip-on Givenchy ‘Boudoir Fringe’ mules – designed by creative director Sarah Burton – epitomise this liberated attitude, adorned with fronds of feathers.

Chanel’s resin necklace

Thanks to the stewardship of Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy, Chanel has fast become this year’s most sought-after brand – the arrival of his S/S 2026 collection in stores earlier this year sparked a much-documented shopping frenzy. This necklace, with an enormous resin charm recalling a black oyster shell, is a way to pledge your allegiance.

Fendi’s ‘Lui’ bag

Fendi has long been known for its colourful accessories which marry Made in Italy leathercraft with a sense of humour and play. Case in point: the Lui bag, a slouchy shoulder bag designed to slot neatly onto the body when worn cross-body. This version is finished with supersized leather topstitching.

Dior’s ‘Lady Dior by Sheila Hicks’ bag

At both his eponymous label, JW Anderson, and Loewe, where he was creative director for a decade, northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson has fostered a close relationship with the art world, often through collaboration. This continues with his new role as creative director of Dior, where his S/S 2026 collection featured this Lady Dior tasseled bag, a collaboration with American artist Sheila Hicks.

Limited-edition Hermès lipsticks

A trio of limited-edition Rouge Hermès lipsticks will add a flash of colour to your make-up bag, and not only in their rich pink and mauve shades. Because the real joy of these lipsticks is the Pierre Hardy-designed packaging, adorned with graphic motifs in eye-catching primary hues.

Bottega Veneta’s ‘Baby Veneta’ bag

Bottega Veneta’s intrecciato technique – which sees strands of leather woven together – is the house’s hallmark, eschewing the need for more overt logos and branding. The new ‘Baby Veneta’, a mini hobo bag, is crafted from padded intrecciato leather, here in vivid ‘Cardinal’ red.

Mulberry denim hat

A sun hat is a perennial summertime essential. This one, from British house Mulberry, combines function with flair: crafted from classic blue denim, it comes with a bright-yellow cord-fastening, like those you might find on hiking attire.

Louis Vuitton’s summer scents

This duo of Jacques Cavallier Belletrud-masterminded Louis Vuitton fragrances capture the scent of summer: the first, On The Beach, has citrus fruit yuzu at its centre, married with fresh neroli and woody cyprus (the idea was to capture the ‘ecstasy of sun and the warmth of sand’). The second, Sun Song, is a radiant mix of orange blossom, neroli and petitgrain, finished with a final touch of lemon.

Loro Piana’s ‘Just Bag’

Sometimes the summer months require simplicity: in the heat of the day, the last thing you want is complicated. Loro Piana’s effortless ‘Just’ bag is inspired by the simple proportions of a classic paper bag, though here rendered in the Italian house’s soft and lightweight ‘Silk Calf’ leather.

Fashion/set assistant: Alice Heluin-Afchain

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'You are invited to build something, maybe to demolish something. You are invited to build with others. You are invited also not to build and just stay looking at others working,' says Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelyte of her installation of 400,000 wood cubes at Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. The cubes, chunked from trees from her homeland, spread out and pile up in the 2,500 sq m space like a giant construction site awaiting human hands

While architect Friedrich Neuhaus conceived the space as a handsome train station in the mid-19th century, with ease of travel in mind, Lapelyte has transformed what is today a voluminous gallery into a place of interaction and experimentation.

Although the vision might initially suggest ‘kindergarten’, the artist touches on many aspects within her work – community, improvisation and creation among them. The installation is accompanied by live performances featuring locals singing poetic verses that Lapelyte, musically trained, has translated into moving scores. The exhibition’s title, ‘We Make Years Out of Hours’, borrowed from Jürgen Paape, a German electronic music producer and DJ, invites one to slow down and appreciate the impact of rumination and playful action.

'It is perhaps the small things that count – the one tiny cube that measures ten by ten – when we build together, turning a space into a landscape, into an environment, into a building. When we have a voice of one, it's one thing, but when we have a choir, it becomes another thing. For me, this work is very much about believing in small gestures, in small connections, in our relationships as well; in humanity,' says Lapelyte.

She held an open call for performers. 'There is a sailor, there is a theatre producer, there are some dancers, singers, actors, and some who had never performed. Then we all try to find a way to be within the piece and it's beautiful how we open up, accept the other, and that's what the work is about.’

The sculptural/polyphonic installation is the second Chanel Culture Fund commission at the museum, following 2025’s project with artist Klára Hosnedlová. The three-year programme supports female artists with big visions who create at scale.

‘In the industrial age, people would be running around to catch their trains. What we see here is very dedicated and distilled,' says Yana Peel, president of arts, culture & heritage at Chanel. She first came across Lapelyte’s work in 2014, but it was her operatic piece, Sun & Sea (Marina), for the Venice Biennale in 2019 (winning the Golden Lion) that cemented her reputation as a leading voice. For that piece, set on a faux indoor beach, performers in sunhats and swimsuits sang about the impact of climate change. That stealthy subversion of expectations and genres is a Lapelyte hallmark.

'Deep in my heart, I am a musician, but for me, music was never just about performing a score. For me, music is also about listening and how we listen to the world. Music is a metaphor,' she says. ‘We Make Years Out of Hours’ was gestating in her mind when the invitation for the commission arrived, and Hamburger Bahnhof provided the ideal immersive space with the vaults creating superb acoustics. 'The Chanel Culture Fund generously invites an artist to envision an artwork that probably would be hard without that kind of support and openness,' she adds.

As Peel says, it is great to see so many extraordinary female artists taking up significant space right now: Rose Wylie, Tracey Emin, and Klára Hosnedlová among them. 'Lina’s vision is a non-monument in a sense and really brave,' says Peel, who collaborates with Hamburger Bahnhof directors Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath on the commission.

The Chanel Culture Fund does not build museums or permanent collections, explains Peel, but strengthens existing institutions essential to their home cities. It currently has 42 projects across 15 countries. 'We invest not with the next quarter in mind, but the next generation,' she says of the distinct cultural patronage.

In November 2025, Chanel opened the Espace Gabrielle Chanel at Shanghai’s Power Station of Art, designed by Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto. It is the first public art library dedicated to contemporary art in Mainland China. Recently, the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland and the Chanel Culture Fund announced the appointment of a Chanel Botanical Curator, the first of its kind at a major arts institution.

As Lapelyte’s installation in Berlin suggests, big change, both societally and personally, starts brick by brick and in incremental steps – and ideally, with sonic interludes.

‘Lina Lapelyte. We Make Years Out of Hours’, until 10 January 2027, smb.museum

The J12 was the star of Chanel’s show at Watches & Wonders earlier this month, appearing in a range of guises, from dinky 28mm white or black ceramic through to a welcome reprise of the Superlegerra. The design, by Chanel’s artistic director at the time, Jacques Helleu, caused a sensation when it debuted in 2000 as a glamorous, feminine-leaning watch. Technically advanced, it was just as sporty as all but the more extreme offerings from the likes of Omega, Rolex and TAG Heuer.

Rather than being dismissed as just another ‘fashion watch’, the J12 was a game-changer within the industry, reminding makers that sports watches didn’t have to ooze testosterone. It laid the ground for the revival of the Gérald Genta sports-luxe designs from the Seventies, which followed. Out in the real world, it sold particularly well to the women who were not content with the mother-of-pearl dialled dress watch designs that were most brands’ idea of a ‘ladies' watch.'

A quarter of a century later, and Chanel has its own manufacture, a share in the movement maker Kenissi (where Tudor is its partner) and close ties with high-end movement suppliers such as Romain Gauthier – yet the real proof of the J12’s design quality is in how little it’s changed. Even when the director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio, Arnaud Chastaingt, did redesign the watch in 2019, primarily to accommodate a new movement, he ended up changing almost nothing – the crown was changed, the bezel is flatter and the dial typography is a little sharper – even though 70% of the components were new.

While the J12 easily accommodates changes in size and format – from the new 28mm to the 42mm Golden Black and Superleggera to the fully set treatment given to the Tourbillon model – the most attention at Watches & Wonders rightly went to the Midnight Blue 33mm and 38mm designs. A little less shiny than the white and black designs, the new colour seems to fit the J12 perfectly.

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The Cruise runway shows – which take place on the precipice of summer, running through late April, May and early June – are some of the most dramatic of the fashion calendar, with houses largely eschewing the typical style cities in favour of distant locales. And this season, which began with Chanel on 28 April, 2026 Biarritz, France, looks to be the most talked-about in some time, largely thanks to a coterie of designers who will be making their debut in the medium – namely, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Jonathan Anderson at Dior, and Demna at Gucci. Each will be using the opportunity to further hone their vision for their respective powerhouses – after all, the Cruise shows, which often encompass transporting runway sets, one-of-a-kind ephemera and curated experiences for guests, are as much marketing opportunities as they are about the clothes themselves.

Interestingly, the majority are unfolding in the United States, including Louis Vuitton and Gucci in New York, and Dior in Los Angeles. The reason for the shift is likely in part an attempt to make inroads into what is seen to be a market with still-undiscovered potential (‘this is a concerted industry effort to show love and bring education to American consumers,’ Luca Solca, a luxury analyst at Bernstein told WWD), while the importance of attendance by A-list celebrities – the majority of whom are based in the USA – might be another explanation.

Hermès will also present ‘Chapter 2’ of its A/W 2026 womenswear collection on 4 June 2026, in Los Angeles. Elsewhere, Max Mara will buck the trend by showing in Shanghai, China, on June 16, 2026.

Here, Wallpaper* picks the best of the Cruise 2027 runway shows, as they happen.

Louis Vuitton time travels at New York’s Frick Collection

‘A tale of two cities,’ is how Nicolas Ghesquière described his latest Cruise collection for Louis Vuitton, which unfolded amid the recently renovated galleries of the Frick Collection on New York’s Upper East Side (as such, it was the second New York Cruise show in the last seven days, with Gucci’s taking place in Times Square the weekend prior). Those two cities were Paris and New York, the latter inspiring a collection which sought to capture the American metropolis’ ‘beautiful contradictions, [its] perfect differences... multiple identities, divergent cultures... uptown and downtown, past and future.’

The collection’s guiding force was Keith Haring, whose works appeared on garments and elsewhere lent the collection a graphic, 1980s-inflected sensibility. This had begun with the discovery of a 1930 Louis Vuitton suitcase owned by the artist – daubed with his Sharpie-drawn motifs – which here walked the runway as part of the opening look (Haring had gifted it to a roommate; Louis Vuitton recently acquired it in auction). Other references were the Gilded Age (the Frick Collection building hails from the era), its frilled gowns abstracted into colourful ruffled tops and collars, while other garments reimagined archetypal American garments and the like– denim, jersey, workwear dungarees – through the filter of Louis Vuitton’s superlative Parisian savoir-faire, and Ghesquière’s own postmodern lens.

Gucci takes over Times Square, New York

Guests to Demna’s first Cruise show for Gucci (the Georgian designer held his runway debut for the Italian house in February) received a golden key in lieu of a traditional invite, a recreation of those needed by VIP clients to access the Gucci Galleria, an exclusive members-only space once hidden above the Gucci flagship on Fifth Avenue. It was a nod to New York’s importance to the house: it was here, in 1953, that Gucci opened its first store outside of Italy, and the label – which was reinvigorated in the 1990s by American designer Tom Ford – has been pretty much ubiquitous on the city’s streets since, from the Uptown denizens of Park Avenue to those wielding knock-offs from Canal Street.

With this first Cruise show, Demna sought to replicate this cross-section of New York life, conjuring a cast of the city’s archetypes – from backpack-wearing stockbrokers to lunching ladies wrapped in furs, alongside skaters, party girls and office workers – who strode through perhaps New York’s most famous intersection, Times Square. In a truly impressive feat, its various screens went momentarily black before flaring into life with a series of Gucci ads, both real and imagined, while a starry cast included Paris Hilton, Emily Ratajkowski and Tom Brady. Demna said that the collection was one of ‘pragmatic, wearable pieces that are unmistakably Gucci’ – which included some super-desirable accessories, from tech-y backpacks to severe, knife-point boots with Gucci’s horsebit motif on the ‘stirrup’ – though there was also a more dramatic flair, like the body-swaddling puffa ‘stoles’ or a croc-scale sequin gown, worn by model Anok Yai. In Demna’s words? ‘GucciCore – a plurality of styles that intersect like the streets of the city’.

Dior holds a Hollywood epic in Los Angeles

Jonathan Anderson chose Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), to stage his first Cruise show for Dior. Presented amid a show set scattered by vintage Cadillac cars – like those you might find in a 1950s drive-through cinema – the collection paid homage to the perennial allure of Hollywood, one which had also seduced the house’s namesake couturier (Christian Dior would outfit cinematic legends, from Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe to Elizabeth Taylor, both on and off the screen). It led to a collection which mined both California’s landscapes – the state’s poppy was a recurring motif – and the feeling of escapism that Hollywood has long captured, for inspiration.

‘Christian Dior understood how important the idea of “the dream” was for people after the war, as a form of escapism,’ said Anderson in the collection notes, which were presented in the form of a fantasy film script. ‘We started with this idea of dressing up, dressing up in daytime, dressing up in evening – we just wanted a collection that is a bit fun,’ he elaborated in a preview before the show. Cue plenty of sequins, hyper-real floral adornment and flashes of vivid red, as well as feathered headpieces by Philip Treacy, which read ‘Dior’ as well as slogans like ‘Buzz’ and ‘Star’ (they were based on a design originally created for Isabella Blow). The show also presented men’s and women’s collections simultaneously – a first for the house – with the former featuring a collaboration with American artist Ed Ruscha, whose typographic works adorned a series of shirts.

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s first Dior Cruise show was a Hollywood epic

Chanel returns to its roots in Biarritz

Matthieu Blazy chose the seaside town of Biarritz, on France’s windswept western coastline, to present his first Cruise collection for Chanel. The locale, synonymous with a nostalgic glamour – the building of the Hôtel du Palais in 1855 as Empress Eugenie’s summer palace established it as a summer gathering spot for the rich and famous – was where Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel established her eponymous house, and presented her first collection. Held in a mirrored salon on the Biarritz coastline, Blazy said he chose the town for its feeling of freedom and escape. ‘Far from the Paris salon, Chanel found in Biarritz different ways of being and seeing, of movement and freedom,’ he said. ‘She made them her fashion pedestal. It is a place that offers the perfect balance between function and fiction. Among artists, workers, nobility, sailors and the natural world, everyone and everything shared the same stage, living together as a norm. All had a role to play.’

Indeed, these are the principles Blazy has mined during his tenure so far, his approach rooted in a mood of eclecticism and play, riffing on archetypes of dress (this was particularly true of his Métiers d’art show in New York, which saw him conjure a series of characters you might encounter on a New York subway). Blazy said he was thinking about the way Coco Chanel liberated the woman’s body with jersey and swimwear; here, a number of looks featured 1920s-style swimming caps and suits, or garments inspired by their proportions (some even came with thigh-high wader boots). Elsewhere, he moved between modes of dress: the black dress was cut with voluminous proportions and a dropped waistline, while swishy printed skirts, underlaid with fronds of tassels, were matched with half-zip Breton-striped sweaters. Tweeds, meanwhile, were bold and colourful, moving towards a closing duo of looks adorned with gleaming, scale-like paillettes (Blazy said they were an ode to another seaside figure, the ‘fictional mermaid’). Completing the look were some viral accessories, from enormous body-sized beach bags to ‘heel caps’, a series of ‘shoes’ which left the foot completely bare save for a flat back heel tied to the ankle with a bow.

The throughline was a mood of summertime liberation, even if the weather outside remained a resolute grey. On the collection notes, Coco Chanel was given the last word: ‘There is no beauty without freedom of the body.’ With this collection, Blazy was channelling a sartorial freedom of his own.

Stay tuned for coverage of the Cruise 2027 runway shows.

Spring has arrived – and with it, that irresistible urge to get away (if it ever really left). It’s time to dust off your passport, start planning, and say yes to new adventures. Whether you’re booking a spontaneous weekend escape or mapping out something further afield, a little smart prep goes a long way.

From versatile luggage and bags perfect for quick getaways to must-have tech, beauty essentials, and clever hacks to outsmart travel’s usual health pitfalls, we’ve rounded up everything you need. The goal? To help you pack smarter, stay comfortable, look fresh, and – most importantly – keep things stress-free wherever you’re headed.

The Wallpaper* guide to spring travel essentials

The idea of cultural exchange lies at the heart of a new exhibition, ‘Beyond our Horizons: from Tokyo to Paris’, the sequel to a show that premiered last autumn at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo, attracting around 75,000 visitors over its three-week run. Presented at Chanel’s La Galerie du 19m, this is a tour de force of objects born out of collaborations between 40 French and Japanese artisans. It reveals creations from the encounter of savoir-faire across different cultures, united by a commitment to craft, curiosity and creativity.

The gallery is housed within a creative hub founded by Chanel in north-east Paris in 2021. Since 1985, the fashion house has acquired nearly 40 maisons d’art (the artisanal workshops that produce its buttons, embroidery, and more, some in operation for close to two centuries) to ensure their survival. Eleven of these are housed in Le 19m, where nearly 700 craftspeople can be found working on haute-couture projects and interior decorations, for both Chanel and a roster of other luxury houses. ‘[It is a way to] ensure that the maisons d’art innovate and perpetuate their crafts, and to usher them to work with as many clients as possible, in a way for their creativity to be challenged,’ Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel and Le 19m, told us last year in Tokyo. La Galerie du 19m is a space where the spoils of this creativity can be viewed by the public.

‘Beyond our Horizons’ at La Galerie du 19m, Paris

Just as Le 19m’s approach fosters dialogue across disciplines, ‘Beyond our Horizons’ enriches expressions beyond a single workshop. Its various sections are not divided by walls, but instead, the scenography, by Paris’ Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects, navigates visitors through the space as if weaving a thread.

Surprising encounters with craft remain unchanged from the Tokyo edition. Paper lanterns, traditionally hung outside restaurants and shops in Japan as signage, welcome visitors. Crafted by Kyoto’s Kojima Shoten, a business spanning ten generations since the Edo period (1603-1868), they bear the names of the resident workshops and take the shape of wooden hat models from Maison Michel, a hat and head accessory workshop founded in 1936. Elsewhere, screen partitions, crafted by the Kyoto-based Fujita Gasodo, established in 1935 and specialising in framing, feature floral embroidery by Atelier Montex and Lesage Intérieurs. Instead of fusuma sliding doors mounted with paper, Fujita Gasodo’s encounter with French artisans saw these use translucent organza adorned with beadwork, creating a boudoir-like space far from the image of a traditional Japanese house.

Shuji Nakagawa, an expert in creating wooden bath tubs and drink buckets by laminating wood splits into a circular form, has fashioned a series of containers for displaying artworks. Peeking out from Nakagawa’s approximately 4m-tall wooden structures are circular handles by button workshop Desrues, and metal objects shaped like bramble stems and leaves, a collaboration between Parisian architect Thomas Takada and jewellery workshop Goossens. This display evokes the scene of the birth of Princess Kaguya in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, an ancient piece of Japanese folklore dating back to the Heian period (794-1185).

Each work, while rooted in traditional materials and craftsmanship, brings a sense of wonder through these new contexts and exchanges. However, such cross-cultural exchanges did highlight some differences: ‘French artisans, if they see a blank space, will suggest adding a corsage there. We Japanese, on the other hand, want to pare down elements as much as possible and value negative space. It wasn’t a question of superiority or inferiority; the challenge was how to hit the balance,’ says Koh Kado, an artisan from Kamisoe, who creates decorative paper using woodblock prints, and collaborated with the corsage workshop Lemarié. Yet, it is precisely these differences that foster a willingness to understand others. Film director Momoko Ando – a member of the exhibition’s editorial committee – visited Le 19m many times, where she observed an ‘open-mindedness’ among the French craftspeople at work: ‘They don’t say we can’t do it. Instead, they respond with “wow” and embrace it. They have unconditional respect for other crafts.’

At La Galerie du 19m, regardless of expertise or background, anyone can come in and engage in crafts themselves. Underlying this is the belief that craft is not reserved for a select few; while skill levels vary, craft is an enriching gesture that anyone can undertake. At the Tokyo exhibition, during a charm-making workshop, participants from children to adults worked diligently using their hands. Creating something from nothing brings a sense of fulfilment, and once you improve, you want to do more. ‘Our craftspeople include a former banker and a ballet dancer,’ said Pavlovsky at the time.

‘Beyond our Horizons: from Tokyo to Paris’ is on show until 26 April at La Galerie du 19m.

A version of this story appears in the April 2026 Global Interiors Issue of Wallpaper*, available on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + now. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

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From abstracted plays on domestic spaces at Prada and Marni, to sets celebrating icons of urban architecture at Burberry and Dior, the A/W 2026 season offered much in the way of innovative set design.

As always, these temporary constructions can tell us as much about a designer’s current preoccupations as the garments they send out into them. For Loewe’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez it was an invocation of play, at Prada Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada are thinking about what is revealed when the surface layer is stripped away, and for Demna, it was investigating the ‘Gucciness of Gucci’ – a quest which, ahead of his first outing for the brand, led him back to Florence, the city in which it all started. Discover some of the stand-outs from fashion month below.

The standout show sets of fashion month A/W 2026

Burberry

Midway through February, it was reported that it had rained every day of 2026 in the UK – a news story that Daniel Lee might have had in mind whilst conceptualising the set for Burberry’s A/W 2026 collection. Trompe l’oeil puddles of resin scattered the tarmac-effect runway at Old Billingsgate Market, which was transformed into a night-time vignette of Tower Bridge, replete with that most familiar urban sight: scaffolding.

If a former 19th-century fish market seems an unlikely venue for London’s most high-profile luxury brand to show a collection, consider that gabardine, the fabric created by Thomas Burberry in the 1870s, is to this day a mainstay of angling attire – indeed, a quote singing the praises of Burberry from the Fishing Gazette was used in early advertising for the brand. The infusion of that practical, outdoorsy heritage with contemporary cosmopolitan glamour translated into a collection of opulently finished outerwear – from signature trench coats reimagined in silk or with ruffled lapels, to rich swathes of shearling.

READ: A first look at Burberry’s A/W 2026 show set, which depicts London landmarks ‘under construction’

Diesel

Diesel’s A/W 2026 runway set consisted of around 50,000 pieces of memorabilia from the brand’s archive, a monumental time capsule dedicated to almost 50 years of partying. Displayed under bleached lighting, the installation was awash with high-voltage colour, with objects ranging from a fringed parasol and inflatable beach doughnut, to a coffee machine, motorbike, and lava lamp. Creative director Glenn Martens described the season’s mood as ‘waking up in a place, with no idea what happened last night’: think crinkled denim and ripped hems. Judging by the contents of the eclectic clutter, the place could be anywhere from a roadside motel, MTV Beach House, or a teenager’s bedroom. Pick your poison.

Marni

If ‘familiar’ is a recurrent, self-confessed description of Meryl Rogge’s aesthetic tastes, it’s certainly not meant as a synonym for ‘samey’. There is always a little surprise, a fun tweak, or a new addition that keeps things fresh and exciting. For Rogge’s debut collection for Marni, this took the form of palm-size sequins, pointed mules with laces on the toes, and pants with two sets of stacked belt loops. And in the set design – a collaboration with Wallpaper*’s Designers of the Year 2021 Formafantasma – it meant something that looked ‘as if a room has been carefully disassembled and reassembled in another order,’ as Formafantasma’s Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin told us before the show.

The bones of the space were augmented with wood-effect panelling and fabric-covered benches, and a giant door mat in lieu of carpet. Mirrored panels, which were hand-painted with ‘fragments drawn from quotidian life’ like car headlights and office chairs, played with perception. Are they images? Or are they portals?

‘The decision to carefully hand-paint these ordinary details was important,’ say Trimarchi and Farresin. ‘Spending time rendering something banal gives it attention without turning it into spectacle. In a moment when most images are produced and consumed quickly, the act of painting introduces care and slowness. It allows us and hopefully others to look again at things we normally overlook, to pause for a second longer than usual.’ It’s a message that carries through to Rogge’s attitude toward design: robust, realistic and resonant.

READ: Formafantasma created the ‘familiar yet unsettled’ show set for Meryll Rogge’s Marni debut

Gucci

A few hundred metres from the Palazzo Gucci in the Tuscan city of Florence sits one of Europe’s most prominent art museums – the Uffizi, in an architectural complex begun by Giorgio Vasari in the year 1560. It is home to such illustrious works from the Western canon as Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, da Vinci’s The Annunciation, and Caravaggio’s Medusa. It was also the starting point for Demna, the Georgian designer who took the helm of the 105-year-old brand in 2025, when the shape of the A/W 2026 show space began to form in his imagination.

‘When I left the museum and stepped into Piazza della Signoria, the first thing I saw was Palazzo Gucci,’ the designer wrote in a letter published online the day before the show. ‘In that moment, I understood the place Gucci holds within Italian culture.’

His recreation of something resembling the storied museum, in Milan's Palazzo delle Scintille, was executed with typical Demna-like innovation: all hard edges and ultra-modern materials. The slick geometric hall was clad in travertine Stoneleaf, made from ultra-fine sheets of Italian marble bonded onto sheets of fibreglass and transparent resin. Classical sculptures were made out of plaster using 3D scanning, and then treated to look like aged marble. The runway itself was marked out by a skinny beam of fluorescent light, through which models sauntered and languished at a museum-appropriate pace.

READ: Demna’s first runway set for Gucci is an imagined museum filled with sculptural greats

Prada

If Prada’s A/W 2026 show was, as Wallpaper’s Jack Moss described, ‘an exercise in extreme layering’, the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada, where 15 models showed a total of 60 looks, was in many ways its antithesis – or perhaps its logical conclusion. The collection itself was cleverly conceived to reveal itself through the gradual stripping away of garments, so that by the time each model had taken her fourth turn about the room, coats and scarves had given way to light cotton pinafores and bloomers. However, the set had been stripped already, leaving only an eerie whisper of what might have been there before, like when you see a partially demolished house. Fireplaces exposed to the elements. Masonry jaggedly revealed. Interior made exterior.

In a continuation of the sliced-open palazzo created by OMA for the menswear offering in January, artefacts which spanned five hundred years – from 16th-century tapestries to modernist lampshades – were effectively suspended around the perimeter of the room, each level an echo of a floor without a floor. Walls were delicate pastel shades with intact wainscotting juxtaposed against the imprint of former joists, or the patinated shadow of where a dividing wall once stood.

‘Their meaning is layered [and] inherently personal,’ explains Prada of the mish-mash of objects within the space: a Venetian mirror, various consoles, paintings from different periods and more. The house’s co-creative directors and their respective tastes and preoccupations are keenly visible in this selection, but they also leave room for imagination. By revealing so little, we are left to fantasise for ourselves about who the inhabitants of this dilapidated, but once grand, former dwelling might have been.

Dior

What more appropriate way to kick off Paris Fashion Week than a promenade in the Jardin des Tuileries? And for Dior, no less. The 1st arrondissement park has been open to the public since the late 17th century and has been a fixture of Parisian life ever since, not to mention a favourite subject of Impressionist scenes and a backdrop for revolution. This March, it became the site of Jonathan Anderson’s second womenswear collection for Dior, in a show space described as ‘an imitation of a park, within a park’.

Designed around Le Bassin Octogonal was a structure which drew from the familiar grass-green garden furniture that is scattered throughout the park, with a runway which snaked 360-degrees round the perimeter of the water, and across its centre (water which was filled with imitation water-lillies, an unmistakably Andersonian touch, and a nod to the eight murals by Monet which are housed at Musée de l’Orangerie in the western-most corner of the Tuileries).

In a conversation which aired before the show, Anderson told his friend, designer and podcaster Bella Freud that he ‘will always feel like a tourist in Paris’ and yet the city itself seemed to look upon him as a treasured friend this A/W 2026: the early-spring sun shone brightly, and the water reflected dappled light throughout the scene.

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s latest Dior show was a walk in the park

Saint Laurent

Now in his tenth year at Saint Laurent, for A/W 2026 Anthony Vaccarello chose to focus ‘on the house at its most foundational’. For the collection, this meant mega-watt sex appeal, body contouring, and the glorious revival of Le Smoking. And for the setting – it could only mean Paris, and that perpetual, romantic emblem of the French capital, Le Tour Eiffel. Gustave Eiffel’s iconic landmark has been a mainstay visual for what is arguably the city’s most illustrious house since the days of the maison’s namesake. Vaccarello himself has regularly used it as a backdrop for his work with the brand – sometimes with the runway literally beneath its iron frame.

This season, the glittering structure was glimpsed through vast windows, part of a set designed to evoke the apartment once inhabited by Yves Saint Laurent himself, with his partner Pierre Bergé. That duplex, at 55 rue de Babylone, is now the stuff of legend, its contents scattered to the four winds after Yves’s death, but once upon a time it was home to a vast collection of artworks (from Burne-Jones to Mondrian), furniture, and books. Archival photographs of the space show the same wood panelling and thick-pile carpet that we saw at the show space, which also featured a replica of a bust owned by Saint Laurent and Bergé, blown up to oversize proportions.

Loewe

How better to dress the backdrop to a collection foregrounding ‘joy, experimentation and play,’ than with toys? The work of Cologne-based artist Cosima von Bonin was a key influence for Loewe’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez this season, finding its way into both the ready-to-wear and the mise-en-scene. Known for creating larger-than-life plushies and other animalistic sculptures, often fabricated in textiles or constructed from found objects, von Bonin’s mark was left in the show space by a host of black velveteen sea creatures who rubbed up against journalists on the high-gloss, oversize shoebox style seating. These critters and creatures (the soft toys, not the journalists) were dramatically shrunk down too, appearing as hard-shelled minaudièrs and dinky bag charms throughout the show. The room itself, at Château de Vincennes on the very fringes of the city, featured high-contrast, optimistic decor: stark white walls and vivid vinyl yellow floor which echoed the sheen of moulded latex and lacquered leather seen on the runway.

Chanel

‘Matthieu Blazy does it again’ was Wallpaper’s first reaction to Chanel’s A/W 2026 show. After last year’s electrifying debut, Blazy had set the bar at lofty heights for himself, heights he cleared with no trouble in this latest go-around. Drop waists, metallic hair, and some of the most coveted shoe of the 2020s were all part of the magic, but as we’ve already come to expect from Blazy’s tenure, so was the set design. Where his first two outings, for ready-to-wear and couture, saw an immersive take on the solar system, and then something rather more down-to-earth in the form of sugary pink mushrooms, respectively, A/W 2026 featured enormous cranes in Playmobil primary colours, piercing the space within the Grand Palais’ main atrium.

With their resemblance to stage rigging, these monumental installations were assembled on a glitter floor to evoke the joy of dance – reinforced through a soundtrack of Lady Gaga remixed with dialogue from Billy Elliot. The whole effect was a glorious reminder of what Blazy’s Chanel is to be: totally joyful.

READ: Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore Chanel collection is made for ‘women to be unapologetically who they are’

A review of the beauty looks from the A/W 2026 season, which finished in Paris earlier this week, contains a surprise: a lot of it was a mess. That’s not a put-down. Rather, the intriguing messiness of the season was deliberate, with even some of the most consistent purveyors of sleek, minimalist beauty, like Hermès and Alaïa, featuring hair that had a ‘I just got out of bed’ quality.

A similar look was seen on the Prada runway, with models in smudged raccoon-eye make-up and hair in half-done ponytails that had strands haphazardly escaping. The show had a novel concept: 15 models, wearing 15 looks, with each model changing four times throughout the show to create a new composition of the previous look. The beauty complemented the idea by suggesting a woman always in motion, always in a rush, too busy to refresh her make-up or even redo her ponytail over the course of the day.

The best beauty looks of A/W 2026

In New York, Collina Strada took messy hair to the next level with hairstylist Mustafa Yanaz giving models bed-heads that looked like they took many sleepless nights to achieve. While in London, the teased, matted hair at Simone Rocha was paired with punk details in, of all places, the eyebrows, such as multiple eyebrow rings and a black-pencilled eyebrow that curved dramatically at the edges. The result was an unkempt, delinquent appearance that complemented the bow, taffeta and glitter-heavy femininity of the clothes.

Yet, when it comes to this season’s messy beauty, no one did it better than the contingent of Japanese designers who show at Paris Fashion Week each season. At Comme des Garçons, hair by Takeo Arai and headpieces designed by HIZUME, combined to create a fascinating, strange beauty, with matted worms of hair – for lack of a better term – emerging from what looked like ripped sheer tights or oily bird’s nests.

At Yohji Yamamoto, black lips were paired with excessively gelled, Siouxsie Sioux-style hair. While at Junya Watanabe, hair stylist Eugene Souleiman and make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench created plastered-down, finger-wave wigs and streaming black eye makeup for a memorable 1920s-flapper-after-a-really-terrible-night look.

A similar look was also seen on the Saint Laurent runway, although more sleekly done, with hair gelled to helmet-like perfection and a flawlessly executed smoky eye and dark red lip (here, though, the inspiration seemed to be the severe beauty of Helmut Newton’s photographs of Saint Laurent in the 1970s). Demna’s first Gucci show also featured contoured cheeks, saturated red lips, and fanned-out smoky eyes. The most noteworthy saturated lips and smoky eye combination, however, was perhaps those at Tom Ford, where the velvet lips engineered by Lucy Bridge were so richly pigmented they looked almost fake.

Speaking of fake, there were those like Matières Fécales and Rick Owens who ostentatiously subverted beauty conventions with the use of prosthetics. The Matières Fécales collection, which satirised the style of the one per cent, translated the ideas behind its clothing into fake black eyes and faces practically deformed by plastic surgery.

While Owens, always one for bold beauty, built on the codes he’s been developing for years with make-up artist Daniel Sällström, to create eyes obscured by colour contacts and extra-long fake lashes that were emphasised by painterly strokes of neon eyeshadow. Sällström was also the make-up artist behind Vaquera’s white painted faces and multi-winged cat eyes, which combined to create a kind of modernised 18th-century aristocrat. The show also featured one model with lime-green pubic hair, which was, if nothing else, memorable.

But when it comes to the most memorable beauty look of the A/W 2026 runways, the winner might be a brand that was more playful than provocative. We are, of course, speaking about one of the most lauded shows of the season: Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore ready-to-wear outing at Chanel.

As the show progressed and the clothes transitioned into more iridescent evening wear, the subtle beauty of the runway looks began to take an iridescent sheen as well. Models’ slicked-back hair appeared covered in a glittery, chromatic coating with matching metallic eye make-up, while one particularly noteworthy look featured long, mermaid-style pastel locks with matching pastel eyeshadow. All in all, a shining end to the season.

Paris Fashion Week culminated yesterday, marking the end of a month-long season of shows that has seen previous stops in New York, London and Milan.

With a nine-day schedule standing at nearly double the length of its counterparts, Paris remains the defining city of fashion month – not least because it comprises shows from fashion’s heavyweight houses, among them Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent (to name just a handful).

After last season’s debuts dominated the S/S headlines, A/W 2026 was about the sophomore show, as designers settled into their positions as creative directors. Without the weight of expectation, we saw some brilliant shows – notably Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Michael Rider at Celine, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel (all were showing their second ready-to-wear collections).

Here, reported by Wallpaper* fashion & beauty features director Jack Moss and contributing writer India Jarvis, we pick the standout shows that defined the week.

The best of Paris Fashion Week A/W 2026

Dior

Jonathan Anderson staged his A/W 2026 runway show for Dior in Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries, constructing a circular show set around one of the park’s ponds (for the occasion, it had been populated with Monet-esque lily pads, meticulously constructed to look like the real thing), while the invitation comprised miniature versions of the park’s signature green metal chairs. Across the pond’s centre ran an elevated runway, echoing the line of the Tuileries’ Grand Allée, a historic promenade since the park opened to the public in 1667 after a renovation by Louis XIV. It led to a collection about ‘seeing and being seen’, a contemporary imagining of the promenade, ‘[where] a walk in the park becomes a performance’. Cue a ‘panoply of Parisians’ in eclectic, time-hopping attire, from the woozy ruffles of the Belle Époque (here transformed into mini dresses with bouncing trains) to plays on bourgeois tropes, such as fabrics that recalled heritage tweeds, blazers with golden buttons, and shearling jackets reimagined with wave-like hems. What was most striking, though, was a feeling of levity: lily-pad-adorned footwear, polka-dot motifs and crystallised denim were both playful and pretty. ‘Dior has this giant past, and I had to start there,’ Anderson said. ‘Now I feel free to release it from that.’ Jack Moss

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s latest Dior show was a walk in the park

Saint Laurent

A cinematic offering from Anthony Vaccarello unfolded in a simulacrum of a sleek, modernist home; at its centre, a sized-up recreation of a bust that lived in Yves Saint Laurent’s own apartment. Through it strode this season’s Saint Laurent heroine, her heavy-smoked eye and slick, side-parted hair a nod towards Helmut Newton’s Paris Vogue photograph of a model in Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Le Smoking’ tuxedo on Rue Aubriot in 1975. Indeed, tailoring was central to the A/W 2026 collection: eight trouser suits opened the show, while various other iterations appeared throughout (including Vaccarello’s own riff on the tuxedo, worn by model Loli Bahia, who walked exclusively for Saint Laurent this season and closed the show). Here, the silhouette was sloped across the shoulder and narrowed at the waist – though not constricted – for a riff on the power suit that was more ‘insouciant shrug than swagger’. As a counterpoint, Vaccarello looked towards the ‘troubled heroines’ of Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams, as well as Romy Schneider in the 1971 film Max et les Ferrailleurs (she was this season’s protagonist, he said), to capture an ‘elegance tinged with ennui… the beauty of intimacy and vulnerability’. To capture this mood, a series of slips and dresses came in lace coated in silicone, while enormous fur coats had a vivacious confidence. Jack Moss

Dries Van Noten

For many of us, the stylings of awkward adolescence are best not dwelt upon – after all, who looked or felt their best as a teenager? Evidently, Julian Klausner takes a more romantic view of this impressionable time, but, then again, Klausner was likely a more sophisticated brand of teenager than most. In any case, this was the impression given by his A/W 2026 collection for Dries Van Noten, which was inspired in part by a visit to Lycée Carnot, and the memories of being an adolescent ‘work-in-progress’. The Lycée is a Rive Droite public school with alumni including Gilles Deleuze, Guy Debord, and Daft Punk, and its Gustave Eiffel-designed great hall has been the backdrop for numerous Paris fashion shows over the years – in other words, a suitably rarefied and creatively rich starting point.

The 61 looks at Dries Van Noten asked that most teenage question: who am I going to be today? For the confident moment, a navel-bearing button-up knit with a vibrant silk skirt. When a suit of armour is required, a protective duffel coat that does the talking for you. Or maybe one day the mood might be scholastic – collegiate blazer and pleated skirt, but always, always customised, an embellishment here, a contrasting trim there. ‘Just like a pixelated picture, the more one gets far from that time of endless questioning, the clearer it becomes,’ Klausner said, a metaphor he extended through prints with digitally warped 17th-century Flemish still life paintings. Opulent, mature fabrics and finishings were styled with a youthful irreverence best summarised by the final lines from Gala Dragot’s vocal performance, which soundtracked the show: ‘Don’t be too serious... Wear a collar... Keep it blurry though.’ India Jarvis

Acne Studios

If Dries Van Noten was an homage to the experimental attitude of youth, then Acne Studios marked its 30th birthday year with a collection that declared (as one does at 30): I know exactly who I am. A/W 2026 was an affirmation of the house’s irreverent signatures, such as a revival of the particular 1996 cut of jean that made their name, and photographic elements that nod to the brand’s unconventional marketing style, including the bi-annual Acne Paper.

The setting for this season was a succession of intersecting cuboid rooms that, viewed simultaneously from the end of the runway, appeared like a Josef Albers work made three-dimensional. According to Jonny Johansson’s show notes, this was conceived ‘like an enfilade of salons … the portals marking what has come before, and what might follow’. Where a salon in the Parisian tradition might mean a bringing together of clashing or complementary ideas, at Acne Studios, the determination is to blur those boundaries as much as possible. Standout looks saw cropped aviator jackets worn with skin-tight jodhpurs and desirable point-toe pumps, Prince of Wales check jackets worn over one shoulder, and larger-than-life portraits of art school students, taken by Paul Kooiker, printed onto stiff pencil skirts and draped dresses.

Alaïa

Late last year, just after the completion of the Italian house’s sale to Prada, it was announced that Dario Vitale would be leaving his position as creative director of Versace (he lasted a single, but impactful season), to be replaced by Belgian designer Pieter Mulier. It meant that this season’s Alaïa show, watched by designers Matthieu Blazy and Raf Simons, was to be his last: the swansong of a five-year tenure defined by commercial expansion and critical success (he has also established a coterie of model muses, many of whom walked this final show, and will likely follow him to Versace). Held in an intimate showspace in the former Fondation Cartier – Mulier said he wanted it to recall a 1990s pre-iPhone runway show – the collection itself eschewed his more recent experimental silhouettes in favour of stripping things back to the essence of the house, from simple body-contouring tank dresses to lean tailored overcoats, stretch knits, and peplums and ruffles (the last flourishes rendered in Mulier’s contemporary, streamlined style).

‘This collection is about clothes to wear. What is a jacket? What is a dress?’ he said backstage after the show. ‘It’s basically a vocabulary of the last five years. It’s what I learned at Alaïa, that I’m giving to the next designer. It’s like leaving the keys on the table. At Alaïa, I learned precision, editing and [that] real luxury is not what we all think. It is a perfectly cut jacket.’ Jack Moss

READ: Pieter Mulier delivers a swansong collection at Alaïa: ‘It is a vocabulary of the last five years’

Rabanne

Of all the distinct fashions of the long 20th century, it could be argued that 1940s style is the hardest to reference without veering into the territory of costume. Perhaps it’s because boxy tailored silhouettes and victory rolls are so much associated with the vast canon of British war movies, or perhaps because austerity-driven ‘make do’ dressing is antithetical to contemporary fashion at either end of the high-low scale. It’s a testament to Julien Dossena’s eye, then, that for Rabanne A/W 2026 he incorporated patently 1940s-inspired styles – T-bar heels, tea-dress florals, and clashing knitwear – without evoking even a hint of reenactment.

After all, Rabanne has always been a house noted for its futuristic bent. Unconventional, industrial materials, like metal and plastic, are at its very heart, and remained so this season alongside those more vintage ideas – coming together in a collection that the brand called ‘a little louche’. This take on modernist femininity was told through blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glimpses of a slip through an unbuttoned blouse, a hint of lace underneath a more conservative skirt, and pussybows left suggestively undone. Dossena told Wallpaper* post-show that the character he wanted to build with these contrasts was that of ‘a resistant woman’, and that for him, there was a suggestion of retro-futurism with the 1940s-derived shapes (for example, hair pulled into sculptural pompadour styles was less Vera Lynn and more replicants in Blade Runner). India Jarvis

Rick Owens

What might the cyberpunk cousin of Marlene Dietrich wear for a night on the town? It’s a question that could only be answered by Rick Owens – whose A/W 2026 collection was an homage to the ‘dignified sequence of her life stages’, all shot through with classics from his own particular design language. Think body parts augmented through prosthetics and sci-fi silhouettes in a post-apocalyptic landscape heavy with dry ice and punctuated by magnesium-bright beams of light. Presenting the collection as the second part of ‘Tower’, which premiered during the men's collections, Owens drew from Dietrich’s qualities of ‘steeliness’ and ‘grit’, and interpreted them as sheath-like dresses, abundant piles of faux fur, and flight jackets.

Just as the German star’s enduring legacy was in part a product of her striking collaborations with Josef von Sternberg, Owens is an artist quick to credit the rich input his work receives from his creative partners. This season, much attention has been lovingly devoted to name-checking the hands through which his raw materials pass – from the third-generation, family-run mill in Como, Italy, which weaves a high-performance fibre called Kevlar (purportedly five-times stronger than steel), to the Veneto-region wash house committed to reducing water waste, which treats industrial indigo canvas. India Jarvis

Loewe

Presented on a bright-yellow runway populated by German artist Cosima Von Bonin’s plush figures of clams, octopi and dogs, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s sophomore Loewe collection was a welcome jolt of energy on the Friday morning of Paris Fashion Week. ‘What is fashion but an open field for endless creative play?’ said the American designers, whose poppy A/W 2026 collection translated their colourful beach-ready debut for the winter months, resulting in a riot of curvy dégradé shearling parkas, 3D-printed slips and shaggy-hemmed dresses with trailing trains. Other elements had a sporting feel – like face-shielding sunglasses, boldly coloured anoraks and chunky riffs on half-zip ski sweaters – while inflatable elements meant garments could be transformed in size and proportion (a lobster-claw-shaped pump, shown at the re-see the following day, will be sold separately).

Such experiments were made possible by the abilities of the Loewe atelier, particularly when it came to leather: bouclé overcoats were made from intricate loops of leather yarn, while the gradient shearlings were treated ‘in the same manner as poodle grooming’. ‘As we began [creating] our second collection, we were struck by a simple truth: for us, the act of making is, at its core, an expression of joy – an intellectual, process-driven pursuit charged with playfulness,’ said the designers. ‘The path taken matters as much as the end result. It is the idea of play as rigorous experimentation and problem-solving, moving between instinct and experience, between a devotion to craft and its endless opportunities for innovation.’ Jack Moss

Issey Miyake

For Satoshi Kondo, the role of designer is as much about relinquishing control as it is wielding it. Knowing when to hold back, not to overstep the mark, to let the materials speak for themselves. This was the credo he brought to the fore for Issey Miyake’s A/W 2026 offering – a characteristically Japanese recognition of innate, simple beauty.

Titled ‘Creating, Allowing’, the collection navigated this specific tension understood by designers through pieces where the artist’s hand was inserted sparingly, never tampering with the true essence of the fabrication, only enhancing. At its best, this looked like expanses of cloth cut with technical lines that left their impression on the negative space, like the wine-coloured single-breasted coat with inbuilt cape that the model held up over her shoulders to exaggerate its rectangular construction. The innate movement of the house-signature pleats was used only intermittently and, instead, dramatically inflexible lacquered washi paper was introduced through breast plates, bodices and belts – creating a contrast between motion and restriction. Kondo’s intention with this was that the most important impact was made through the human frame, by ‘minimising design intervention and leaving the form-making to the wearer's own body’.

As for the space itself, the Carrousel du Louvre was transformed with a layer of silvery sand and ‘finely shredded aluminum foil, [serving] as a device for the interaction between "material", "people", and "clothing"’. This surface became marked and patterned as the models moved across it, another allusion to Kondo’s metaphor of ‘considered disruption’. India Jarvis

Lanvin

This year marks the centenary of menswear at the house of Lanvin – a celebration that filtered into the season’s womenswear outing through nods to the boyish silhouettes that characterised interwar ladies’ fashion. It was a time when overtly feminine curves were flattened into straight lines from bust to waist, creating an elongated, athletic outline that came to epitomise the emancipated New Woman.

Peter Copping, who took the reins at Lanvin in late 2024, imagined ‘a dialogue between generations’, which came together beautifully to meld the concerns of Jeanne Lanvin’s customers in the 1920s with those who shop the brand in the present. What do they have in common? Evidently, a love of opera – gloves were cuffed and elbow-length, and belted opera coats were voluminous enough to be worn over an evening gown, and trimmed with faux fur. They wear hats (Jeanne Lanvin’s first foray into fashion was as an apprentice milliner), with A/W 2026’s borrowing from cloche shapes but with exaggerated sou’wester-style brims. They favour a dash of restrained glamour. If some of the cuts leaned slightly austere, they were countered with an opulence of fabric and finish: hand-embroidered bead droplets, inky velvets, laser-cut fringes.

Lanvin is the oldest French maison still in operation, its HQ still in its original site – therefore, the weight of its legacy must hang heavily over every designer who takes its helm. Its founder insisted on le chic ultime, a phrase that surely needs no translation, and which is no small order. It is a comfort that, for every moment of reinvention it undergoes, Lanvin is still a place that women can go to for guaranteed elegance. India Jarvis

Givenchy

The idea of individual style was a throughline of Paris Fashion Week, one expressed by Sarah Burton with her third collection for Givenchy – the former Alexander McQueen designer’s most liberated outing yet (and, as a result, her best). ‘How can we put ourselves back together in the world we’re living in?’ was the question Burton asked this season, elucidating after the show that she was thinking about the multiplicities of a contemporary woman’s life (as such, it found a companion with the Prada show in Milan, where Miuccia Prada asserted that ‘as a woman, your life is layered – each day demands not only a shifting of clothes, but a richness of identities within yourself’). So there was some typically brilliant tailoring (Burton is known for her prowess in the medium, and has recently brought over her tailoring team from Alexander McQueen), though also more vivid expressions of style – a dress, hanging from razor-thin straps, in bright yellow leather; shimmering leopard spots that burst into tassels; silk T-shirts that had been refashioned by Stephen Jones into headpieces – as well as oversized riffs on carpenter jeans, off-the-shoulder bombers, and high-collared white shirts. ‘I wanted to make it feel very personal,’ said Burton. ‘Each woman is her own person, each silhouette is her own character.’ Jack Moss

Junya Watanabe

Junya Watanabe lets the clothes do the talking. The A/W 2026 collection was accompanied by show notes that came to two single sentences: ‘The Art of Assemblage Couture explores form born from pure creative instinct, free from conventional notions of dressmaking. Through the direct presentation of raw materials, this approach expresses the surrounding social environment.’ This succinct summary belied a frenzy of ideas, which played out over one of the most entertaining shows of the week.

Classic couture silhouettes were fashioned from a mish-mash of consumer goods and mass-produced garments. The opening look, worn by Irina Shayk, comprised a gown in a 1950s prom style, constructed from gloves, with a mesh flounce. A puff-sleeved dress, with a squared neckline and a central slit that showed a silver interior, appeared to be made from a gold Mylar blanket – its creased folds still visible, like it had just been ripped from its packet. Another dress used kitschily patterned curtains, pinch pleats and all, for its full, trained skirt, while its bodice was made from – what else? – scrap number plates.

So far, so Watanabe, but this season offered more in the way of spectacle than just unconventional materials. In a more choreographed display than usual, Watanabe called in the services of Poland-born movement director Pat Boguslawski. He directed a languid yet melodramatic routine for Watanabe’s models, who threw garments onto chairs with tango-inspired passion, and turned their heads with the kind of simpering doe-eyed expressiveness of silent movie starlets. This reference was reinforced through Eugene Souleiman’s hair design, sculpted curls slicked to the foreheads and cheeks in the manner of Josephine Baker, and glam make-up by Isamaya Ffrench – winged, heavy-lashed and sometimes tear-streaked eyes. India Jarvis

Celine

It hasn’t taken long for Michael Rider to define a signature look at Celine: a preppy, uptown-inflected uniform that feels like a vision of Parisian style through American eyes (Rider had worked at Celine previously, under Phoebe Philo, though more recently headed up US label Polo Ralph Lauren). And it has worked: his collections thus far have felt like you could wear them off the runway and straight onto the street, full of clever riffs on quotidian pieces that will no doubt be much copied by lesser brands (they have also been full of great accessories, from abundant charm bracelets to colourful handbags and slipper-like loafers). For A/W 2026, Rider continued his upward trajectory with a show held at the Institut de France amid a series of beautiful modernist speakers in wood and metal, presenting a collection that favoured perennial style over ephemeral trends. ‘Celine is a style: a mix of old and new that feels urgent and dreamy,’ said Rider. ‘Making the things we all dream of finding and wearing.’ And in among this ready-to-wear wardrobe (in the truest sense), flourishes of the playful and the romantic emerged, from enormous sequins and flashes of animal print to feathered headpieces and bold punctuations of colour. ‘Putting on clothes, a look, can change the day – [it can] change how we walk and feel,’ said Rider. ‘I love that.’ Jack Moss

Hermès

Staged on a runway of moss and soil (strangely, a trend of the week, later seen at Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton), Nadège Vanhée’s latest outing for Hermès saw her conjure what she called a ‘liminal realm’ between dawn and dusk, earth and space. It lent the collection an alien, otherworldly feel: models emerged from glowing orbs and looped around the Garde Républicaine show space on an inky runway, which also inspired the clothing’s palette of deep blues, greys and black. Mashing up the equestrian codes that remain at the heart of Hermès – here, sliced-away jodhpurs-cum-cycling shorts, dressage blazers and knee-high leather boots – with lean, futuristic silhouettes, it was a clever hybrid of the past, present and future, a liminal realm of Vanhée’s own. Ostrich and leather jump suits, with contrasting knit sleeves, were the season’s show pieces – the result of the house’s superlative leather atelier, they straddled sex appeal and function – while visible zips added an almost sci-fi feel, running down the front of dresses or slicing across the chest of a jacket. Prints came via AM Cassandre, an art deco artist, and saw clouds intersected by a geometric structure – a reflection of Vanhée’s own juxtapositions between the graphic and the elemental. Jack Moss

Comme des Garçons

A strong Comme des Garçons collection saw Rei Kawakubo find solace in her favoured colour, black, which – save for a brief interlude in bright, candy pink – made up the majority of the A/W 2026 collection. And, while recent collections have seen Kawakubo grapple with tumultuous world affairs, the choice of the colour was not necessarily to represent grief or mourning – instead, the Japanese designer said it captured the expansiveness of the creative process. ‘I have come to realise that, after all, black is the colour for me,’ she said in a typically brief statement issued to the press. ‘It’s just the strongest, the best for creation, and the colour that embodies the rebellious spirit. And has the biggest meaning: the universe and the black hole.’ Indeed, the use of a single colour allowed Kawakubo’s typically provocative forms to come to the fore: this season, pillow-like constructions draped in semi-sheer black tulle, undulating pile-ups of shirred ruffles and tassels, or saucer-shaped protusions that looped around the upper body. Like any Comme collection, it was a Rorschach test – revelling in the unfamiliar, Kawakubo always challenges you to draw your own conclusions. Jack Moss

Balenciaga

Of all the creative directors at the nascent stages of new tenures, Pierpaolo Piccioli might have one of the steepest mountains to climb at Balenciaga. In the 16 years he spent at Valentino, prior to taking this new position in the spring of 2025, he demonstrated a Cristóbal Balenciaga-worthy approach to dressmaking that prioritised proportion and colour. But while Piccioli was sending out breathtaking confections of ballooning silk taffeta at Valentino, Balenciaga the brand was being injected with a new edge, at the hand of Vetements-founder Demna, whose zeitgeist-defining designs were laced with subversion and irony. How to bring the grandeur and romance that are Piccioli’s calling cards, without alienating the new demographic of customers who flocked to the brand under Demna?

For this season, his second collection, Piccioli pinned his hopes on a collaboration with Sam Levinson – the creator of Euphoria, the teen drama responsible for making internationally recognised stars out of its cast, which includes Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, and Hunter Schafer. Audiences at the Balenciaga A/W 2026 show were treated to a preview of clips from the HBO show’s third series (airing publicly in April), which played on screens across the venue; its interplay of light and dark was found running through the collection, which Piccioli had titled ‘ClairObscur’. The collection itself was a largely black affair, in light-catching high-gloss fabrics, punctuated by the occasional neon-toned print that harkened to Euphoria's colour-saturated visual style. If Euphoria – boundary-pushing, youth-orientated, and ever so slightly contentious – feels more spiritually within Demna’s wheelhouse than Piccioli’s, the High Renaissance references (‘ClairObscur’ is a play on clair-obscur or chiaroscuro, the artistic style beloved by Mannerist painters, which manifests as dramatically contrasting tones to create intense depth) brought proceedings firmly back into Piccioli’s world. India Jarvis

READ: Balenciaga taps Euphoria’s Sam Levinson for A/W 2026

Jean Paul Gaultier

After the shock factor of his debut last season – one which divided both critics and online commentators with its barely-there silhouettes and trompe l’oeil prints of nude bodies – Dutch designer Duran Lantink seemed to hit his stride this season, using his eye for the surreal and the sculptural to create a disruptive cast of archetypes, from the raver to the cowboy. Marlene Dietrich (or, more specifically, a treasured mesh T-shirt printed with the filmstar that Lantink had found in a vintage shop) was one figure on the moodboard, inspiring the clever opening tailoring, which came with jutting folds and sculpted lapels, while also being printed on a dress installed with dry ice (a nod to her favoured vice – cigarettes). The designer said she was a master in subverting tropes: ‘dominant, sexy and graceful, the ultimate hybrid’ – a mood that informed the shape-shifting collection. Tailoring metamorphosed into tech-y sportswear, trompe-l’oeil bodysuits of artist’s dummies were overlaid with lingerie, and puffer jackets became bodysuits. ‘It’s a spirit that suits the house of Gaultier, a place where the world is perpetually turned upside down,’ said Lantink via press notes. ‘Feminine and masculine, inside out, vintage and new, underwear as outerwear, technical and tailored all at once.’ Jack Moss

Chanel

Matthieu Blazy said that his sophomore ready-to-wear collection began with a quote from house founder Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. ‘Fashion is both caterpillar and butterfly. Be a caterpillar by day and a butterfly by night,’ she said. ‘There is nothing more comfortable than a caterpillar and nothing more made for love than a butterfly. We need dresses that crawl and dresses that fly.’ It seemed an apt description for Blazy’s own vision for Chanel thus far, one which elevates the quotidien through expressive acts of craft, and finds joy in both the functional and the glamorous. These are special clothes, no doubt (as anyone who has had the chance to see them up close can attest), though they are designed to be worn, not simply exalted. As such, he will no doubt be satisfied by the busy shop floors earlier this week as his debut collection landed (it was an ongoing fashion-week talking point), and more so to see those purchases worn by attendees to the show on Monday evening (and not just by the usual high-spending customers, but editors and stylists alike).

Staged amid a series of vast primary-coloured cranes – Blazy is, after all, still in the process of constructing his Chanel – the designer’s A/W 2026 collection was a brilliant and comprehensive exercise in wardrobing, which, to borrow Coco Chanel’s categorisation spanned the ‘caterpillar’ (roomy blazers, tweeds reformulated into lumberjack-style overshirts, simple jersey dresses), but also the ‘butterfly’. The latter came in an extraordinary stream of lustrous, colour-sturated looks at the end of the show, loaded with embellishment – appliqué flowers, lace and beads – and matched with models’ pastel-coloured or metallic hair. Over the 78 looks, there was a multitude of iterations of the Chanel woman, and the accessories to match (from gleaming metallic court shorts, to squashy crescent-shaped bags that recalled croissants). ‘Chanel is day, Chanel is night. It represents the freedom to choose between the caterpillar and the butterfly whenever you want,’ said Blazy. ‘I wish to create a canvas for women to be unapologetically who they are and who they want to be.’ Jack Moss

READ: Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore Chanel collection is made for ‘women to be unapologetically who they are’

Louis Vuitton

Nicolas Ghesquière staged his A/W 2026 collection for Louis Vuitton amid a show set by Severance production designer Jeremy Hindle, seeing rolling green hills – like those found in pastoral landscapes – abstracted into a series of sharp, futuristic peaks. The collection itself had a similar rationale, drawing inspiration from nature – ‘mountains, forests, plains’, and the clothing traditionally used to live among such elemental landscapes – and reimagining them through a series of Ghesquière’s typically idiosyncratic, time-travelling silhouettes. The idea of expedition seemed a throughline – supersized-wide-shouldered jackets, shearling hats and furry-hooded duffel coats seemed primed for protection, while bags hung on leather staffs like bindles – though there was a ceremonial feel to garments, which recalled traditional rural dress (though, in Ghesquière style, they were mashed up in such a way that the references were hard to place). ‘It is not an escape from our realities, but an echo of them,’ said Ghesquière of the vivid collection, which also featured the ‘urban pastoral’ works of Ukrainian artist Nazar Strelyaev-Nazarko. ‘[It is] a new folklore, for the future.’ Jack Moss

Miu Miu

Miuccia Prada has long interrogated a woman’s place in the world: how they move through it, and a wardrobe that feels reflective of their needs. For A/W 2026, she was thinking about the ‘smallness of the body’ – not in its physical proportions, but in opposition with the vastness of the world around us. It feels like a response to our current era of overload: the runway at Palais d’Iéna was covered in a layer of soil and moss, a reminder that beyond the pomp and ceremony of luxury fashion, we are simply humans living in communion with the earth (as a seatmate commented, perhaps this was her instruction to ‘touch grass’). ‘I am obsessed with the smallness of the body – in a human sense, the contrast between ourselves, our bodies and the vastness of that which surrounds us,’ she said. ‘Who we are, and the scale and magnitude of what we have to face. This collection is not about fragility – there is a confidence, and a strength. But always about a confrontation between a human and the expansiveness of the world.’

As such, the collection segued between moments of strength and intimacy: for the former, enveloping trapper hats, hiking shoes and sporty shearling-lined parkas, for the latter, slip dresses, satin shoes and bejewelled embellishment. There felt something of the 1990s to it: not only in the more minimal looks, which intersected the middle of the show, but in that contrast between glamour and utility (a parka over a mini dress; a studded handbag; a block heel), and also the appearance of Chloë Sevigny, a longtime house muse who first walked for Miu Miu in 1996. She was joined by a coterie of ‘individuals’ on the runway, from models Gemma Ward and Kristen McMenamy to the actress Gillian Anderson, who closed the show. Jack Moss

READ: Miu Miu’s all-star cast for A/W 2026 featured Gillian Anderson and Chloë Sevigny

Much of the idle chatter this Paris Fashion Week has revolved not around runway shows, nor the usual conjecture about which creative directors are in (or out). People aren’t even talking about last night’s parties, or how little sleep they’ve had.

Instead, the question is: have you been to the Chanel store on Rue Cambon yet? Or, the concession in Le Bon Marché? If you have, what did you buy? (And sometimes: do they still have my size?). Because it was there, on Thursday (5 March 2026), that the first arrivals from Matthieu Blazy’s debut collection, presented last October, began to hit shelves. Such has been the furore, Vogue Business and The New York Times have reported on the phenomenon (in the latter, one interviewee likened the mood on the shop floor to The Hunger Games); by Sunday, pieces were already turning up on the front row.

Chanel A/W 2026: ‘The caterpillar and the butterfly’

So, when it came to Blazy’s sophomore runway show for Chanel, presented at the Grand Palais this evening (9 March), it was likely that the 1000 or so guests were already making their shopping lists (all the more so as a large number of the runway show’s seats were taken up by Very Important Customers – i.e. those who spend the most in store in a given year). And there was certainly plenty to desire here: a fashion pick-and-mix of gleaming metallic court shoes and sock-like two-tone boots; Chanel tweeds recut in the proportions of an oversized lumberjack shirt or in shimmering tinsel-like fabric; alongside the simplest of black jersey dresses, like the one that closed the show (jersey was one of the fabrics that Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel pioneered, favoured for its ease of line and lack of constriction).

There were also squidgy crescent-shaped handbags reminiscent of croissants; dropped-waist dresses and skirts that recalled the liberated dress codes of the 1920s (another silhouette favoured by Coco Chanel for its ease); and a thrilling closing act, where a stream of colour-saturated looks – some in chequered chainmail – were adorned with appliqué flowers, lace and beads. They were worn by models whose hair was pastel-coloured or slicked back and given a gleaming metallic sheen. As one seatmate remarked, wistfully: ‘I want to be that woman’.

It gets to the heart of Blazy’s success at the house so far: an ability to stoke desire not just through a well-designed pump or handbag, but through more heartfelt expressions of joy and awe (he conjured a similar emotional response at Bottega Veneta, where he was creative director prior to Chanel). It was evident from that first runway show, where a grinning Awar Odhiang twirled along the runway in a dress of blooming organza ‘feathers’ to close the show (‘I was floating on top of the moon,’ she told American Vogue of the impromptu finale); or an equally smiley Bhavitha Mandava (now a Chanel ambassador) closing Blazy’s first couture show in a bridal look adorned with hundreds of mother-of-pearl paillettes. The latter show was populated with fantastical Munchkin-Land-like mushrooms and toadstools; the former with a vast simulacrum of the solar system, hanging from the Grand Palais’ vaulted glass ceiling.

This evening, soundtracked by a remix of Lady Gaga’s Just Dance, the show segued between day and night, or, as Blazy described – evoking the words of Coco Chanel herself – the ‘caterpillar and the butterfly’. In seeking this metamorphosis over a given day, what was striking was the collection’s depth: 78 looks, each richly layered and accessorised, spanning the quotidian and the extraordinary (it felt almost impossible that this collection had been created in just a few short months). One could imagine these looks being pulled apart and mixed with an existing wardrobe; equally, there was a seductive appeal to the idea of wearing top-to-toe Chanel.

Blazy said it was an ode to Coco Chanel, who was a master of the multiplicities of women’s lives: her clothing straddled both glamour and function, a dichotomy which continues to run through the heart of the house of Chanel today. ‘Fashion is both caterpillar and butterfly. Be a caterpillar by day and a butterfly by night,’ she once said, in a quote reprinted in the collection notes. ‘There is nothing more comfortable than a caterpillar and nothing more made for love than a butterfly. We need dresses that crawl and dresses that fly. The butterfly doesn’t go to the market, and the caterpillar doesn’t go to the ball.’

‘Chanel is function, Chanel is fiction. Chanel is sensible, Chanel is seductive,’ was Blazy’s own take. ‘Chanel is day, Chanel is night. It represents the freedom to choose between the caterpillar and the butterfly whenever you want. I wish to create a canvas for women to be unapologetically who they are and who they want to be.’

Follow our live coverage of Paris Fashion Week A/W 2026 here.

As Chanel’s first unisex sports watch, the J12 redrew the parameters of what a luxury watch could be. Since its original release in 2000, it is a definition that has expanded to include new iterations and experiments with materials and design, building on the original intention of creating an entirely black watch.

Now, Chanel returns to the original ethos of the J12, in a new campaign spearheaded by Gisele Bündchen. More than two decades ago, Jacques Helleu, then the house’s artistic director for watches, looked to the sleek lines of racing yachts when considering how Chanel would approach the concept of a sports watch, and it is to the water that the house now returns.

‘Strong yet soothing’ is a juxtaposition that appealed to Gisele and French model Clément Chabernaud, who considered the qualities in their approach to the campaign. ‘After years in the fast-paced fashion world, I slowed down and began living with intention,’ says Gisele, of why the project felt like a natural fit. ‘The J12 speaks to that shift, the campaign idea is to show timelessness, strength, and quiet elegance. It reflects the balance I strive for in my life, honouring beauty and simplicity while embracing growth and change.’

The campaign, which sees Gisele on a sailboat and Clément rowing, is a reference to this new sporty direction, also reflected in Chanel’s support of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in the UK. ‘I always bring my authentic self to whatever I do, but this shoot felt especially meaningful because the concept was so me that it felt effortless,’ Gisele adds. ‘The idea was [of] a woman moving through her world with purpose and grace, expressing the beauty that exists in taking a pause, in the breath, in the balance between strength and softness. I feel this is what we all strive for in life; I know I do. This campaign feels timeless to me.’

Timelessness is also embodied in the watch’s clean, monochrome lines, crafted in ceramic to ensure a strength, lightness and a uniform hue. ‘Chanel has always represented elegance, innovation, and timelessness to me,’ says Gisele. ‘My relationship with the house has grown organically over the years, beginning many years ago with Karl Lagerfeld. It is rooted in mutual respect and a shared appreciation for craftsmanship, art, and creativity. I love how Chanel honours tradition while reinventing itself; I find that inspiring.’

‘Denim used to be a very masculine, only associated with workwear, but at Chanel, we can always use our magic twist to make everyday pieces really refined and luxurious,’ says Valentina Li, one of the three visionary make-up artists behind the brand’s beauty think tank, the Cometes Collective. That ‘magic twist’ is how Li transformed a potentially unremarkable idea, denim-inspired make-up, into a standout beauty collection that infuses the versatility and casual coolness of the fabric into eyeliners, nail polish, lipsticks and more.

Blue is a notoriously difficult colour to wear when it comes to make-up, limited exclusively to the eyes (unless you’re really bold) and, if not applied tactfully, it easily looks tacky or unflattering. Chanel’s Denim make-up line is impressive because it not only features blue that can be worn everywhere from your cheeks to your lips, but it does so in a way that, as Valentina says, is ‘refined and luxurious’.

Take, for instance, the Coco Denim Illuminating Powder, a highlighter which comes in a washed denim shade with a thread-woven logo embossed onto it, and leaves behind a slightly metallic flush of blue and pearly pink highlights. Or the Rouge Coco Flash lipstick in ‘Baby Blue’, which leaves behind a sheer pearlescent glow with a delicate tinge of barely perceptible blue. There are three other Rouge Coco colours in the collection as well – ‘Washed Beige,’ ‘Faded Orange,’ and ‘Raw Brow’– inspired by, according to Li, ‘girls in the 1990s who wear a lot of denim and a lot of brown lipstick’.

Browns and blues also feature heavily in one of the two ‘Les 4 Ombres’ eyeshadow palettes in the collection, ‘Coco Jean’, while the other, ‘Denim Dream’, blends shimmery blues with a dusty pink and a pearl coloured highlighter. Rounding out the line are two blue eyeliners, an indigo mascara, a shimmery blue nail polish and the brand’s classic La Creme Main hand lotion in a limited-edition denim pouch.

For Li, this collection is designed to be played with. ‘At Chanel Beauty, we don't set rules. We allow you to set your own rules and embrace the colour in your own way – just like how you wear your denim.’

The Chanel Beauty Denim Collection is available for a limited time, on counter from 20 February until mid-April 2026, and at chanel.com

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Optimism, colour and a sense of play are the order of the day as this season’s 12 standout looks and accessories spark a fresh start. As taken from the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, we unpack S/S 2026’s defining trends.

Bold Texture

Above left.

For her Bottega Veneta debut, Louise Trotter channelled a feeling of ‘liberation’ through an expressive use of colour and texture, including a series of pieces constructed from strands of iridescent recycled fibreglass. In their dynamism, she sought to reflect the vibrant life of Laura Braggion, Bottega Veneta’s design director from 1985-2001, who was a member of Andy Warhol’s Factory before her time at the house.

Lucky charms

Above right.

The charm bracelet is an item of jewellery long said to bring luck andprotection. This season, the auspicious accessory enjoys a renaissance, thanks to Michael Rider at Celine: the designer’s debut ready-to-wear collection featured bracelets heavy with charms, from the house’s Triomphe monogram to heart-shaped padlocks, lockets and a helping hand, the latter a longtime symbol of prosperity and safety.

The 1990s slip

The 1990s’ mythic cool continues to be an influence on contemporary fashion (and looks set to carry on with the launch of Tate Britain’s blockbuster exhibition ‘The 90s’ in October). Few garments are more synonymous with the era than the slip dress, which had a rebirth on the runway this season, appearing at Victoria Beckham, Tom Ford and Wooyoungmi, where this negligee came edged in delicate fronds of lace.

A brand new bag

‘A study in intimacy’ is how Sarah Burton describes her first major bag launch for Givenchy. Titled the ‘Snatch’, its gently curved shape, which hooks over the shoulder and hugs neatly under the arm, is designed to echo Burton’s ready-to-wear, whether the cinched waist of a blazer or the curve of a bra top. The softness of the leather is an echo of this feeling of intimacy: ‘it pulls, cinches and embraces,’ she says.

Pyjama dressing

There is an undone elegance to the pyjama shirt, which appeared in various iterations this season – at Dries Van Noten, Dunhill and Dolce & Gabbana, among others. This striped offering, from Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, is part of a collection of ‘ease and escapism’, in which Vaccarello sought to capture the inertia of a summer afternoon. ‘Everything feels light; shapes float rather than cling,’ he says.

Block colour

At Ferragamo, Maximilian Davis took inspiration from the dress codes of the 1920s, injecting modernity via vivid accessories – feathers sprouted from bags while mules came in luminous hues – and colour-blocked garments, like this graphic silk-panelled dress. Indeed, colour blocking was a throughline of the wider S/S 2026 season – collections from Celine, Jil Sander and Loewe all featured the expressive motif.

True blue

Blue provided a feeling of undeniable uplift this season, with the breezy hue colouring the runway at IM Men (part of a collection inspired by the work of ceramic artist Shoji Kamoda), Fendi, Tom Ford and Dolce & Gabbana. Over at Lanvin, Peter Copping paid homage to house founder Jeanne Lanvin’s love of the colour – a fascination that began with the vivid blue skies of Fra Angelico’s 15th-century frescoes.

A new summer shoe

Former Proenza Schouler designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez looked to artist Ellsworth Kelly for their debut collection for Loewe, channelling his ‘elemental colours’ and ‘chromatic intensity’ in a collection that sought a feeling of freedom and release. Sculpted leather dresses, flocked heels and vivid striped knits had a playful sensibility, injecting new energy into the Spanish house.

Extreme layering

Zane Li’s debut show for his eponymous New York label LII made a case for extreme layering, a playful theme that ran throughout the S/S 2026 season. At Issey Miyake, diaphanous layers of fabric were stretched over household objects to create surreal silhouettes, while rising Belgian designer Julie Kegels turned garments upside down and collaged them together, as if they had taken on a life of their own.

Shirt tales

Matthieu Blazy’s debut collection for Chanel featured a collaboration with Parisian shirtmaker Charvet. The designer drew inspiration from Coco Chanel’s love affair with polo player Boy Capel and the way she would purportedly share his clothing. Embroidered with ‘Chanel’ and crafted with a weighted hem, the poplin shirts capture Blazy’s knack for elevating the quotidian through meticulous acts of craft.

Standout specs

Sunglasses are for making a sartorial statement this season. Case in point: these goggle-like frames from Miu Miu, which appeared on the S/S 2026 runway in bright shades of yellow, orange and blue. Similar styles were seen at Loewe, Versace and Balenciaga, the latter presenting huge bug-eyed shades adorned with shimmering crystals and worn with gowns and opera gloves – a very modern proposition for eveningwear.

Vivid outerwear

Outerwear eschewed the usual hues of grey, brown and black for bold colours that befit spring. This red overcoat by Prada embodies the season’s optimism, appearing as part of a collection that was about capturing a mood of escapism. Colourful outerwear was also spotted at Auralee, Dries Van Noten and Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, the latter inspired by hazy summer days on New York’s Fire Island.

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A version of this story appears in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + now. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Models: Pascal Thulin at Next, Marrit Krikke at Platform Agency. Casting: Leila at Suun Consultancy. Hair: Paula McCash using Babylisspro and Evopro. Make-up: Claire Urquhart at Julian Watson Agency using Make Up For Ever. Manicure: Saffron Goddard using Chanel La Base Camélia and La Crème Main. Digi tech: Cameron Williamson. Photography assistant: Lucas Bullens. Fashion assistant: Nathan Fox. Production assistant: Danielle Quigley.

For the S/S 2026 season, the spotlight fell on 15 creative directors. After many months of abrupt departures, sudden arrivals and judicious role-swapping at Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Celine, Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Carven – plus new placements at Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, Mugler, Maison Margiela, Loewe, Jil Sander, Area and Proenza Schouler – those in question unveiled debut collections to an audience that had eagerly coined this unprecedented shift as ‘fashion’s great reset’. But every new beginning comes from another beginning’s end, as the saying goes. And across these debuts, it was the past that would define the future.

However, it was neither sycophantic nostalgia nor a simple rehashing of familiar codes that swept the runways. As the show notes written for Jonathan Anderson’s inaugural ready-to-wear womenswear collection at Dior stated: ‘Daring to enter the house of Dior requires an empathy with its history, a willingness to decode its language, and the resoluteness to put all of it in a box. Not to erase it, but to store it, looking ahead, coming back to bits, traces or entire silhouettes from time to time, like revisiting memories.’

Anderson, who bade farewell to Loewe in March 2025 after 11 years at its helm – a period in which he transformed the languishing Spanish brand into a zeitgeist-defining institution – chose Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries as the location for his highly anticipated reveal. Conceived by longtime Anderson collaborators, director Luca Guadagnino and production designer Stefano Baisi, the white cube-like set featured a pyramid at its centre, on which a video by Adam Curtis was projected. The British documentarian had applied his signature collaging technique to archival recordings of every creative director who had preceded Anderson. And the collection itself also traversed the house’s illustrious history. But whether a restructuring of the Bar jacket, its flared waist manipulated into a blossoming bow, or the cleverly skewed, shrunken proportions of the New Look silhouette, signature Andersonisms (abstracted shapes, off-kilter detailing, surrealistic millinery) made it clear that an ‘inevitable change’ had arrived.

At Celine, Michael Rider followed a similar tack for both his spring 2026 resort collection, which marked his debut, and the ready-to-wear that followed. Speaking backstage after the first presentation, the designer stressed that Celine’s new chapter wouldn’t be marked by ‘a sense of erasure’. He said, ‘There was a foundation to build on. That, to me, felt modern, ethical, strong.’ So, in both offerings, Céline Vipiana’s quintessential silks and entrenched house prints melded with a pinch of Phoebe Philo (oversized shoulders and soft draping, for example), with whom Rider worked during her tenure at the house. There was also a touch of Hedi Slimane’s youthful Parisian sensibility: denim jeans, leather biker jackets and a nod to the dress codes of the 1960s Left Bank. Equally, the Washington DC-born Rider, a former creative director at Polo Ralph Lauren, was claiming Celine as his own with design tropes belonging to preppy Americana: oversized varsity jerseys, leather lace-up pumps and white socks, and knits emblazoned with the brand’s equestrian logo.

At Maison Margiela, Glenn Martens said his S/S 2026 ready-to-wear offering would see ‘new design suggestions appear alongside reintroductions and evolutions of archival ideas’. Like Martin Margiela and the house’s late co-founder Jenny Meirens, Martens is Belgian, and his avant-garde approach was honed at Antwerp’s Royal Academy before taking the reins at Y/Project and Diesel. In the wake of former creative director John Galliano’s lauded era of dramatic spectacle, a gritty ambience returned. For the runway show’s soundtrack, Martens referred to Martin Margiela’s S/S 1990 presentation (held in the Paris suburbs, where local children ran freely among models’ Tabi-clad feet), while his collection put a slant on deconstructed tailoring, slashed and reworked denim, and slope-shouldered leather outerwear, worn by open-mouthed models, their lips stretched using metal mouthpieces evocative of the house’s signature four-stitch motif.

A sort of fashion relay took place at Gucci, Valentino and Balenciaga between Alessandro Michele, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Demna: Michele, formerly at Gucci, handed the baton to Demna, previously at Balenciaga, a house that Piccioli now heads up. For Gucci’s S/S 2026 presentation, Demna chose to save the runway for March this year, instead opting for a lookbook shot by Catherine Opie, titled La Famiglia. ‘La Famiglia is a study of the “Gucciness” of Gucci, an expression of the brand as a mindset and a shared aesthetic language,’ he said. Heritage – the Horsebit loafer, the Bamboo bag, the GG monogram – were now viewed through shades of previous creative directors Michele, Frida Giannini and Tom Ford, with Demna’s unmistakable witticisms the mark of fresh design territory.

Piccioli’s proposition for Balenciaga began with Cristóbal Balenciaga’s ‘minimalist maximalism’, taking the 1957 Sack dress as a starting point from which to unfold history. ‘It would be stupid to deny who has been here before: Demna, Nicolas Ghesquière, Cristóbal,’ he said of the collection, which infused his trademark romanticism with voluminous, cocooning shapes, peppered with a more austere, Ghesquièrian aesthetic.

Matthieu Blazy left Bottega Veneta towards the end of 2024, with Louise Trotter announcing she would be exiting Carven to replace him. Blazy was quickly named as Chanel’s new creative director. Both showed their first collections across September and October. And at Bottega Veneta, Trotter, in her words, ‘return[ed] to the beginning to find the present’. ‘The language of Bottega Veneta is intrecciato. And it is a metaphor,’ said the designer of her vision for S/S 2026. ‘It is two different strips [of leather] woven together that become stronger – the two things make a stronger whole.’ Bottega Veneta is rooted in Italian craft, and Trotter explored this with flair, manipulating fabrics in a continuation of Blazy’s love of movement and texture. Backstage after the show, Trotter also said that one of her inspirations for the collection was Laura Braggion, Bottega Veneta’s first female creative lead, who worked for the house from the 1980s to the early 2000s.

‘I was imagining her journey,’ she said. ‘Her freedom of being an Italian woman, an archetypal Italian woman, moving to New York. And what that experience meant. It was a liberation for her. And that’s what I wanted to capture – a feeling of liberation.’ In billowing trench coats, skirts and dresses, and the undulating, glistening fringing of ombré skirts and ‘sweaters’ formed from recycled fibreglass, the feeling was palpable.

And then, Chanel. Blazy’s invitation to the French fashion house marked the first time that a designer outside of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld’s inner circles would enter its ateliers (Virginie Viard, who had worked closely with Lagerfeld from the 1980s up to his death in 2019, would step down for his arrival). So whether to maintain or disrupt the status quo was a predicament for Blazy. ‘Either we do a clean, modern, by-the-codes, by-the-book Chanel show, and it’s a first step. Or we do this show as if it was our last,’ he told The Business of Fashion. ‘I took the last option. Let’s do a show as if it were the last one.’ Against a vast interplanetary set – an ode to Coco Chanel’s fascination with the cosmos – Blazy cast any staid or fusty remnants of Chanel aside. In their place, lightness and liberation; a breath of fresh air. ‘Above all, there is an idea of freedom, of a new universal dress and a borderless blending of styles,’ he said. ‘The inheritance of not just one Chanel woman, but rather, of Chanel women.’

Across 77 looks, there was a subversion of tailoring, with cues borrowed from Boy Capel, Coco Chanel’s English lover, with whom she would sometimes share a wardrobe; there was also a reimagining of the classic 2.55 bag, which appeared softer, as though crumpled under the weight of history. In a continuation of the trompe l’oeil trickery that Blazy was so fond of at Bottega Veneta, tweed was, in fact, not tweed at all, but thousands of tiny glass beads. The final look – a louche ecru silk T-shirt worn with a cascade of confetti-like organza flowers in the shape of a floor-length skirt – was met with rapturous applause.

The S/S 2026 season has seen fashion grapple with a wider question that it has, perhaps, been trying to avoid in recent years: in a culture of short attention spans, what does ‘newness’ even look like? The answer, for now at least, doesn’t seem to lie in the ‘gimmick’ or the ‘redux’, but in acknowledging the design methods of those who came before as a means to move forward. It’s a return to the art of making clothes and the importance of knowing history well enough to alter it.

A version of this story appears in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + now. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Model: Bernie Ross at Elite Model Management Actor: Vaslov Goom at Birdston Talent Management Casting: Lucy Rogers Hair: Michael Harding at Blend Management using Oribe Make-up: Sandra Cooke using Chanel Denim Collection and No.1 de Chanel Body Serum Manicure: Megan Cummings at Snow Creatives using Dior Manicure, Le Baume and Vernis Digi tech: John Cronin Photography assistants: Louise Oates, Tamibe Bourdanne Fashion assistant: Lucy Proctor Production assistants: Archie Thomson, Ady Huq, Indy Davy Photographed on location at The Lanesborough, London.

Much has been written about the contemporary relevance of haute couture, a rarefied dressmaking medium that is built on tradition and strict rules (to call yourself a couture house, you must adhere to those set out by La Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode). It remains best defined by its impossible flights of craft – each garment must be stitched entirely by hand in a process that can take hundreds of hours – and its elite cortege of clients, which numbers (by estimate) around 5,000 worldwide. ‘Couture is really a dying craft; it’s nearly extinct. There are only a few houses doing it,’ said Jonathan Anderson at his Dior couture debut this week. Such is its need for protection, he asserted, that after the show, he would open ‘Grammar of Forms’, an exhibition in the runway space allowing visitors to see his work in conversation with original designs by Christian Dior. ‘[I want] to demystify couture and inspire the next generation to ensure its future,’ he said.

The standout collections of Haute Couture Week S/S 2026

Though rarely has Haute Couture Week – which concludes in Paris today (29 January) – demanded so much attention. This was largely down to its two new custodians, Anderson at Dior and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, both of whom would show their first couture collections during the event (their respective houses, two behemoths of Parisian style, are synonymous with haute couture, its design language filtering down to everything from ready-to-wear to cosmetics and perfume). Both seemed to shake off the weight of expectation in collections that expressed converging visions of contemporary couture – Blazy instilled everyday garments with an ethereal lightness through meticulous acts of craft (think: a hand-painted silk mousseline trompe l’oeil pair of jeans), while Anderson presented a ‘Wunderkammer’ of ideas in a bold collection full of intriguing forms and bold flourishes, from pom-pom cyclamen earrings to enormous coloured stoles.

Elsewhere, Daniel Roseberry’s latest Schiaparelli collection revelled in the joy of creation; Alessandro Michele staged a ‘peep show’ at Valentino; and at Armani Privé – in the first couture show since Giorgio Armani’s death – Silvana Armani, Mr Armani’s niece, took the reins this season in her own debut show. Here, we unpack the best shows of the week.

Schiaparelli

There is an enjoyable sense of spectacle to a Schiaparelli show, which in its 10am Monday morning spot heralds the start of Haute Couture Week. The models – who always seem to be having fun – parade around the Petit Palais in American artistic director Daniel Roseberry’s always theatrical creations, striking poses that spark nostalgia for the more outré runway shows of the 1980s (there is always good music, too: this season, the euphoric Jamie XX remix of Robyn’s ‘Dopamine’). This season, those creations spanned sculpted tops that sprouted spiking horns or enormous scorpion’s tails; sharp, wide-shouldered blazers adorned with plumes of feathers reminiscent of a bird’s wing; and delicate lace flowers that hovered and floated away from the body. There were some beautiful details besides: a flared dress in millefeuille tulle, which looked as if it had been cut away in chunks, and floating panels of degradé organza, dyed as if by bleeding ink.

Roseberry said that this season he had been inspired by a recent trip to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s famed ceiling: ‘a wild, visually rambunctious, vulnerable and romantic imagining of God, religion, faith, and the human condition’. The eclecticism of this season came from a desire to replicate the ecstatic feeling of the creative act, one that he imagined Michelangelo experiencing as he created his most well-known fresco. ‘I stopped thinking for the first time in years of how something should look, but instead about how I feel when creating it,’ he said. ‘That was it. The entire emotional heartbeat of this season became not what does it look like, but how do we feel when we make it? What a relief that was. What a revelation.’

Dior

There was a palpable anticipation in the room for Jonathan Anderson’s first couture collection for Dior, one compounded by Rihanna, whose late arrival only upped the anticipation. Under an upside-down meadow of wild cyclamen – inspired by a posy brought to him by former Dior creative director John Galliano – the collection that followed was a bold ‘Wunderkammer’ of ideas, which began with the curved form of a vase by ceramic artist Magdalene Odundo (a longtime collaborator of the designer). Her work inspired the ballooning shape of the opening gowns – constructed from ultra-lightweight silk and wire, they seemed to levitate away from the body – while the rest of the collection drew on creative mementoes, from Galliano’s posy of cyclamen (which here transformed into pom-pom earrings) to a series of found objects that became embellishment, whether historic cameo brooches or shards of meteors and fossils.

The idea, said Anderson, was for a dialogue of the past: an elevation of the precious and the rare (after all, haute couture is all about the singular and the one-off). ‘There’s this element in the show of how to upcycle things,’ he said in a preview before the show. ‘Like, how do we take something and reinvent it? Things are found, and then reassembled.’ This idea of reassembly ran throughout: sinuous bias-cut gowns recalled Galliano’s signature silhouette during his time at Dior, while a sculpted black coat, jutting out at the waistline, seemed to nod to Raf Simons’ own couture debut at the house (the Belgian designer was womenswear creative director from 2012-2015). But other pieces felt entirely Anderson’s own: inspired by nature, looks became sculptural marvels: satin protruded from the waistline of a skirt; flared gowns were constructed from delicate shards of pearlescent mother-of-pearl, while bell-shaped tops ballooned around the body to create otherworldly forms.

‘I think what is nice is that [as a team] we’re exploring – it is not about working out the idea before we start, or working out the end customer, because ultimately, we don’t know what people want,’ he says, likening the couture arm of the house to a creative ‘lab’. ‘That’s the whole point. I think the idea of designing things is to make people want something they didn’t want. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt at Dior, it’s just about putting ideas out [there].’

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s historic Dior couture debut was a bold ‘Wunderkammer’ of ideas

Chanel

Matthieu Blazy’s brief tenure at Chanel so far has seen the French-Belgian designer embrace joy and levity over the weight of history. ‘I just wanted to have fun,’ he said after his debut ready-to-wear show last October, a feeling immortalised by model Awar Odhiang’s twirling runway finale, one of the year’s most memorable fashion moments (she wore a skirt adorned with hundreds of kaleidoscopic silk feathers).

With his first haute couture show, he sought a similar feeling of lightness, staged amid a fantasy-land set of enormous mushrooms and toadstools, as well as fluttering candy-pink trees. In the collection, that lightness was physical: the opening looks saw the classic Chanel suit rendered in featherweight silk mousseline rather than its usual tweed, while trompe l’oeil silk mousseline trousers were painted to recall denim jeans (a version of the ‘2.55’ handbag was also constructed from the fabric).

He said it came from an impulse to strip it all away and attempt to get to the heart of what Chanel is: ‘What makes Chanel, Chanel? What is the essence and essentialism of the house? How do you bear its soul?’ As such, he largely eschewed the theatrical towards the simplicity of a wardrobe – these were clothes that women could actually wear – though elevated through truly extraordinary moments of craft. There was tweed that sprouted with plumes of feathers; bouncing streamers of fabric at the hems of skirts; or the final bridal look, a simple collared shirt and skirt adorned with hundreds of petal-like mother-of-pearl paillettes.

Blazy said it was an ode to what he sees as the heart of Chanel – the communion between maker and wearer. As such, each model chose something personal to be stitched into their look – from a treasured initial to a symbol of luck. ‘[I] consider this collection almost as a break,’ said Blazy. ‘Something magical, something that makes you dream, something poetic, a calm moment of quietness, almost like a Sunday morning.’

READ: At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy lets the light in with a fairytale first haute couture collection

Armani Privé

It was to be the first Armani Privé show without Giorgio Armani at the helm: this past September, he passed away aged 91 after an extraordinary 50 years in fashion. Like at the Giorgio Armani menswear show in Milan – which was helmed by longtime creative partner Leo Dell'Orco – this was a Privé collection not of divergence but of continuance, mining previous signatures of the haute couture offshoot, from sinuous crystallised gowns to Eastern influences (heavily inspired by Japan, Mr Armani saw his design vernacular as a conversation between East and West).

Away from the more high-profile debuts at Chanel and Dior, this too ushered in a new design lead: Silvana Armani, Mr Armani’s niece, took the reins this season, having worked alongside her uncle for over four decades. She titled the collection ‘Jade’, using the precious stone to inform the collection’s largely green palette, shifting from Armani-esque tailoring (for their haute couture twist, ties came in sheer organza) to gowns that flared below the waist using clever petal-inspired pleats. Look out for them on the Oscars red carpet this coming March – in their ethereal beauty, they have winner written all over them.

Valentino

Alessandro Michele prefaced his latest haute couture collection for Valentino with an ode to the house’s eponymous founder, Valentino Garavani, who passed away aged 91 last week. ‘What we do today takes place within a history not of our making, in a house long inhabited, rich with traces and gestures,’ he said in a letter distributed to guests. ‘To work within this space means accepting both its weight and its grace. It means recognising that every form exists only in relation to what made it possible, that every creative act is also an act of custody.’ (As well as Garavani, Michele also name-checked his forebears Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli.) Garavani’s legacy, Michele continued, was ‘an ethics of making… a practice grounded in the belief that to create is to care for, and that beauty consists in radical, patient attention to bodies and forms.’

The collection had been finalised before Garavani’s death, and was full of the gestures that made the Roman couturier’s work so enduring: a lust for the theatrical, a note of sensuality and romance, as well as more formal references, from ruffles and feathers to the bold red of the opening gown, Garavani’s favoured hue (such was its ubiquity in his work, it was deemed ‘Valentino Rosso’). The show set comprised a series of circular chambers through which models walked; guests watched through a series of peepholes opened by a butler at the start of the show (they were based on the 18th-century Kaiserpanorama, a subject of critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin’s work). It allowed pure focus on the looks themselves: an appreciation of that extraordinary act of making, undertaken by Michele in communion with the petites mains of the couture atelier. ‘Valentino’s legacy remains what it has always been,’ said Michele. ‘An idea of beauty conceived as a noble form of responsibility toward time, bodies and the world we are given to cross.’

This morning in Paris, skies were a moody grey, and rain showed no sign of abating. Walking across Pont Alexandre III towards the Grand Palais – where Matthieu Blazy would present his first haute couture collection for Chanel – tourist boats drifted past, empty of passengers, and the Eiffel Tower grumpily hid its summit behind a haze of fog.

Inside, it was a different story. There, under the Grand Palais’s enormous vaulted glass ceiling, Blazy had conjured a fairytale realm: one of candy-pink trees and enormous coloured mushrooms, which sprouted gleefully around a circular runway. Part Disney-esque fantasy (a teaser video showed cartoon birds and squirrels leaping around the house’s atelier), part Munchkinland, such was the brilliance of the scene that even the glowering skies above seemed to momentarily glow with sunshine.

It set the stage for another historic day. Yesterday, Jonathan Anderson showed his first couture collection for Dior at the Musée Rodin; today, it was Blazy’s turn to show his prowess in the medium. The French-Belgian designer said that for this debut, he was driven by the impulse to strip everything back, asking: ‘What makes Chanel, Chanel? What is the essence and essentialism of the house? How do you bare its soul?’

He settled on the communion between maker and wearer, something which is also at the heart of haute couture (when purchased, a garment is made by hand by the couture atelier to the exact contours of a client’s body). To symbolise this, he asked each model in the show to select something personal to be woven into their look. Some chose meaningful dates or guiding words; others lucky symbols, initials, or lines from poetry (embroidery was executed by Lesage, one of the house’s métiers d’art).

But to strip things back also meant reintroducing levity to Chanel, a house of such size and influence that steering a fresh course can be a challenge, and traditions weigh heavily. So Blazy sought physical lightness: the opening look was a Chanel skirt suit, not in its signature tweed but in featherweight silk mousseline, so lightweight it almost floated off the body. The fabric was also used to construct a pair of trompe l’oeil ‘denim’ jeans and a white vest, as well as versions of the 2.55 handbag (they too seemed to float on their chain-link handles).

Tactility and movement, hallmarks of his first two runway shows (the first in Paris; the second in New York), continued to come to the fore here. Blazy envisioned the haute couture atelier like a candy box. There was tweed which sprouted with plumes of feathers (Blazy said he sees the bird as the ultimate symbol of freedom); bouncing trails of streamers from the hems of skirts (they recalled his previous work at Bottega Veneta); and a multitude of embroidery, from blooming flowers to toadstools (more abstract were colourful collages of raw-edge organza). Up close, the work was truly extraordinary.

It culminated with the haute couture bride, though Blazy did away with laborious trains and veils. Instead, model Bhavitha Mandava – a house muse, and the first Indian model to open a Chanel show last December in New York – wore an oversized, collared shirt and a knee-length skirt, adorned with thousands of petal-like mother-of-pearl paillettes (on the back, if you looked closely, glimmered a crystal-and-pearl bird). Taking her lap around the runway, she flashed a gleeful smile to attendees. By the time a mash-up of Bittersweet Symphony and Wonderwall soundtracked the finale, it was impossible not to share her joy.

‘[I] consider this collection almost as a break,’ said Blazy. ‘Something magical, something that makes you dream, something poetic, a calm moment of quietness, almost like a Sunday morning.’

chanel.com

2026 might be the year when the dust begins to settle in fashion – after a year of reset and refresh in 2025, where over 15 creative directors began their tenures at the industry’s major houses, the next 12 months will see them settle in and hone their creative visions. This will begin in January, when Jonathan Anderson and Matthieu Blazy, at Dior and Chanel respectively, will show their first haute couture collections after critically lauded debuts in 2025 (and, perhaps more importantly, their initial offerings will land in stores).

But that’s not to say that we are in a moment of stasis: the debuts will continue into 2026, with Maria Grazia Chiuri showing her first collection for Fendi; Demna holding his first runway show for Gucci; and the presumed debut of the (as yet unnamed) new creative director of Versace. And elsewhere, there will be plenty more notable style moments, from a slew of blockbuster exhibitions (including the biggest ever Costume Institute exhibition at The Met in New York) to some fashionable on-screen moments.

Here, as the new year begins, everything to look forward to in fashion in 2026.

The fashion exhibition renaissance will continue

Following what felt like an unprecedented number of fashion exhibitions in 2025 – even in the usually sleepy summer months, we highlighted 11 to choose from – the renaissance of the medium looks set to continue into 2026. Highlighted by Belle Hutton in her guide to the unmissable fashion exhibitions to add to your calendar in 2026, these will span the blockbuster – an Edward Enninful-curated exhibition on the 1990s at Tate Britain; a vast Schiaparelli retrospective at the V&A – and more introspective displays, like a poetic exhibition of works by photographer Rafael Pavarotti at Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris or the first major exhibition on the ‘Antwerp Six’, an iconoclastic group of designers, who, in the late 1980s, would alter fashion’s trajectory forever. Fittingly, it will take place at MoMu, Antwerp’s brilliant fashion museum.

Valentino will head back to its roots in Rome

In a notable schedule shift, Alessandro Michele has chosen to show his next collection for Valentino in Rome, the city where the house was founded by Valentino Garavani in 1960 (the house has said this is a one-off, returning to its usual spot on the Paris fashion schedule the season after). Other travelling shows in 2026 will include the usual Cruise circuit in late spring – notable this season for the first Cruise shows from Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Demna at Gucci – which this year, whether through serendipity or good planning, are largely set to take place in the United States. Gucci and Louis Vuitton will both show in New York, while Dior will show in Los Angeles; elsewhere, Chanel has chosen Biarritz, France and Max Mara Shanghai, China.

Véronique Nichanian will say goodbye to Hermès after a landmark tend

In October, it was announced that Véronique Nichanian was to step down from her role as artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, a tenure which has lasted 37 years – the longest-running of a serving creative director. Known for a mood of quiet beauty – whereby archetypal menswear garments are endlessly evolved and perfected – she has achieved both commercial and critical success. ‘I still love this job. However, I believe that to practice it the way I like to, it now requires more and more time – and today, I want to devote that time to other things,’ she said. ‘Hermès has, above all, shown great elegance by allowing me to choose the moment that felt right to step down. I’ve been thinking about it and discussing it with Axel and Pierre-Alexis Dumas for a year or two now. It’s time to pass the baton.’ That baton will pass to Grace Wales Bonner – an appointment which garnered unanimous praise from critics and online commentators – though the British designer will not show until January 2027. Meanwhile, this January, Nichanian will hold her swansong at Paris Fashion Week Men’s – a no doubt emotional ending to an extraordinary career.

Maria Grazia Chiuri will show her first collection for Fendi

Just when you thought the dust had settled, the creative director reshuffle is set to continue into 2026. Most notably, the arrival of Maria Grazia Chiuri at Fendi – a long-rumoured appointment since her exit from Dior in May, confirmed by the Roman house in October. Hailing herself from Rome – and having started her career at Fendi in the late 1980s – it will be something of a homecoming. She will show as part of Milan Fashion Week in February. Elsewhere, after launching his first collection with a starry Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-shot film in September, Demna will hold his first runway show for Gucci – also in Milan in February – while in New York, Rachel Scott will make her catwalk debut for Proenza Schouler, having hosted an intimate presentation last September.

While Matthieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson will make their haute couture debuts

Haute couture remains the heady pinnacle of Parisian style: a medium which is meticulously defined Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) to retain the traditional craft of bespoke dressmaking (one stipulation is that every gown must be made-to-order to the exact contours of the client’s body). Couture week in January looks set to be the most-watched in years, down to two notable debuts: Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, and Jonathan Anderson at Dior (their ready-to-wear debuts came in 2025). With both designers’ careers defined by imaginative flights of craft and imagination, their first couture shows in January will no doubt inject new energy to Haute Couture Week – a period of the fashion calendar which has felt in flux in recent seasons.

Style will have its moment on screen in 2026

‘2026 is shaping up to be a year to remember for style on screen,’ writes Orla Brennan in her rundown of the fashionable films to look out for in 2026. This of course includes the return of Devil Wears Prada, with the much-anticipated sequel no doubt becoming a cultural lightning rod when it reaches screens in May (as Brennan writes, ‘[it] promises to be the most fashionable film of 2026 – or at least, its wardrobe is bound to be the most closely scrutinised by industry platforms and devoted style fans’). But there is plenty more aside: from Emerald Fennell’s bold retelling of Wuthering Heights to A24’s Mother Mary, in which Anne Hathaway plays a fictional pop star opposite Michaela Coel as a fashion designer, there will be plenty of style moments to look out for. Plus, there’s the return of former fashion designer Tom Ford as director after A Single Man and Nocturnal Animals – he’s set to start filming his adaption of Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven early this year, which currently has a tentative 2026 release.

The Met Gala will be bigger than ever

The Met Gala – which celebrates the opening of the New York institution’s blockbuster spring Costume Institute exhibition – remains one of the fashion calendar’s notable moments (not least for its starry red carpet, which is unfurled each year on the first Monday of May). For 2026, that exhibition is titled ‘Costume Art’, weaving a thread between the Costume Institute’s archive of fashion garments and the depictions of clothing across The Met’s wider collection, from paintings to ancient artefacts. And this year, it looks set to be bigger than ever: ‘Costume Art’ inaugurates the Costume Institute’s new 12,000 sq ft gallery, adjacent to the Met’s Great Hall (designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Paterson Rich Office, it will be named after Condé Montrose Nast, founder of the eponymous publishing empire). Add to this a high-wattage line-up of co-chairs for the opening – Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams – and the event is sure to dominate the news cycle come May.

2025 was a year of seismic change in the fashion industry – one not unnoticed by the Wallpaper* style team, who, in reflecting on their personal style moments of the year, found joy in the new. There was Matthieu Blazy’s exuberant debut at Chanel; the ‘clarity’ of Jonathan Anderson’s first womenswear collection for Dior; and the ‘fresh and beautiful’ opening act from Simone Bellotti at Jil Sander.

But there was charm to be found in the existing, too: Craig Green’s ‘delirious, psychedelic’ return to the runway in Paris, or Nadège Vanhée’s ‘Second Chapter’ show for Hermès in Shanghai, which unfolded against the city’s futuristic skyline. ‘It made for an arresting spectacle,’ says Wallpaper* fashion & creative director Jason Hughes. ‘The kind that you feel lucky to have witnessed.’

In this spirit, the Wallpaper* style team reminisce on their personal style moments of 2025.

‘This year was undoubtedly about the debuts, and I really felt like the combination of Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Jonathan Anderson at Dior – despite being distinct in their visions – set fashion’s new mood, and captured the feeling of a slate being wiped clean. Both had a clarity of vision that was exciting to watch: at Dior, I loved the focus on form – and the brilliant accessories – while Chanel had a feeling of joy and energy, bolstered by great clothes and craft (I was a huge fan of Blazy’s work at Bottega Veneta). I’m excited to see the two designers’ vision unfold in 2026 – particularly their debut couture shows in January.

‘On a personal front, I also loved travelling to Shanghai for Hermès’ “The Second Chapter” show – a continuation of Nadège Vanhée’s A/W 2025 womenswear collection for the house. I loved the cleverly layered and stacked-up looks – sweaters around the waist, bags across the chest, leather water bottle holders slung from bags. It played out in North Bund Bay on the banks of the Huangpu River in a specially constructed structure: as the show began, a series of shutters swung open to reveal Shanghai’s glimmering, futuristic skyline beyond. It made for an arresting spectacle – the kind that you feel lucky to have witnessed.’

‘2025 has proved a landmark year in fashion, notable for the number of debuts which dominated headlines and social-media feeds (whether positive or negative, online commentary has been passionate). For sheer spectacle, it was Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel: stepping into the Grand Palais, which had been transformed into an enormous simulacrum of the solar system, was true take-your-breath-away stuff. The collection itself had a feeling of levity, encapsulated by Awar Odhiang’s gleeful spinning finale – she was undoubtedly the model of the season. On the other end of the spectrum was Simone Bellotti’s debut at Jil Sander – eschewing theatrics, he showed in the stark-white surroundings of the brand’s Milanese headquarters. I loved the collection: sharp and sensual, with the intriguing proportions that he brought to his previous role at Bally, it was the type of collection that you immediately want to wear everything you’d seen.

‘Smaller in scale, but no less impactful, was Craig Green’s return to the runway – a delirious, psychedelic outing that looked towards The Beatles and 1960s bedsheets for inspiration. It was an honour following the collection’s progress in the October 2025 ‘Long View’ issue of Wallpaper*, from his showroom in London’s Docklands to the Paris runway. “Creativity is how everything moves forward,” he told me. “You need creative thought for things to progress, and for new things to happen. You have to have the freedom to make mistakes, to create work and not live in fear.” In our increasingly algorithmic society, they seem to be words to live by.’

‘As a native New Yorker, I was pleased to see Matthieu Blazy bring his first Métiers d’Art show for Chanel to the New York subway – even if it was a little more cleaned up than the cross-city commutes I’m used to. Taking place on the platform of the now-disused Bowery station on the Lower East Side, the collection was every bit as exhilarating as his much-discussed debut show in Paris earlier this year, conjuring a fantastical cast of characters you might encounter on the New York street – from Upper East Side ladies at lunch to those headed to the office. It was a joy – and made me excited to go back this Christmas.

‘As for what I'm taking from the runway into my own wardrobe, it has to be the stacked-up charm bracelets and belts of Michael Rider’s first two collections for Celine – they appeal to my magpie-like sensibilities, and have got me searching out charm bracelets of my own. Beauty-wise, I was seduced by the dishevelled hair and stripped-back make-up of Prada’s A/W 2025 show – courtesy of Guido Palau and Lynsey Alexander – which gives an excuse for a just-rolled-out-of-bed look I’m tempted to embrace come January.’

‘My favourite fashion moment of the year was Simone Bellotti’s debut for Jil Sander. The shades of blue and red, the sharp silhouettes, the casting – including Guinevere Van Seenus, who appeared in the brand’s early campaigns. It just felt so fresh and beautiful as it came down the runway. I’m really excited to see where he takes the brand next.

‘As a side note, I’ve also loved listening to the music that soundtracked Wanderlust, a film shot in Hamburg he released for the brand over the summer. It’s a particularly calming kind of astral electro by Bochum Welt, and is the perfect soundtrack for wandering through a city.’

This has been a watershed year in fashion. A quarter of the way through the 21st century, 2025 saw the industry hit refresh: in September alone, 15 designers made their debuts as creative directors of fashion’s major houses, ushering in a bold new era in style (and, as with any such change, prompting passionate – and oftentimes divided – online commentary).

Here, as selected by the Wallpaper* style team, are the 25 fashion moments that defined the zeitgeist in 2025 – from a viral Marty Supreme track jacket and Saint Laurent’s thigh-high wader boots, to big-name buyouts, runway returns and, of course, all those debuts.

Willy Chavarria made his mark in Paris with a powerful duo of shows

In January, CFDA Award-winning designer Willy Chavarria chose to shift his runway show from New York, where he lives and works, to Paris. A striking first show, held at the American Church on Quai d’Orsay, came just a few days after Trump’s inauguration, with Chavarria – whose runway shows have long been a clarion call for the rights of immigrants and the queer community – soundtracking the show with Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon imploring the incoming president to ‘have mercy’ towards marginalised communities. ‘It was so beautiful, and it fell exactly in line with what we were doing,’ he told Wallpaper* of the speech. ‘I wanted to show that everyone is welcome, and to do that in a church seemed like the most pronounced way of showing queer people, trans people, in this environment where they were the saints’. His sophomore Paris show, this summer, was similarly impactful: it opened with 35 kneeling men wearing white T-shirts made in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a reference to those being unlawfully detained by ICE in the United States.

READ: Willy Chavarria: ‘We’re still so stuck in fashion’s old guard’

Faux fur and shearling took over the runway

Not a moment, per se, though the proliferation of faux fur and shearling on the runway – spanning both the men’s and women’s collections – was one of the year’s undeniable style takeaways (so much so, we even spotted it on the spring/summer runways). ‘When worn, it becomes a heady meeting place of signifiers – luxury, wealth, power, but also protection, armour against the elements, an ancient and primal urge to be swaddled in the spoils of the hunt,’ we wrote earlier this year of the renaissance of fur – albeit in imitation fabrics – which seemed to a response to the tumult of contemporary living. Indeed, at Prada, where co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons presented a collection of ‘Raw Glamour’, ‘fur’ coats – constructed from cleverly manipulated shearling – had strange protusions at the collar or were trapped under plastic. ‘We asked ourselves, what is femininity today? It is a constant questioning,’ said Mrs Prada. ‘It is not my job to be political, but when you open a newspaper – oh my God! Our job is to think about what clothes a woman can wear, about what kind of femininity makes sense in this moment.’

READ: Faux fur and shearling dominated the A/W 2025 runways – these pieces capture the material’s ‘raw glamour’

Alessandro Michele entertained with a showstopping haute couture debut for Valentino

Haute couture was always going to be a medium which suited Alessandro Michele, the former Gucci creative director who now heads up Valentino. For his first couture collection for the house – presented this past February – the Italian designer, known for theatrical runway shows and richly imaginative collections, hit new heights, employing the ‘petits mains’ of the Valentino atelier to create a series of showstopping gowns. In a style typical to the deep-thinking designer, they were explained in the book-length collection notes through the language of philosophy and semiotics – Homer, James Joyce and Italo Calvino were all mentioned – with each gown representing a ‘list’ of words and influences (‘[lists] confine the infinite extension of the existing within a meaningful framework… to bring some order to the chaos of the universe,’ Michele wrote, quoting Umberto Eco). These surreal lists scrolled across the show’s set on a series of ticker-tape screens as the dramatic looks wandered across the stage, a millefeuille of satin, lace and tulle – eclectic, intricate and, as fashion sleuths showed after the show, rooted in the Valentino archive. ‘To attempt to describe each look – and its multitude of elements – would require a pages-long list of its own,’ we wrote at the time. ‘It was best to simply let yourself be entertained.’

READ: Inside Alessandro Michele’s showstopping debut haute couture show for Valentino

Martine Rose held her first gallery show – an ode to Bronski Beat’s radical energy

During London Fashion Week in February, Martine Rose hosted her first gallery show at Sadie Coles HQ, revisiting her 2016 film Everything Must Change – a Sharna Osbourne-shot short starring Bronski Beat frontman Jimmy Somerville. ‘Pop charts at the time I was introduced to Jimmy Somerville’s voice were dominated by gay musicians: Erasure, Bronski Beat, Marc Almond,’ Rose told Wallpaper*. ‘Mainstream pop by out and proud gay men making serious, respected pop music – not tokenistic – which can never be replicated. It was a radical time for music, all about individuality, no stylists, all genuine expression.’ It’s a statement that captures the radical, subculture-infused energy of Rose’s own work: later that year, in June, she staged a one-off show in an abandoned west London job centre, adorned for the occasion in boudoir-style ruffled curtains. ‘I was exploring this new shrunken silhouette,’ she said after the show. ‘Everything feels a bit cinched, a bit too tight, slightly awkward, but somehow still sexy, I hope.’ It is this idiosyncratic approach – at once strange, sexy and real – which has made Martine Rose one of London’s defining voices, doing things her own way for close to two decades.

READ: Martine Rose’s first gallery show celebrates the radical queer energy of Bronski Beat

Calvin Klein returned to the runway with a new ‘sexitude’

In February, Calvin Klein hosted its first runway show since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018 (under him, the runway collections went under the moniker Calvin Klein 205W39NYC; now, they are back to being called Calvin Klein Collection). In one of the year’s first notable debuts, it was former The Row designer Veronica Leoni who took the helm, seeking a mood of sensual minimalism she dubbed ‘sexitude’ – a nod to the pulsing undercurrent of eroticism which ran through the brand’s advertising campaigns and collections in the 1990s. ‘When it comes to sexiness, it’s more like an attitude,’ the Italian designer said backstage. ‘You own it in the way you wear the clothes. I think it’s really intimate being sexy – regardless of the silhouette, the amount of skin, it’s about the confidence.’ The collection came with the blessing of Mr Klein himself, who watched on from the front row. ‘He told me he was happy he had found a new coat to buy,’ she said. ‘I’m really proud for him to feel at home again.’

READ: For her Calvin Klein debut, Veronica Leoni stripped it all back

Fendi celebrated its centenary with a blockbuster show in Milan

2025 was a definitive year for Fendi: not only did it mark a century since the fashion house was founded in Rome, but, after the departure of artistic director of womenswear and couture Kim Jones in October 2024, the beginning of its new chapter. As such, in February, Fendi opened the doors to its newly renovated Milanese headquarters for a celebratory runway show, seeing house scion Silvia Venturini Fendi take the reins for the blockbuster spectacle which included a cast of Fendi muses, past and present. The granddaughter of house founders Adele and Edoardo Fendi, Venturini Fendi started at the house in the 1990s under Karl Lagerfeld, and would go on to head up menswear and accessories, though this was just the second time she had also designed the womenswear line (the first was after Lagerfeld’s death in 2019). Talking to Wallpaper*, she said that it was an honour to head up such a definitive show for both her family and the house – but was adamant this was not about living in the past: ‘I tried to avoid any precise reference because, to me, anniversaries are beautiful, but you don’t want it to be a retrospective or nostalgic’. After presenting a second co-ed collecti on in September, she stepped down from the creative role to become ‘honorary president’. Her successor will be former Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri in a much-rumoured move.

READ: Silvia Venturini Fendi on luxury, lineage and looking to the future: ‘If it reminds me of something we’ve already done, we move on’

Prada agreed to purchase Versace for $1.375 billion

The subject of much speculation and rumour after Donatella Versace stepped down from her role as creative director the month prior, in April, it was confirmed that the Prada Group reached an agreement to purchase Versace after the Italian house was put on sale by former owner Capri Holdings earlier in the year. Agreeing to a deal of $1.375 billion for 100 per cent of the company – well below the initial $2 billion asking price – it marked a definitive move from the Prada Group to establish an Italian luxury conglomerate (The Prada Group comprises Miu Miu, Church's and Car Shoe; in 1999, it purchased controlling stakes in Jil Sander and Helmut Lang, though they were later sold). ‘We are delighted to welcome Versace to the Prada Group and to build a new chapter for a brand with which we share a strong commitment to creativity, craftmanship and heritage,’ said Patrizio Bertelli, Prada Group chairman and executive director, at the time (the deal was completed in December). ‘We aim to continue Versace’s legacy, celebrating and re-interpreting its bold and timeless aesthetic; at the same time, we will provide it with a strong platform.’

READ: Donatella Versace is stepping down as creative director

The Met’s Costume Institute explored the figure of the Black Dandy

In a year which was notable for its slew of fashion exhibitions – from the confection-like gowns of ‘Marie Antoinette Style’ at London’s V&A to a Rick Owens retrospective featuring a lifelike sculpture of the designer ‘urinating’ water into a trough below – the Metropolitan Museum’s annual Costume Institute exhibition in May still demands the most attention. This is largely because of the accompanying Met Gala – the starry event heralds the exhibition’s opening – though it is also down to the Costume Institute’s head curator Andrew Bolton’s eye for finding intriguing subject matter in the Met’s extensive archive. This year, he drafted Monica L Miller, author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, to help curate the exhibition, which traced the sartorial history of the Black Dandy from the 18th century to the present day. Titled ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’, alongside historical garments, it featured the work – or personal wardrobes – of Virgil Abloh, Andre Leon Talley and Grace Wales Bonner, among others, with set design for the arresting exhibition courtesy of artist Torkwase Dyson. ‘I clocked into how people have fashioned themselves as a manipulation of autonomy and ownership in which clothing is a resistance,’ she told Wallpaper* of the design, which riffed on her signature trapezoid sculptures.

READ: Torkwase Dyson’s set design for ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ at The Met meditates on ownership, charisma and histories

Saint Laurent’s viral knee-high boots heralded menswear’s dark, sensual mood

At Cannes film festival, while promoting queer ‘dom-com’ Pillion – a film which explores a dom/sub relationship between a shy parking attendant and a biker – Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård donned a thigh-high leather wader boot by Anthony Vaccarrello for Saint Laurent. Shown at the house’s runway show earlier that year, it became one of the viral accessories of the year, worn by everyone from Pedro Pascal to Marc Jacobs, and ubiquitous in magazine spreads. Inspired by an imagined meeting between two men who designed the aesthetic of the 1980s – Yves Saint Laurent and Robert Mapplethorpe – the collection captured a mood of dangerous sensuality which ran throughout the season, from Prada’s patchworked leathers to Maximilian Davis’s S/S 2026 Ferragamo collection, inspired by the languid sensuality of Pina Bausch and the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Vaccarello dubbed it a ‘menacing, seductive elegance’ – classic menswear with an inflection of kink.

READ: Inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe, Saint Laurent’s surprise menswear show captured ‘a menacing, seductive elegance’

Homme Plissé Issey Miyake channelled la dolce vita in Florence

It would prove one of the most memorable show locations of the year: unfolding against a painterly Florentine sky at sunset, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake staged its S/S 2026 show at Medicea della Petraia, a former Medici residence on Monte Morello in the rolling Tuscan countryside. A guest of Pitti Uomo menswear fair, the Issey Miyake offshoot used the occasion to introduce a new roving format of runway show: eschewing its usual place on the Paris Fashion Week schedule (its position has been taken by IM Men, another brand in the Issey Miyake family), it will show in a series of locations around the world in the coming seasons. As such, collections will draw inspiration from local landscapes: here, it was done via an evocative use of colour, utilising hues sourced through trips the design team had taken around Italy (from ’Cinque Terre Yellow’ to ‘Zucchini Flower Orange’). The result was a collection which fused Italian charm with Homme Plissé’s pioneering fabrications: played out in the villa’s winding, maze-like gardens, it was impossible not to be seduced.

READ: With an ode to Italy, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake brings its brand of fashion magic to Florence’s Pitti Uomo

Rick Owens spread the love with a Paris retrospective

‘I’m surprised I got so far,’ Rick Owens told Wallpaper* in a wide-ranging conversation to mark the opening of ‘Temple of Love’, a career-spanning retrospective at Paris’ Palais Galliera. A celebration of the American designer’s singular approach – one laced with both subversion and wit – the exhibition took attendees on a trip from his early years on Hollywood Boulevard in the 1990s (a recreation of his Los Angeles bedroom of the time appears in the exhibition) towards his blockbuster spectacles at Paris’ Palais de Tokyo (indeed, in June, an opening party took place just after his S/S 2026 menswear show, with guests simply having to cross the road from one institution to another). ‘Michèle [Lamy, Owens’ wife] kept telling me, ‘You gotta stop calling it a retrospective!’ She doesn't like the finality – I'm leaning into it,’ he said. ‘A retrospective implies a decline, it makes you think about legacy and mortality and ageing, and how long do you stay relevant, and how important is that? I don't have the answers to any of those things, but I am thinking about them and addressing them publicly.’

READ: ‘I’m surprised that I got this far’: Rick Owens on his bombastic Paris retrospective, ‘Temple of Love’

Jonathan Anderson rebooted his brand – and debuted at Dior

It was a busy June for Jonathan Anderson. Alongside his much-anticipated debut show at Dior – a menswear offering for S/S 2026 presented at Paris’ Hôtel National des Invalides, which astutely reworked formal dress codes – the Northern Irish designer also revealed a rebooted vision for his eponymous, London-based label JW Anderson, which propelled him to renown after it was established in 2008. Doing away with the label’s usual seasonal runway shows, the new vision centres on the idea of the shop: in Paris, during haute couture week, he constructed a simulacrum of a new store concept by architects Sanchez Benton which included not only a fashion collection (a greatest hits of sorts, seeing signature pieces imbued with a greater commitment to craft) but a curation of intriguing objects and curiosities, from ceramics and vintage gardening tools to furniture, art, even honey. 'I like change. I have wanted to change things around for two years now, and finally I feel at one with who I am today and what the brand means,’ he told Wallpaper*. ‘It’s things that I either want to wear or want to live with.’

READ: Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut: ‘bringing joy to the art of dressing’

Craig Green returned to the runway – and to Paris

After just over a decade in business, Craig Green remains one of British fashion’s definitive voices – a singular creative force whose imaginative collections transform humble menswear archetypes (workwear, uniforms, biker jackets) through imaginative construction and unusual fabrications, oftentimes evoking sculpture. This year, he made his return to Paris Fashion Week, having shown a year prior in his London studio, and elsewhere via lookbook (Green is one of a handful of designers who seem to be flourishing outside of the typical fashion calendar). The show was one of our highlights of the year: a poetic, free-thinking collection inspired by The Beatles, psychedelics and 1960s bed sheets – albeit in his typically inventive style. ‘Creativity how everything moves forward,’ Green told us in the October 2025 ‘Long View’ issue of Wallpaper*, in which we documented the process behind the collection. ‘You need creative thought for things to progress, and for new things to happen. You have to have the freedom to make mistakes, to create work and not live in fear.’

READ: ‘You have to be fearless’: inside the free-thinking world of Craig Green

Glenn Martens unveiled his vision for Maison Margiela

The task was unenviable: as the new creative director of Maison Margiela, Belgian designer Glenn Martens would not only have to follow the house’s namesake – arguably the most influential designer of recent times – but also John Galliano, his predecessor, whose final collection, which conjured a troupe of contorted dolls on the drizzly moonlit banks of the Seine, was a true fashion epic. But Martens, who comes with a pedigree of his own after zeitgeist-defining stints at Y/Project and Diesel, was more than up for a challenge. His own creatures were sheathed in masks (a nod to a Margiela hallmark, that of anonymity) and appeared pulled through the the walls of history – quite literally, with a melange of jacquards, Renaissance motifs and embossed leather (inspired by 16th-century Flemish wallpaper), evoking the faded grandeur of abandoned stately homes (indeed, the show set was a series of ‘palatial interiors’ printed on crumpled and crased paper). We called it a ‘thrilling’ debut, a task of ‘reinvention and reconstruction – a precarious balance of what to take and what to leave behind’.

READ: Glenn Martens’ thrilling Maison Margiela debut was a balancing act between past, present and future

Fashion East celebrated a ‘rowdy and raw’ 25 years of nurturing emerging talent

In September, Fashion East’s S/S 2026 runway show doubled as a celebration: 2025 marked 25 years of the Brick Lane-based talent incubator, which was founded by Lulu Kennedy to help forge the careers of London’s rising stars. The roll call of names which have passed through its doors is proof of its success: Jonathan Anderson, Martine Rose, Kim Jones, Craig Green and Grace Wales Bonner are all alumni of the unique scheme, which has long encapsulated London’s unique brand of young talent – defiantly creative, ‘rowdy and raw’ (as Kennedy herself described in a letter distributed to guests at the show). Taking place at the ICA, this season’s show – comprising collections by Nuba, Jacek Gleba and Mayhew – doubled as a Nike-sponsored exhibition tracing Fashion East’s impressive quarter century through its memorable clothing and ephemera, from Green’s ‘broken-fence’ chestplates to a leopard-print cake by Mowalola. Later in the year, in December, Kennedy and her creative partner Raphaelle Moore collected a Special Recognition Award at the 2025 Fashion Awards. ‘We’re proud to have created a unique space where designers have both the freedom to create fearlessly, and a family unit to uplift them,’ they said.

September’s fashion week saw almost too many debuts to count

2025 was fashion’s big reshuffle, seeing an unprecedented number of designers making their debuts at fashion’s biggest houses – from Dior to Chanel, Gucci to Celine. It was September fashion month, though, that was a true changing of the guard moment, with over 15 designers presenting their first collections as newly installed creative leads. These spanned an energetic and playful debut from Nicholas Aburn at Area in New York (the former Balenciaga designer riffed on the figure of the party girl in irreverent style), Simone Bellotti’s masterful first outing at Jil Sander, which saw him astutely explore ideas of modernity and lightness (staged in the brand’s white-walled Milan headquarters, it was a true clean slate momet), or Pierpaolo Piccioli’s typically heartfelt first collection for Balenciaga (an appearance from the Duchess of Sussex ensured column inches).

Elsewhere, notable debuts included Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Glenn Martens at Maison Margiela, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe and Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier. And, while these debuts were largely lauded – particularly by critics – fiercer debates broke out online in the depths of Instagram comment sections. ‘I have read some really heinous comments about the work of many designers in these last few days,’ wrote Perfect magazine’s Edward Buchanan, former design director of Bottega Veneta, in a much-shared post. ‘It is not always perfect, and it is not always what you personally imagined it to be. You don’t have to like everything… but why not celebrate and talk about what you love?’

Though in Paris, it was Chanel and Dior which commanded the most attention

There were two debuts, though, which commanded the most attention: Jonathan Anderson’s womenswear debut for Dior (he had previously shown his first menswear collection in June) and Matthieu Blazy’s opening act for Chanel. Shrugging off the weight of expectation, both collections provided an astute and contemporary viewpoint on the future of two of fashion’s most storied houses – Anderson through a fearless ‘recoding’ of the house’s archive in his idosyncratic style (we said it was a collection of ‘bravery, vision and instinct’), Blazy through a collection of unbridled freedom and optimism (a twirling Awar Odhiang in a gown of kaleidoscopic feathers, the model who memorably closed the show, encapsulated the ‘triumphant’ mood). After Chanel, which marked the end of fashion month, we said that after all of the debuts, it finally felt like a ‘weight had been lifted’. ‘There will be no more anticipation or speculation, no more guessing games or gossip. The designers are in place, and a new chapter of fashion has begun – from there, the hard work begins.’

While Demna marked his Gucci debut with a Demi Moore-starring film

In what proved an astute move, the Georgian designer Demna – previously of Balenciaga – got ahead of the season’s other debuts by presenting his first collection as creative director of Gucci on the first day of Milan Fashion Week, allowing him a moment in which he dominated the narrative (and, of course, social media). Revealed first through a lookbook of Gucci ‘archetypes’, rewritten in his typically irreverent and subversive style (he called it a ‘bold, sexy new chapter’ for the house), it was followed up by a Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-directed short, premiered at Milan’s Palazzo Mezzanotte. Titled The Tiger, it starred Demi Moore as the fictional ’head of Gucci international and chairman of California’ whose world begins to unravel at a family gathering. Even cleverer? Demna will get another ‘debut’ in 2026 when he holds his first runway for the house during Milan Fashion Week, in February.

READ: Gucci reveals its ‘bold, unapologetically sexy’ new era under Demna

The fashion world mourned the death of Giorgio Armani

In early September, the fashion world mourned the death of Giorgio Armani, an arbiter of Italian style who founded his eponymous house half a century ago, in 1975. One of fashion’s great success stories, Mr Armani began the label using funds made from selling his old Volkswagen Beetle; on his death, he left behind a multi-billion dollar empire spanning not only fashion but homeware, hotels, restaurants, fragrances and cosmetics. To mark his death, after a private funeral held earlier in the month, well-wishers gathered at Milan Fashion Week in September for his final Giorgio Armani show. Originally intended to celebrate 50 years in business, it took place at Brera’s Pinacoteca di Brera, where an accompanying exhibition unfolded in the galleries above. As ever, the S/S 2026 collection – modelled on a cast of Armani models past and present and watched on by muses Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton and Cate Blanchett – encapsulated Mr Armani’s brand of soft elegance, culminating with model Agnes Zogla in a glimmering gown adorned with his face. Afterwards, guests milled the galleries, where the designer’s work took its fitting place amid the great Italian masters – from Bellini to Raphael.

READ: In Milan, the fashion world gathers to say goodbye to Giorgio Armani at his final show

A Virgil Abloh exhibition celebrated his landmark legacy

Just over four years since his death, American designer Virgil Abloh leaves behind a towering legacy – one which was celebrated this September in Paris with the opening of an exhibition at the Grand Palais. Open for just a few days (cue a sold out booking system and snaking queues around the block), the exhibition opened the doors to his prolific archive of objects, clothing, ephemera, furniture and art, displayed across sprawling tables and shelves as if stepping into his headquarters. Indeed, one senses the polymathic designer – who made history as the first Black creative director of Louis Vuitton – would enjoy the exhibition’s approach, which eshewed the behind-glass formality of the traditional museum (only self-restraint stopped you from picking up the objects on display). Titled ‘Virgil Abloh: The Codes’, the idea is for it to go on display around the world. ‘This is a true celebration of Virgil's vision and ethos,’ said the late designer’s wife, Shannon Abloh. ‘This offers an invitation to the world to engage and to build upon his ideas.’

READ: Inside the Paris exhibition cataloguing Virgil Abloh’s extraordinary archive

Grace Wales Bonner is appointed at Hermès

In late October, Hermès announced the appointment of Grace Wales Bonner as the house’s head of menswear, replacing Véronique Nichanian who made the choice to step down from the role after a record-breaking 37-year tenure (the longest of any working creative director at a fashion house). It felt long overdue for the British designer. An LVMH Prize-winning designer whose deeply felt collections for her eponymous label Wales Bonner – exploring themes of Black masculinity, migration and luxury – have consistently won plaudits for rich storytelling and meticulous craftsmanship, leading many to question why she hadn’t been chosen for a creative director role sooner (she had been rumoured for roles at both Louis Vuitton and Givenchy which went to Pharrell Williams and Sarah Burton respectively). On social media, there was a rare positive consensus on the decision: in her own post, the designer, who was born in South London to a British mother and Jamaican father, expressed her ‘deep honour’ at being chosen for the role. ‘It is a dream realised to embark on this new chapter, following in a lineage of inspired craftspeople and designers,’ she wrote.

READ: Lauded British designer Grace Wales Bonner is the new head of menswear at Hermès

1980s ‘architect of glamour’ Antony Price returned to the runway

The fashion critic Alexander Fury – who is an avid collector of his work – has called Antony Price, a British fashion designer who came to prominence in the 1980s, as ‘criminally underrated’. Best known for creating the visual universe of Roxy Music, and staging similarly dramatic runway shows in the decade, the ‘architect of glamour’ made a welcome runway return in November, courtesy of a one-off salon show with London-based label 16Arlington. Staged in the latter’s east London studio, the high-profile cast – from Lily Allen to Adwoa Aboah – prowled the runway in the high-voltage creations, puffing on cigarettes before posing for photographer Felix Cooper. ‘I personally felt Antony never really received his flowers,’ Capaldo told Wallpaper*. ‘To have been able to witness such a legend at work has probably been one of the most incredible and pivotal moments in my career. It's been really magical.’ Sadly, it was announced that Price passed away at the age of 80 on 17 December 2025.

READ: ‘Architect of glamour’ Antony Price makes a high-voltage return to the runway with 16Arlington

Dario Vitale said goodbye to Versace

It was to be one of fashion’s shortest tenures – just a few short months after his debut, in December, it was announced that Italian designer Dario Vitale would be exiting Versace. The former design director of Miu Miu, and the successor to Donatella Versace, the news came as some surprise: Vitale’s debut show at Milan Fashion Week, though divisive, had won over critics and was already being worn by celebrities (Olivia Dean wore custom Versace for a recent SNL appearance, while Addison Rae was also an early adopter). We said that Vitale had ‘stripped back conceptions and ushered in an energetic new vision: sexually charged and ‘reckless’, one that harkened back to the dress codes of Gianni Versace without nostalgia.’ On social media, the announcement came with some disappointment at the way in which designers are given so little time to make their mark: ‘There’s a disturbing pattern across the fashion industry: giant companies, plucking creative directors, placing them on a pedestal, parading them as the future, and then discarding them just as quickly,’ wrote casting director Anita Bitton in a much-shared Instagram post.

In Vienna, there was a chance to see Helmut Lang’s fashion archive for the first time

Though he exited the industry 20 years ago, Helmut Lang’s influence on fashion remains palpable. A definitive figure of the 1990s, he proposed a vision of sensually-charged minimalism and utility which continues to define the way that we dress today. He also changed the way we consume fashion, too: his memorable New York runway shows stripped back the artifice of the 1980s and its elevated runway, drafting friends to walk alongside supermodels, while stripped-back campaigns were captured by a young Juergen Teller. This revolutionary spirit is celebrated in ‘Séance de Travail 1986-2005’, an exhibition which opened in December at MAK in Vienna, which marks the first time Helmut Lang’s fashion archive is on show to the public – from memorable garments to archival film, ephemera, even recreations of elements from his equally definitive stores (Lang donated his archive to the institution in 2011). ‘Looking at Helmut Lang’s store architecture, it became obvious: his stores were all about directing the gaze. This is also what exhibitions need to do, but here it was essential. A photo wouldn’t suffice; you have to experience it,’ curator Marlies Wirth told Wallpaper* of the exhibition, which is designed to immerse you in the Lang universe – all the way down to the floor, which features a seating plan from a runway show.

READ: Inside Helmut Lang’s fashion archive in Vienna, which still defines how we dress today

Marty Supreme birthed the year’s viral garment – thanks to Timothée Chalamet

The Marty Supreme press tour has already come with some memorable sartorial moments – the film’s star Timothée Chalamet and girlfiend Kylie Jenner in matching orange Chrome Hearts for one – though it was more humble track jacket which went viral in December (the Josh Safdie-directed film is out on Christmas Day in the United States). The nylon windbreaker, created by the film’s production company A24 alongside California-based label Nahmias, was part of a merch drop for the film – adorned with ‘Marty Supreme’ and three gold stars, Chalamet has barely taken it off since. Pop-ups in New York and London have seen queues around the block to lay their hands on the $250 jacket – with resale sites selling the garment for up to for up to £4,366 (that’s over 20 times its original price). It speaks not only to A24’s marketing prowess, but also to the rise of movie merch – at the end of 2024, Mary Cleary explored its rise for Wallpaper*. ‘How it will continue to play out is yet to be seen, but one thing is almost certain: movie merch will continue to take over fashion,’ she wrote – and was right.

In 1931, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel took a trip to America: the destination, Hollywood, where she was set to meet studio executive Samuel Goldwyn to discuss working with him to help dress the leading ladies of his movies (he hoped that her Parisian sensibility would attract more women into theatres). En route, she made a pit stop in New York, staying in the hotel Saint Pierre on the city’s Upper East Side, though it was during the second visit – on her journey home – that she ventured Downtown, to Union Square. There, in the discount store S Klein, she discovered knock-offs of her designs – far from offended, thousands of miles from home, it was evidence that her aesthetic had stuck.

Yesterday evening (2 December 2025) on the platform of the disused Bowery station on New York’s Lower East Side, Matthieu Blazy – the recently installed artistic director of the house – cited this moment as the starting point of his first Métiers d’Art show, a yearly collection which shows off the skills of the house’s various craft métiers (these span embroidery and featherwork to hats, shoemaking and jewellery, many of which are gathered in Le 19M facility in Aubervilliers, Paris). ‘When [Chanel] went back to New York, she went downtown and saw women who were not from the higher class who had adopted the Chanel style,’ the French-Belgian designer said after the show. ‘It was not Chanel, but it looked like Chanel. When she returned to Paris, suddenly she had energy again and continued to design.’

The collection itself seemed to hang in this balance, and got to the heart of Blazy’s mission at Chanel: how, with a house of such cultural heft, do you balance ideas of fantasy and reality? After all, this is what Gabrielle Chanel proved so adept: on the one hand, the couturier was synonymous with the echelons of Parisian style, her apartment-cum-atelier on Paris’ Rue de Cambon – the spiritual home of the house – a lavish assemblage of Chinese screens, gilded furniture and crystal chandeliers. On the other, she would revolutionise the way that women around the world dressed, releasing them from what Janet Flanner, in a 1931 issue of The New Yorker – the same year Gabrielle Chanel visited the United States – called the ‘gussets, garters, corsets, whalebones, plackets, false hair, and brassières’ of the century prior.

His debut, held earlier this year in Paris, tended towards the latter sense of freedom, not least in the scenography, which saw the Palais de Tokyo installed with a vast simulacrum of the galaxy. Last night’s show was an altogether more ‘real’ setting: a New York subway station, albeit cleaned up of the dirt and grime of the daily commute (it was not the first time a runway show had been held there; in 2019, Tom Ford hosted a show on the platform). The show began with a train pulling into the station, out of which his models strode or meandered along the platform, as if caught on their way to work – or, indeed, for the more dramatic looks, a party. Guests watching on included Margaret Qualley and A$AP Rocky, fresh from the show’s teaser, which saw the pair play New York lovers in a Michel Gondry-directed film that unfolds in a series of surreal scenes across the city (including on the subway).

‘The New York subway belongs to all. Everyone uses it: there are students and gamechangers; statesmen and teenagers,’ Blazy said in a statement distributed after the show. ‘It is a place full of enigmatic yet wonderful encounters, a clash of pop archetypes, where everyone has somewhere to go and each is unique in what they wear. Like in the movies, they are the heroes of their own stories.’

In this way, it reflected his opening trilogy of shows for Bottega Veneta, which the designer said were inspired by observing the daily rituals of the Italian street (Blazy was creative director of the house prior to his appointment for Chanel). Here, he struck a similar mood of eclecticism, hinging on a series of archetypal characters: ‘socialites and superheroes, teens and olds, working girls and showgirls, the ladies who lunch and mothers on the go’, he described, noting that inspirations spanned the 1920s to the 2020s. With it, a sense of play: a sweater with a double-C version of the Superman logo peaking out from beneath a pulled-open shirt; a tweed two-set in bold leopard print (the material was hand-woven by Lesage); ultra-lightweight ‘lingerie denim’ adorned with twisting constellations of beads (the ‘denim’ was actually illusory silk).

Other looks straddled moment of glamour – billowing hand-painted tulip skirts, feathered shoes and net hats, tailoring edged with shearling fur – and something more quotidien, like the opening look of a pair of simple denim jeans, a zip-up sweater and the house’s signature two-toned shoes. Throughout it all, odes to the intricacies of the various métiers: look closers and you could spot tiny beaded lady bugs, golden Gooosens jewellery evoking ice cubes and hummingbirds, while Massaro’s classic slingbacks – based on a design by Gabrielle Chanel herself – came in featherweight kidskin or shaved animal print shearling.

‘I just wanted to have fun... something beautiful and enjoyable – [that’s] what we have to propose in fashion,’ Blazy said after his joyful – and critically lauded – debut earlier this year. Here, with an astute sophomore collection, he found a similar feeling of levity – one which felt unencumbered by the weight of designing for a house like Chanel. ‘I like the idea of doing a show where nothing is linear. I wanted to create a kind of happenstance, what we see every morning when we go to work, and you don’t know what’s gonna be at the corner,’ he said. ‘It’s playful.’

chanel.com

The invitation for Matthieu Blazy’s debut runway show for Chanel was a necklace: on it, a tiny silver charm shaped like a house and engraved with Chanel’s double-C emblem. When you peered through its front window, the time and address of the show were there in minuscule letters – barely visible to the naked eye.

Chanel itself is a house, but a big one. Its revenue in 2024 was close to 19 billion dollars, and that in itself was a drop from the year prior due to market conditions (the value of the company is several billion dollars more). With the brand known far beyond the closed circle of fashion, you might not own a Chanel jacket or a 2.55 handbag, but you have likely worn its perfume or make-up – you might have even taken its name for a child or a pet.

Matthieu Blazy shows his debut collection for Chanel

Chanel is also the house of Karl Lagerfeld – a towering figure who himself transcended fashion to become a household name – and before that, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. Stripping away what Janet Flanner in a 1931 issue of The New Yorker called the ‘gussets, garters, corsets, whalebones, plackets, false hair, and brassières’ of turn-of-the-century women’s dress, the French couturier would liberate the body and stage a fashion revolution.

Add to this the weight of the strident online discourse which has surrounded the other debuts this fashion month – a brief scroll on any major fashion magazine’s Instagram comments will give you an insight – and you would be forgiven for thinking that Blazy’s task was near-insurmountable (last week, at Jonathan Anderson’s debut womenswear collection for Dior, an Adam Curtis-directed short film preceding the show intercut footage from the house’s previous runway shows with clips from horror films – a symbol of the anxiety taking on such a major brand can evoke).

But Blazy comes to the house with plenty of pedigree. Born in Paris (a plus, particularly for the show’s French contingent), he arrives at Chanel from a critically lauded and commercially successful, if relatively brief, stint at Bottega Veneta, where he utilised the house’s leather atelier to create extraordinary sartorial illusions (a memorable pair of ‘denim’ jeans were actually trompe l’oeil leather). Before that, he worked in the design teams for Raf Simons, Phoebe Philo’s Celine, Calvin Klein and Maison Margiela; at the last, he reinvigorated the house’s Artisanal line after the eponymous designer’s departure. He became known as something of a behind-the-scenes genius – a designer of intellect and taste. ‘The most famous designer you’ve never heard of,’ New York magazine deemed him in 2014.

But this evening (6 October 2025), he took his place on fashion’s main stage: the Grand Palais, the longtime home of Chanel’s runway shows, which for the occasion of Paris Fashion Week S/S 2026 had been transformed into a gleaming solar system in a gesture that recalled the bombastic presentations of Lagerfeld. Hanging over an oil-black floor – its surface evoking the undulating constellations of outer space – the enormous glowing orbs were chosen by Blazy to represent Gabrielle Chanel’s fascination with the night sky. ‘I wanted to do something quite universal, like a dream, something outside of time,’ said Blazy. Far from that tiny metal house: this was his own invitation to dream big.

‘We can go two ways. Either we do a clean, modern, by-the-codes, by-the-book Chanel show, and it’s a first step. Or we do this show as if it was our last,’ he told The Business of Fashion in an interview released to coincide with the start of the show. ‘I took the last option. Let’s do a show as if it was the last one.’

Unfolding in three chapters – Un Paradox, Le Jour and L’Universel – the show, Blazy said, began with the discovery of Gabrielle Chanel’s love affair with the English polo player Boy Capel, whom Blazy called her ‘most significant other’. ‘It begins with a menswear tradition,’ he said of ‘Un Paradox’, honing in on the men’s shirt and suit – something he imagined being passed between Capel and his lover. Here, the shirt was Charvet in a rare collaboration (though Gabrielle Chanel herself was a client of the Parisian shirtmaker), while tweed tailoring had a loose, masculine line. The opening jacket was based on one of Blazy’s own blazers: ‘I only changed the buttons and added a chain,’ he said post-show.

The latter sections were more expressive: in ‘Le Jour’, he thought about the idea of a garment being passed through generations, like a 2.55 handbag that appeared crushed and worn, or tweed jackets and skirts that had the illusion of coming apart at their seams (‘the worn familiarity of the truly chic, items feel passed down and utilised’). In ‘L’Universel’, Blazy felt most at home: a continuation of the vivid materiality of his time at Bottega Veneta came in sheer dresses that bloomed with appliqué flowers, a tweed two-set rendered in crochet, and Awar Odhiang’s closing gown, which descended into a kaleidoscopic melange of feathers (Blazy said his team had nicknamed it the ‘Piña Colada’ dress). In a memorable moment, the Ethiopia-born Canadian model grinned and twirled at the end of the finale, joining Blazy for his triumphant final bow.

Soundtracked by the buoyant 1992 Eurotrance song ‘Rhythm is a Dancer’, that finale also marked the end – save for a few smaller shows on Tuesday – of a fashion month defined by its numerous debuts. With this final one, it feels like a weight has been lifted: there will be no more anticipation or speculation, no more guessing games or gossip. The designers are in place, and a new chapter of fashion has begun – from there, the hard work begins.

But Blazy can afford to revel in this moment a little longer. After all, how many times do you get to stage your debut runway show for Chanel? ‘I just wanted to have fun,’ he said. ‘Something beautiful and enjoyable – [that’s] what we have to propose in fashion.’

Craft, concentration and curiosity: these are some of the codes embedded in Chanel’s DNA, and the same applies to the workshops that help create the house’s collections. A new exhibition in Tokyo sees le19M – the Parisian hub that brings together the house’s craft métiers and their workshops under one roof – travel to the city, creating a dialogue between Parisian savoir-faire and traditional Japanese craft.

Amid increasing moves in the fashion industry to outsource production, le19M is doing the opposite. Since 1985, Chanel has integrated its maisons d’art – workshops and companies producing fabrics, embroidery, buttons, and accessories, some with histories dating back to 1853 – under its umbrella, securing production in-house. ‘To ensure that the maisons d’art innovate and perpetuate their crafts, and to usher them to work with as many clients as possible, in a way for their creativity to be challenged, [as well as] to foster dialogue between different crafts to nurture new ideas,’ Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel SAS and president of le19M, tells Wallpaper* of the importance of bringing these craftpeople into the fold.

Chanel’s le19M lands in Tokyo with new exhibition

Today, a network of approximately 60 manufacturers, including maisons d’art, forms Chanel’s ecosystem of savoir-faire. Within this, 11 workshops specialising in tweed, embroidery, featherwork and other crafts have become resident at le19M: the cultural complex founded by Chanel in northeast Paris in 2021. Amid challenging conditions for craftsmanship, such as the mechanisation of production and an ageing artisan population, le19M aims to preserve traditional crafts while enabling their evolution. Currently, around 700 embroiderers, feather workers, goldsmiths, pleaters, bootmakers, hatmakers, and milliners work in the building. The name le19M derives from its location in Paris' 19th arrondissement, as well as the day of house founder Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel's birth, while the letter M represents ‘mode, mains, maison, manufactures, and métiers d’art‘.

This month, le19M has temporarily relocated to Tokyo. The purpose is to exhibit creations developed in collaboration with Japanese artisans and other creatives. In the light of the works of le19M's artisans – characterised by an inherent intricacy, caution, and perseverance – there is a resonance with Japan's own meticulous dedication to craftsmanship. The collaboration between the two was natural.

The Tokyo exhibition, ‘Chanel presents la Galerie du 19M Tokyo’ – staged on the 52nd floor of the 53-storey Mori Tower, offering 360-degree views of Tokyo – unfolds in three sections. The first section, ‘Le Festival’, introduces the specialised techniques of each of le19M’s 11 workshops, conveying the richness and breadth of their craftsmanship through an immersive installation. Objects that are distinct to each workshop – wooden hat moulds, pleating templates, embroidery components – hang suspended from the ceiling, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of wandering into the ateliers of le19M. Tools used daily by the craftspeople in their respective workshops and fabric samples are displayed, allowing visitors to observe up close how the raw materials gradually metamorphose into works of art.

The highlight of the exhibition is the second section, ‘Beyond Our Horizons’, which showcases collaborations between le19M's craftspeople and nearly 30 creators and artisans from Japan and around the world, curated by five editorial members: film director and writer Momoko Ando; Casa Brutus magazine editor Yoichi Nishio; Shinichiro Ogata, founder and creative director of multidisciplinary design studio Simplicity; curator Kayo Tokuda; and Aska Yamashita, artistic director of Chanel-owned embroiderer Montex. Its scenography, much like le19M in Paris, evokes the image of a creative village – a gathering place for numerous craftspeople – and is inspired by natural elements such as wind, water, fire, and earth. This resonates with Japan's traditional craftsmanship, which has long embraced the local natural environment, creating works in harmony with their individual locales.

Don't expect typical fashion here. The collaborations between le19M and the various artists and artisans push the boundaries of their craft, opening up new horizons. For instance, a hat becomes a chochin Japanese paper lantern, a collaboration between Kojima Shoten, which has crafted lanterns in Kyoto for over 200 years, and le19M's hat workshop, Maison Michel. ‘The hat moulds are elliptical, not perfectly circular, making it challenging. We had to devise solutions like connecting bamboo rods with both curved and straight sections,’ says Ryo Kojima, head of Kojima Shoten’s tenth generation, which has produced countless diverse lanterns over its centuries in operation.

A noren curtain – a Japanese textile divider – on display is also a collaborative work, seeing Akiko Ishigaki, a dyeing and weaving artisan from Iriomote Island in Okinawa, unite with maison d’art Lesage, known for its embroidery and tweed. For over 40 years in Okinawa, Ishigaki has cultivated bashofu, a fabric made from fibres of the Japanese banana plant basho. Her process begins with growing the plant, peeling its trunk bark, boiling it in lye to extract the fibres, and then splitting these fibres by hand into fine strands, making the textile from the material itself. Ishigaki sent her bashofu thread to Lesage, where it was woven into the noren. Here, Lesage tweed became a noren curtain.

A take on traditional sukiya-style architecture is also on display, evoking traditional Japanese townhouses that feature tatami mats, shōji screens, and transoms. Created in collaboration between Kamisoe, which crafts karakami Japanese paper in Kyoto, and Lemarié, workshops for corsage, feather work and haute couture tailoring, a series of paper corsages are applied over sukiya-style interior walls – just like applying corsage over the clothes. Elsewhere, artisans at the bronze workshop Desrues created the fusuma sliding door handles, while jewellery workshop Goossens crafted the traditional shoe-removing platform. While it may defy the rules of what constitutes sukiya-style architecture, such radical challenges are precisely how you innovate tradition to open the door to the future. These posed a challenge for the Japanese artisans, who had to devise new methods different from their usual practices.

So what can we expect from this cross-continental collaboration? ‘The immateriality of the collaboration is what makes the project beautiful and magical, [and that is] significant,’ says Pavlovsky.

The final, third section of the exhibition traces the century-long history of embroidery workshop Lesage – probably the most well known of le19M’s maisons d’art – during which it has underpinned fashion history. The exhibition conveys how Lesage’s history, beginning in 1924, has integrated embroidery into fashion not as an add-on or embellishment but interwoven into the designs, while also using their skills on interior design projects, stage costumes, and textiles for historical furniture. Like this rest of the display, it demonstrates le19M’s effusive approach to craft – one seductive enough to make you want to become an artisan yourself.

‘La Galerie du 19M Tokyo’ runs from 30 September to 20 October 2025 at Mori Tower 52nd, Tokyo, Japan, then travels to la Galerie du 19M in Paris early in 2026.

la Galerie du 19M — le19M

Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel once quipped: ‘In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different’. At the only home entirely imagined by her – in the dreamlike setting of the Côte d’Azur in the late 1920s – she designed a place so precise, there is no improving it a century later.

Instead, La Pausa has been meticulously restored by the house of Chanel after acquiring it in 2015 and embarking on over a decade of renovations with architect and close collaborator Peter Marino. He pored over hundreds of fading photographs to understand Chanel’s decorating spirit. ‘I hoped the restoration would recall the time in which the house was built, as though Mademoiselle Chanel had left the room only five minutes before,’ says Marino. ’Authenticity and the history of La Pausa were paramount.’

On a cliff in the sea-sprayed commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the architecture of La Pausa echoes Chanel’s style, luxurious without ostentation. She entrusted a young architect, Robert Streitz, to create her ideal Mediterranean villa in a swaying olive grove with a focus, much like her fashion, on lines and light. Monastic and modern, La Pausa is essentially a square around a cloister with simple stone arches, and is decorated in a sparingly Baroque style with carved Spanish furniture and Persian carpets. In the west wing are the bedrooms of Chanel and the Duke of Westminster (her partner, who would sail around the Mediterranean on his yacht, the Flying Cloud).

The team behind Chanel Heritage Sites bought back many pieces of La Pausa’s furniture at auction in Paris, including Chanel’s gilded wrought iron headboard. As before, a gold star has been added to the headboard – a timeless motif of good fortune, which often appeared in her jewellery. While Chanel’s wood-panelled room featured a triple-mirrored built-in dressing table, displaying Chanel’s make-up and fragrance collection, there was notably no large wardrobing. Of course, she would have packed light.

Chanel liked to say that she had ‘lived on staircases’, and the one at La Pausa – which she would descend no earlier than 1pm – was inspired by a grand stone staircase at the Aubazine Abbey, where she had spent years as a child (the nuns there also inspired her striking black and white fashion palette). Streitz was sent to Corrèze to take measurements, and the resulting ceilings soar like a church nave. Placed below are five windows, alluding to Chanel No 5 eau de parfum and creating a spritz of sunshine.

Designed at the height of her success, Chanel’s villa was a space for much-deserved relaxation, before new inspirations. The walls are surprisingly bare – because here she collected artists over art itself, with visits from Riviera regulars Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, writer Colette and composer Igor Stravinsky. Despite a well-documented rivalry, it’s believed even Christian Dior visited, as he ran a gallery with Pierre Colle, a frequent guest at La Pausa.

Guests met over lunches and dinners that snubbed the stuffy protocols of the early 20th century. A bare wooden table was never set the same way twice, with colourful fruits and vegetables in silver bowls, or freshly cut garden flowers. Marino particularly liked a setting with ‘funny little crystal candlesticks’ that remind him of Chanel’s love of rock crystal chandeliers. Conversations flowed between guests who chose their seats. They were only interrupted by Ugo, the Italian butler, bringing coffee or Champagne to the table.

After lunch, conversations continued on the terrace while some took strolls or played tennis on the five-acre property’s clay court. Chanel would wear jersey trousers and red canvas espadrilles with a thick cork sole, ideal for rough paths, before changing into a flexible suit for sport.

In the evening, guests sometimes played roulette at the Monte Carlo casino, but they were often more tempted by the company at La Pausa. Misia Sert would play the piano as rugs were rolled up and guests danced along to a tune that floated out to the sea. As one writer noted, Chanel sometimes tied wide, flowing ribbons in her hair. La Pausa obeyed only its own rules, much like Chanel’s style.

Throughout her life, Chanel supported artists who shared a taste for the avant-garde, audacity, and amusement. None more so than Salvador Dalí, who stayed in the little guesthouse next to the chapel with his wife Gala during the Spanish Civil War. Over four months, he finished eleven paintings in ‘ephemeral studios’ he set up in various corners of the villa. He also worked on his memoirs at this pivotal time for his artistic persona.

The only sign of time passing at La Pausa, which fittingly means ‘the pause’ in French, is in the olive grove today – where silver-leaved branches slowly intertwine. Chanel did not embrace her era’s preference for exotic and modernist gardens. Instead, her villa chose to commune with its natural surroundings, and none of the 250 trees were uprooted – with one particularly striking tree having to be built around at the entrance. ‘That’s the most telling statement of her attitude: you leave the trees where they are, you don’t touch them. You had to walk around the olive tree to get to her front door,’ says Marino.

With a great respect for the rugged French Riviera landscape, Chanel was one of the first to cultivate lavender and other plants previously regarded as too rustic or commonplace. Inside, two candelabra cacti, in simple wooden planters, were personally nurtured by Marino to reach the same height as the originals.

The restoration also honours its environment by converting to renewable electricity. The only intrusions to the restoration are the complete update of the house’s plumbing, ventilation, and electrical systems (which are invisible).

After reopening this summer, La Pausa is once again a private home that captures the creative effervescence of the Côte d’Azur. In the ‘dream space’, where Chanel spent her most free-spirited days, friends of the house will again meet for cultural exchanges through the Chanel Arts & Culture programming – like a recent series of podcast ‘Chanel Connects’, which was recorded in the home. Fashion fades, but the hosting style of Chanel remains.

Themes of glamour, danger and seduction ran through the A/W 2025 collections – from Saint Laurent’s thigh-high leather boots to ‘fur’ coats, animal prints and sculpted tailoring. As seen in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper* (on newsstands now), we capture the season’s sensual new mood in 12 objects and looks for men and women.

Power trip (top left)

Tropes of glamour – from bullet bras and brooches to red lips and fur coats – were riffed on by designers in unexpected and imaginative ways. At Alaïa, towering shearling ‘fur’ coats looped around models’ necklines and tassels jutted from skirt waistlines, while vast corsages sat flush to the neck. ‘The message is about singularity, individuality, the eternal strength and resilience of women, empowering them through their clothes,’ said creative director Pieter Mulier. ‘That inspired Azzedine, and it always inspires me – the strength of beauty.’

Thigh high (top right)

An imagined meeting between Robert Mapplethorpe and Yves Saint Laurent sparked Anthony Vaccarello’s menswear collection for Saint Laurent. Clashing the carnal desires of Mapplethorpe’s photography with the ‘bookish’ classicism of Yves Saint Laurent’s Parisian uniform, it was defined by thigh-grazing leather boots worn with 1980s-inspired tailoring. Referencing a ‘Robin Hood’ boot created by Yves Saint Laurent in 1963, they were perhaps the season’s most talked-about accessory, finding fans in Alexander Skarsgård and Pedro Pascal.

Buffer zone

The proliferation of faux fur – or fur reproductions in cleverly manipulated feathers or dyed shearling – suggested a desire for protection, whether against the elements or something more existential. Enveloping ‘yeti’ coats were most appealing in their hefty weight and size, from those at Dolce & Gabbana – evoking the thrown-on style of off-duty models – to Sportmax’s shaggy monochromatic overcoats. ‘Hyper-reinvention – where the ordinary becomes extraordinary,’ said the Italian label of the collection.

Swan song

After a five-year tenure, Kim Jones held his closing act as artistic director of Dior menswear amid a dramatic monochromatic mişe-en-scene that saw models descend an enormous optic white staircase and onto the runway – a play on the staircase at the house’s Avenue Montaigne address. Silhouettes took inspiration from the streamlined proportions of Christian Dior’s 1954 H-Line couture collection, while ribbon-like eye masks were tied at the back with a bow, evoking those found on the bottles of the Miss Dior fragrance.

Magic eye

Awaiting the arrival of incoming creative director Matthieu Blazy, Chanel has used recent collections to reinforce its most distinctive codes. For A/W 2025, it did so through a collection designed to ‘alter perceptions’, reimagining Chanel emblems using tricks of the eye – whether trompe l’oeil bows or a series of surreal accessories blown up in size or shrunk into miniature. These included a huge version of its signature pochette, a tiny quilted handbag, and this Borrowers-style string of pearls, one of which flips open to make a bag.

Dark arts

‘A menacing elegance’ is how Anthony Vaccarello defined the mood of his menswear collection for Saint Laurent, with its sense of danger, inflected with hints of kink. There was also Prada’s patchworked leather tailoring and raw slices of shearling ‘fur’; Lemaire’s leather foulards, worn as headscarves; and elongated trench coats and leather gloves at Ferragamo. The latter was presented by Maximilian Davis on a darkened runway strewn with red roses, a nod to the sensual staging of Pina Bausch’s Nelken, performed by the Tanztheater Wuppertal.

Wild ones

Designers embraced a wilder side this season, with Duran Lantink’s collection sporting a heady collage of zebra, leopard and tiger prints, some painted directly on to the models’ bodies, while Peter Copping’s Lanvin debut – an ode to the louche 1920s eveningwear of founder Jeanne Lanvin – featured oversized leopard-print coats with a soft, shaggy finish. At Sacai, Chitose Abe looked towards more fantastical realms, conjuring up the monsters of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are with brightly coloured flourishes of dyed shearling.

Hat trick

The hat is having something of a renaissance, appearing in various guises on recent runways. Signalling a move beyond the casual spirit of a cap or beanie, designers instead delighted in the nostalgic elegance of more classic millinery. At Sportmax, it was something between a pillbox and a panama, at Duran Lantink, there were amped-up versions of the trapper and woolly hats in his signature sculpted form, while Loro Piana featured a play on the cloche hat, a style synonymous with the liberatory dress codes of the 1920s.

Pump action

The pointed, heeled pump has been an archetype of femininity since its rise to prominence in the 1930s, a moment that coincided with the growing influence of Hollywood. Interpretations of the pump appeared throughout the collections, though it was those at Prada that proved most intriguing, featuring raw-cut edges as a riposte to perfection. Co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons noted it was part of an interrogation of femininity. ‘We asked ourselves, what is feminine beauty?’ said Mrs Prada. ‘It is a constant questioning.’

Carry all

This was the season of the XXL bag, perfect for transporting the necessities of contemporary life. Hermès offered up a new take on its ‘Haut à Courroies’ bag, which, in its roominess, can double as a weekend bag or plane carry-on. Stripped of the usual hardware, the various straps and clasps were replaced with ghostly embossing, as if a trace of what was there had been left behind. It came as part of a collection that artistic director Véronique Nichanian described as ‘a play between front and back, inside and out, visible and invisible’.

Body work

Stella McCartney staged her show at the ‘Stellacorp’ HQ – a surreal simulacrum of an office, complete with spinning chairs and desks, which was eventually invaded by underwear-clad pole dancers. Titled ‘Laptop to Lapdance’, playful juxtapositions ran through the collection, which saw the corporate uniform, from pencil skirts to blouses, shot through with a frisson of perversity. Collections from Acne Studios, Balenciaga and All-In presented similar riffs on office attire, the latter inspired by Mike Nichols’ 1988 movie Working Girl.

Take shape

Men’s tailoring this season was sculpted in silhouette, with a focus on the waist. Kim Jones’ final collection for Dior Men included a tuxedo-style riff on Christian Dior’s Bar jacket, while at Wooyoungmi, a reconsideration of eveningwear saw a carved waistline on a jacket adorned with 3D-appliqué flowers. Madame Woo, who staged the show in the opulent surrounds of Karl Lagerfeld’s former residence on Rue de l’Université, said she was thinking about ‘ideas of proper dressing’, reimagining formalwear in louche and sensual style.

Models: Hollie-May Saker at Models 1, Tristan Watkins at Menace Models. Casting: Dean Goodman. Hair: Anna Chapman at Julian Watson using Bumble and Bumble. Make-up: Kirstin Piggott at Julian Watson using Charlotte Tilbury. Manicure: Hayley Evans-Smith at Saint Luke using Byredo. Interiors: Olly Mason. Digi tech: Laura Heckford. Photography assistants: Tom Porter, Ed Philips. Fashion assistant: Lucy Proctor. Interiors coordinator: Archie Thomson. Production: Victoria Watkins at Birdhouse. Production assistant: Melina Grace Bryant. Retouching: Aly Studio.

A version of this story appears in the September 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

The search for the perfect swimwear provides one of summer’s biggest conundrums – a seemingly endless play off between aesthetics, function and fit, with one element so often coming up frustratingly short (sometimes literally).

There are a handful of brands, though, which approach swimwear with either architectural precision (Eres and Alaïa both fit this bill), a true sense of summertime ease (think: Orlebar Brown, Frescobal Carioca), or with a sense of glamour and play (Hunza G, Chanel and Lido). Each is a trustworthy option for beach attire this summer.

All of them feature in this guide of the world’s best swimwear brands – for both men and women – collated with help from the Wallpaper* style team (who in turn have consulted trusted friends). Rounding out the list are a handful of more sporty labels – including Nike Swim and the perennial Speedo – which will seamlessly transition from workout to seashore.

The world’s best swimwear brands, according to Wallpaper*

Eres

There are a few reasons Eres is the leading name in swimwear. The first is its unparalleled understanding of what looks and feels good on the female form. Suits are masterfully cut to flatter the body's curves and lines, while uncomfortable padding and wires are nowhere to be found.

The other reason is the brand’s exclusive materials, which not only sculpt the body but are also comfortable, quick-drying, and durable enough to endure a hundred swims in the roughest waters. Founded in Paris by Irene Leroux in 1968, the brand hit its stride in the 1970s, and it continues to draw inspiration from the decade with sleek silhouettes, graphic patterns and a rich, jewel-toned colour palette.

Available eresparis.com.

Orlebar Brown

Orlebar Brown doesn’t create swim shorts, it creates shorts you can swim in. At least, that was the idea that inspired the brand when its founder, Adam Brown, was denied entry to a restaurant because he didn’t look smart enough after a day spent at the beach. Since 2007, the Chanel-owned brand has created men’s swimwear that looks luxurious enough to get you through any door. Its swim shorts come in a variety of lengths and styles – alongside a full warm-weather wardrobe of shirts, linen jackets and pants – but the most reliable choice is always the Bulldog, which come in an array of prints and feature trouser details like metal side-fasteners on the waistline.

Available selfridges.com.

Hunza G

If you’ve been anywhere near a body of water in recent years, chances are you’ve seen a Hunza G bathing suit (or if you’ve seen Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts’ white and blue dress in the opening scene is a Hunza G design). The brand’s signature crinkle fabric suits have been around since 1984, but its relaunch in 2015 has made it the mainstay choice for cool women everywhere. Like Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please line, Hunza G’s crinkle fabric is designed to be universally flattering, with an extraordinarily stretchy composition that conforms to a wide range of body types, while playful fabrics and silhouettes – like a new gingham collection – keep things interesting. ‘You can swim in the clothing pieces and sit at lunch in the same items – dry minutes later. It’s swimmable ready-to-wear,’ says Georgiana Huddart, founder and creative director.

Available at selfridges.com.

Vilebrequin

Vilebrequin’s swimwear reflects the laid-back elegance of its Saint Tropez hometown. The brand’s signature swim trunks are meticulously designed, from the rear pockets that are hand-placed to ensure the pattern lines up, to metal eyelets that drain excess water and prevent ballooning, to the barely-there feeling of its mesh lining.

Yet, perhaps the best thing about Vilebrequin’s suits is their durability. Each style is designed to be worn, repaired and passed on from one generation to another, making for a trusty summer companion that will see you through rough sea waters or lazy days by the pool. Beyond its signature swim trunks, the brand also sells equally high-quality swimwear for women and kids, alongside a wide range of resort-focussed clothing and accessories, like towels and hats.

Available harrods.com

Rudi Gernreich

Rebellious is the best word to describe Rudi Gernreich, the man, and the brand. In 1970s Los Angeles, Gernreich was already operating a successful fashion brand when Los Angeles County made it illegal to tan or swim naked at any of the city’s beaches. Gernreich's response was both a brilliant bit of marketing and a stroke of creative genius: the thong bikini.

The creation garnered a storm of attention and eventually gave birth to the bikini’s underwear counterpart, but Gernreich was not just a showman. His swimsuit designs are modernist masterpieces, with asymmetrical necklines, graphic cut-outs and bold block colouring. As out fashion features editor, Jack Moss wrote ahead of the brand’s relaunch in 2022, for Gernreich, these designs ‘arose not just from a desire for shock and publicity, but a deep-founded belief in the liberatory power of clothing’.

Decades later, the anarchic spirit of Gernreich can still be felt in every one of them. No matter how much the world has changed since Gernreich unveiled his bikini, that (very) little piece of clothing still has the power to shock.

Available rudigernreich.com.

Alaïa

The Parisian fashion house Alaïa is known for designs that celebrate the female form with figure-hugging silhouettes and flexible fabrics. It makes sense, then, that under the creative direction of Pieter Mulier, the brand has been able to seamlessly transition into swimwear. It is, perhaps, as close to couture as swimwear could ever get with elegant draping, ruching, cut-out details, in-built hoods, bolero-style waterproof jackets, asymmetrical necklines and other impeccably designed creations. All the suits are made in Italy and come in the rich, block colours the brand is known for, including its signature black and red.

Available maison-alaia.com.

Speedo

Is there any brand more synonymous with swimwear than Speedo? Probably not, and that’s because the brand has been changing how we swim since 1921, when it launched the world's first non-wool suit, which allowed for a greater range of motion in the water than ever before. Other innovations include the first nylon swimsuit, the first made-to-measure sculpting suits and the first suits made out of chlorine-resistant fabric. More Olympic Gold Medals have been won in Speedo than any other brand, but you don’t have to be an athlete to wear its designs. A black Speedo one-piece or swim trunks are a timeless addition to your summer wardrobe, while a new ‘Jetstream’ collection looks back to the brand’s roots with vintage-inflected motifs in signature tones of navy, white and red (above).

Available at speedo.com.

OAS

OAS combines the cool minimalism of Scandinavian style with the vibrant colours, bold prints and sinuous silhouettes of Southern Europe. Founder Oliver Adam Sebastian began the brand after years of bringing back suitcases filled with espadrilles he bought in Barcelona to his Scandinavian friends. Eventually, Sebastian decided that since the summer shoes were nowhere to be found in his hometown, he would start making them himself. Not long afterwards, OAS was born and quickly grew to include a range of other summer styles like swimsuits, sarongs, button-up shirts for men and women. Particularly notable is the brand’s Dye Studio, located in their former Stockholm office, where garments are dyed and reworked by hand into chic, idiosyncratic designs.

Available from oascompany.com.

Nike Swim

If there’s a brand that knows how to dress for sporting activity, it's Nike. And while the American behemoth might be closely associated with sports like basketball, track, football and the like, its swimwear designs are just as high-performing. That said, a recent focus on the Nike Swim line has seen the brand filter such technical innovations through a more style-conscious lens – whether through a bold colour palette or playful design details, like nautical lace-up which feature in the S/S 2025 collection, without compromising the sports-ready performance of the suits.

Available from nike.com.

Frescobol Carioca

The ethos behind Frescobol Carioca swimwear is suggested in its name – Carioca (a demonym used to refer to residents of the City of Rio de Janeiro) and Frescobol (a racket sport popularised on the city’s beaches in 1945). With its range of brightly coloured swim trunks, elegantly tailored linen shirts and breezy drawstring trousers, Frescobol Carioca channels the exuberance of the South American city and the dapper elegance of 1940s style. Each suit is made from quick-dry materials with flexible cuts that make them ideal for beach sports.

Available from mrporter.com.

Chanel

You can't get much chicer this summer than wearing a swimsuit made by Chanel. Capturing the sense of irreverent Parisian style and ease which runs through the house’s ready-to-wear collections, Chanel’s swimsuits and bikinis have a playful undercurrent, evoking styles that walked the runway in the 1990s. The house’s latest Chanel Coco Beach 2025 collection features signature dual-tone one-pieces and bikinis featuring miniature ‘CC’ emblem decoration which pair perfectly with Chanel’s signature sandals and sunglasses, as well as this season’s Chanel towels, sarongs, ‘CC’ handboard and other beach accessories.

Enquire at chanel.com.

Lido

Italian brand Lido was born out of the desire to create sustainable swimwear that didn’t sacrifice style. Named after an island near Venice, each Lido design is made in Northern Italy using fast-drying fabrics, with colours and shapes inspired by the local region. Highlights include the Undici bikini, a flattering high-waisted style, and the Uno one piece, with a cross-over back straps and deep scoop neckline. Meanwhile for men, a recent launch of a dedicated menswear line sees classic shorts and trunks – all with SPF protection inbuilt – in hues of red, forest green and navy.

Available net-a-porter.com.

CDLP

Swedish brand CDLP launched in 2016 with the aim of revolutionising men’s underwear through minimalist designs and sustainable, breathable fabrics. These days, the same meticulous approach applies to the brand’s swimwear, which includes swim briefs, boxers and trunks for men, as well as bikinis and one pieces for women. Many of the designs are made from Econyl, an innovative nylon fibre created from landfill and ocean plastic waste that is both durable and quick-drying. Particularly noteworthy styles include the Bermuda Swim Shorts, which are made from matte dry nylon poplin with a belt closure, and the simply named ‘Swimsuit’ for women, a one-piece style with a high neckline and cross-back adjustable shoulder straps.

Available from ssense.com

For all that mechanical watchmaking is usually about miniaturisation, sometimes its masters like to display their talents on a grander scale. In 2025, brands and collectors alike have been enticed by the showstopper appeal of the most incredible clocks –statement pieces that bring the best attributes of today’s watchmakers to room-filling stature.

It has been the same story in the vintage market. In May, Phillips sold nine Cartier clocks that it described as ‘museum grade’ across its Hong Kong and Geneva auctions. The star lot was Portico Clock No.3, a 101-year-old ornate table clock in the ‘mystery’ style for which Cartier became famous. It sold for CHF3.9m (£3.5m), and still wasn’t the top story in an auction that also saw independent watchmaker FP Journe acquire a clock it had made for Breguet in 1991, the Sympathique no.1, for CHF5.5m (£5m).

That masterpiece is destined for FP Journe’s forthcoming museum in Geneva. But others are headed for – or already reside in – private collections. At Watches and Wonders in April, Chanel showed the Diamonds Astroclock, a contemporary take on a classic planetarium style that was produced by specialist clockmaker L’Epee 1839 (recently acquired by LVMH). With the movement housed in a glass sphere, the clock celebrated the constellation of Leo, both in its timekeeping display and with a white-gold lion sculpture set with 5,037 diamonds at the clock’s base.

Astronomical timekeeping was a popular theme: Panerai showed an updated version of its Jupiterium, a 100kg perpetual calendar planetarium that celebrates the discoveries of Galileo. As brooding and modern as the Chanel piece, it features the constellations of the zodiac picked out in green Super-Luminova, in keeping with the brand’s tool-focused aesthetic.

Van Cleef & Arpels, meanwhile, opted for a more ornate approach to what it calls its latest ‘extraordinary object’. The giant table-mounted planetarium is an evolution of a decade-old design, with a stylised shooting-star motif inlaid into the pale wood and the most impossibly detailed depictions of the planets, which orbit atop a celestial plane of lapis lazuli, accompanied by a mechanical melody as a gem-set shooting star emerges from a hatch to tell the time.

It is possible, however, to create a sensational clock without amassing enormous weight or complexity. Piaget’s latest clock is described as a ‘high jewellery mobile’, and sets a golden oval, set within it a smaller oval of opal, against four counterweights, also in gold, three of which are inlaid with semiprecious stones. With each individual clock differing slightly due to the natural variation of the stones, the mobile must be balanced accordingly.

By cutting against the grain of size, heft and mechanical complexity, Piaget has shown that there is more than one way to translate the aesthetic of a fine jewellery brand into a clock, bringing elements of its 1970s and 1980s heyday that are enjoying such a moment in today’s watch market.

An ode to affordable furniture

Nick Vinson, Contributing Editor

This week was pretty special. After lunch with artist Dame Rachel Whiteread to celebrate the launch of her collection for Puiforcat Silver Set 2025 (more about that in a future issue of Wallpaper*), I headed to Antwerp for dinner with Inditex chair Marta Ortega Pérez and Vincent Van Duysen at the architect’s home to mark the launch of his fourth collection for Zara Home. Van Duysen filled his home with pieces from the collection, including rugs, sofas, tables, a desk, lamps and some fabulous cream-coloured carpets, and the garden with the outdoor collection. It’s good to see the brand hiring original talent and creating quality products with enduring appeal, and Van Duysen should be proud of this line of more ‘democratic’ and ‘accessible' furniture than that in his Italian collections. I have to admit I was slightly sceptical as I am not at all familiar with Zara Home, but instead was suitably impressed; there is a need for quality at a better price and design that will stand the test of time.

A Brooklyn food tour

Anna Solomon, Digital Staff Writer

A trip to manic Manhattan, which entailed as much sight-seeing as could be fitted into five days, ended with a much-needed escape to Brooklyn to visit a couple of friends with a knack for sniffing out great restaurants that have not yet been ravaged by a New Yorker review. Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg was their answer to my unimaginative demand for this quintessential American experience – a 24-hour spot originally opened in 1928 but taken over by chefs Jackie Carnesi and Amanda Perdomo at the end of last year. Now, obligatory pancakes sit comfortably alongside Tex-Mex at a bafflingly reasonable price point, among decor that tastefully reinterprets retro Americana. Beloved bistro Bar Tabac is an antique-filled slice of France in Cobble Hill, with live jazz and a chocolate fondant that will change your life, while Liar Liar, a natural wine bar in Gowanus (The New Yorker did get to that one), will serve you a fantastic steak frites and bottle of red at a price point that is, again, double take-inducing if you’ve come from Manhattan.

A moon-inspired omakase

Ellie Stathaki, Architecture and Environment Director

An evening at Luna Omakase in the City of London had me fall in love with this traditional Japanese feast all over again – ‘omakase’ loosely translates to ‘I leave it up to you’, and it's often a multi-course set menu prepared in front of you by an expert chef. The younger sibling of Juno Omakase, Luna is tucked away within Los Mochis in Liverpool Street and, just like its peer, offers a delicious, theatrical and immersive dining experience. Luna's concept is centred around the moon cycles; the number 12, symbolising the moon's journey throughout the year, informs the number of guests at any one sitting, the dishes served, the artworks in the room, and more. Executive chef Leonard Tanyag and his team have created a dining journey that nods to more traditional Japanese omakase (compared with Juno's Mexican-Japanese fusion) – there is mouthwatering nigiri (seafood, fish and melt-in-the-mouth wagyu), creative uses of wasabi, and contemporary interpretations of Japanese snacks and sandwiches. The flavours were strong, as my sitting aligned with June's 'strawberry' full moon, and the chef’s informative explanations for each dish made for a convivial atmosphere. Coming with bespoke sake pairings, it was a meal I truly savoured.

A techy trip

Jonathan Bell, Transport and Technology Editor

A busy week that involved not one but two trips to the US, starting with a visit to Big Sky, Montana, to sample Bentley's revised and updated model range, before heading to California (via London) to Apple's WWDC25. It was my first time at Apple Park and the experience didn't disappoint, with Foster + Partners’ stunning architecture – including the new Observatory – standing up to very close scrutiny. The attention to design detail was mind-blowing, appropriately enough for a company devoted to pixel-perfect perfection.

A music-infused anniversary

Charlotte Gunn, Director of Digital Content

I spent a fabulous evening celebrating 150 years of Audemars Piguet in London on Wednesday. Along with a dinner from Michelin-starred chefs Jeremy Chan and Sven Wassmer, the haute horologie brand had a surprise in store. As an extension of their AP x Music programme, they paired Mark Ronson and Raye together to record an original song. The result is ‘Suzanne’, a joy-filled summer anthem, and much to guests' delight, the pair appeared to perform the song.

A garden-inspired tea

Sofia de la Cruz, Travel Editor

I recently enjoyed a soothing and delicious afternoon tea at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, celebrating the launch of a new partnership with Cadogan Gardens in Knightsbridge – a private, verdant enclave in front of the property, home to over 5,000 diverse plants. The flavours and aromas of traditional English gardens were beautifully reflected in delicate pâtisseries, including an indulgent lavender chocolate barquette and a comforting strawberry honeycomb tart. Classical music played softly in the background set the mood perfectly.

A very east London summer party

Anne Soward, Production Editor

This week, I attended the Museum of the Home’s summer party, which celebrates the incredible work that the east London museum does over the year. It was a beautiful warm evening to be out in its stunning walled garden (actually a series of ‘garden rooms’ that chart the evolution of the English urban garden through the centuries), where we were treated to performances from Yuko Tsubame – who accompanies her Japanese folk songs infused with punk with the sounds of a sanshin, a traditional three-stringed instrument – and taiko drummer Akinori Fujimoto. Inside, we were able to get a private view of images from the World Food Photography Awards that explore the connections between home and food, which tied in nicely with the delectable morsels being plated around the party, including vegan spring rolls from local Vietnamese Sen Viet and mini bagels from Daniel’s. A DJ set from Minuscule of Sound rounded off the evening.

Jewels in Japan

Hannah Silver, Art, Culture, Watches and Jewellery Editor

This week I celebrated the launch of Chanel's beautiful new high jewellery collection, Reach for the Stars, in Kyoto. It was a joy to discover the collection, see some very special sights and enjoy lots of good food. The trip culminated with a spectacular dinner at Shogunzuka Seiryuden, complete with a drone light show, drawing Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite motifs in the sky.

In the 1930s, Gabrielle Chanel was tasked with transporting a Parisian elegance across the Atlantic. Requested in Hollywood by movie studio United Artists, Chanel was to bring her chic signature designs to the movie industry, lending a glamorous boost to the movie stars, both on and off screen.

With the designer keen to return to Paris, it was a short sojourn, but one with a lasting impact, felt in both the streamlined silhouettes of Chanel’s clothes and the bold designs of her jewellery. It is an era revisited now in a new high jewellery collection, ‘Reach for the Stars’.

Old and new references unite in the pieces, which rework familiar motifs. In her only high jewellery collection in 1932, ‘Bijoux de Diamants’, Chanel celebrated the spiky outline of the star, a symbol she considered ‘eternally modern.’ Here, the comets are lengthened, outlined in gold and onyx on the ‘Blazing Star’ set, while two diamond pendants bring a fluidity to the ‘Dazzling Star’ choker. Transformable jewels, such as the ‘Twin Stars’ necklace, which can become two bracelets and two short necklaces, add another facet.

As well as the comet, Chanel’s much-loved astrological sign, the lion, is also featured here. Drawn with a mane of dazzling stars, and set in a cloud of white and yellow diamonds in the ‘Strong as a Lion’ set, the lion also presents a more sculpted side in the striking ‘Embrace Your Destiny’ necklace.

For the first time, the wings motif is translated into high jewellery, in tribute to Chanel’s philosophy: ‘If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.’ In the ‘Wings of Chanel’ necklace, diamond wings unfold to embrace the curves of the neck, while the asymmetry of the ‘Pretty Wings’ earrings brings a cool modernity.

For Patrice Leguéreau and the Chanel Jewelry Creation Studio, it is a glamorous vision distinctive to Chanel. ‘We wanted to create pieces of jewellery that are illuminated by the rays of the sunset and beyond, with those colours blazing across the horizon. Capturing that magical moment between day and night when high jewellery sparkles on the skin.’

chanel.com

Cream blush sticks are invaluable tools in your beauty arsenal for the summer months, striking the perfect balance between a lightweight, ethereal consistency and high-impact payoff.

Buildable and incredibly low-stakes when it comes to errors in application, the cream blush stick is also infinitely versatile: it can be dabbed onto eyelids, lips and swept across the temples, as well as the apples of the cheeks and bridge of the nose in keeping with the natural skin flush that warmer weather provides.

From dewy to matte finishes, Wallpaper* selects five of the best formulas, including Merit’s aptly-named Flush Balm, Chanel’s Les Beiges Blush Stick and Nars’ cult classic The Multiple.

Five of the best cream blush sticks, from Merit to Chanel

The notes of spring perfumes are markers of the season itself, with blossoming flowers, ripening fruit and green accords symbolic of new beginnings.

After the moodier, heavier scents of wintertime – rich gourmands, spicy ambers and woody ouds that linger in a colder atmosphere – spring fragrances are a welcome breath of fresh air, in keeping with the climbing temperatures and renewed sense of optimism buoyed by the sun’s rays.

Here, Wallpaper* presents our edit of the best spring perfumes of 2025, from the likes of Réservation, Perfumer H, Louis Vuitton and more.

The best spring perfumes of 2025

Cross the threshold of the vast historic hall at Hamburger Bahnhof museum in Berlin and you are transported into a bizarre, sublime 2,500 sq m realm that simultaneously seems to straddle ancient and future civilisations. Six giant hand-woven tapestries in flax and hemp hang from the ceilings; sandstone and glass sculptures protrude from walls, reminiscent of fossils, while the floor is partially covered with more than 3,000 concrete slabs set with epoxy resin ‘puddles’.

Entitled embrace, the monumental installation is the work of Klára Hosnedlová – a 35-year-old Czech artist – and her star is firmly on the ascendant. The installation is the first Chanel commission at Hamburger Bahnhof, from a series of three by different artists that will be funded by the Chanel Culture Fund over the next three years.

‘I love this space. It's super-specific but, on the other hand, it's one big open space: cold, heavy, and also quite masculine because of the metal girders,’ says the artist of the former train station complex that was built in 1846 to connect Berlin to Hamburg. It was transformed into Germany’s National Gallery in 1996 and houses the Contemporary Art Museum in spaces including the iconic hall. ‘I wanted to create something that's fragile: opposite of the structure. It was also about creating a forest of tapestries where you can hide, just be with yourself and feel embraced by the ecology. The work really has to occupy the space and it's very challenging,’ says Hosnedlová, who has created a humbling, terrific realm. Her work is audacious yet tender in its intricate detailing, such as glass sculpting, hyperrealist embroideryn (motifs are drawn from her video recordings of performances she has staged), hand-tufted and dyed sprawling tapestries that drape like animal hides.

Hosnedlová, who grew up in rural Moravia, began painting and drawing as a young girl, encouraged by her family, before enrolling at Prague’s Academy of Fine Arts. Erasmus scholarships took her around the world, including a year at Canberra University, Australia. The giant, communist-era brutalist architecture of her homeland looms large in her imagination, as does Czech folklore, and she began exhibiting in underground spaces in Prague, overseeing every aspect from the making to the graphic design.

This installation is given ambient strength with a layered soundtrack that mixes a Carpathian all-girl singing group and Czech rapper Yzomandias, while the tapestries give off a hempy smell. Hosnedlová’s multidisciplinary practice, spanning sculpture, music, film and video, is impressive in its range and scale. She never sees a work as ‘final’ but part of a continuum that mutates over time. ‘In my practice, nothing is completely finished and I also curate performances within the works that I film that provide with me with ideas for future embroideries,’ she says.

Hosnedlová’s extraordinary installation, made in a series of different specialist studios in and around the region, has been a year in the making and this is her largest institutional solo exhibition to date. ‘For me, it's always so important to develop all my materials. I spend a lot of time just researching materials, combining materials, mixing the different mineral powders for the sculptures, to have the tone and surface as natural as I can,’ she says.

Her meta themes traverse utopias, the notion of home, the politics of shifting borders and how industry and artisanship co-exist in rural areas of Czechia. ‘Shining a spotlight is often transformational. So, we feel very lucky that we're able to accompany Klára at this critical moment,’ says Yana Peel, global head of arts and culture at Chanel. Elsewhere, Hosnedlová has just been commissioned for the inaugural work at the OMA-designed extension of the New Museum in New York.

The scope of the Chanel Culture Fund

With the Chanel Culture Fund, Peel’s aim is to tap into the projects, institutions and people that are driving the narrative forward. ‘Excellence could be in the form of Klára embodying this huge space. It could be a game designer in Brooklyn who wins the Chanel Next Prize,’ says Peel of the unconventional broad church.

The Chanel Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof marks a new chapter in the museum’s story, empowering artists to realise ambitious, large-scale projects. This edition is co-curated by Sam Bardaouil, director of Hamburger Bahnhof, and Anna-Catharina Gebbers. Corporate sponsorship of the arts is still relatively rare in Germany and, with cuts in arts funding, ever more needed.

The audaciousness of Hosnedlová’s installation makes it a great contender for the fund. In the five years since its launch, Peel has initiated more than 40 projects with partners in 15 countries. ‘Not having our own foundation space allows the fund to be multipolar. What matters most? What's coming next? How do we figure out what is the urgency?’ she says of the agility and wide scope of the scheme, which spans sculpture, film, emerging talent, fine art, performance, podcast and research.

Projects include an expansive ecology research project at Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, the just-announced Chanel Center for artists and technology at CalArts in LA; and the appointment of Chanel Curator, Dr Flavia Frigeri, at The National Portrait Gallery, with the remit of upping the representation of women at the institution. At M+ in Hong Kong, the mission is to restore and preserve the golden age of Hong Kong cinema, and to that end, the Chanel Culture Fund created the Curator of Moving Image role. ‘In Taiwan, [meanwhile], what matters is performance art and we partnered with Taipei Performing Arts Center, designed by OMA, on a performing arts festival that will encourage the next generation in a medium that is so native to Taiwan,’ says Peel, who masterminds long-term partnerships and stages an annual summit for cultural leaders. At Shanghai PSA, the foundation is funding a contemporary arts library and creative hub, named Espace Gabrielle Chanel.

Hosnedlová’s installation represents a breakthrough in Berlin, and embrace will be a big draw during Berlin Gallery Weekend. ‘The city is a place where giving a woman [artist] a 2,500 sq m opportunity could really make a difference,’ Peel affirms. Expect a gigantic surge of the sublime.

Chanel Commission at Hamburger Bahnhof, ‘embrace’ by Klára Hosnedlová from 1 May – 26 October 2025

smb.museum

The Cruise runway shows offer the fashion calendar’s most transporting spectacle: a scattered two-month-long schedule which sees powerhouses like Chanel, Gucci and Dior decamp to a series of exotic, picturesque locales to present their latest Resort collections. Previous locations have spanned Oscar Niemeyer’s Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Niterói in Rio de Janeiro (Louis Vuitton), a Scottish castle (Dior), and the streets of Cuba (Chanel).

This year, Italy has proved to be the destination of choice, with Chanel, Gucci, Max Mara and Dior all showing in locations across the country. Chanel opened proceedings with a waterside show at Lake Como in late April; Gucci showed in its home city of Florence; Dior headed to the 18th-century Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome; while Max Mara concluded the season last night (17 June 2025) in Naples. Elsewhere, Louis Vuitton also remained in Europe, with Nicolas Ghesquière showing a theatrical Cruise collection at the historic Palais de Papes in Avignon, France, the former papal seat.

Here, Wallpaper* picks the best of the Cruise 2026 shows, as they happen.

Max Mara, Naples

A cinematic outing from Ian Griffiths at Max Mara provided the crescendo of the Cruise season, seeing the Italian house take over Palace of Caserta on the outskirts of Naples for its Resort 2026 runway show. Indeed, the city itself – which is known for an irrepressible energy and historic grit – was a protagonist of sorts, with Griffiths looking towards the dress codes of Naples’ women in the 1950s, a period of postwar restructuring and industrialisation. Evoking the ‘sultry sirens of the sexually charged south’, the collection captured a grasp for glamour which infused the era – whatever your background or social status (Griffiths explained it as a pursuit of the bella figura which spread across Italy). Evoking figures like Sophia Loren and Silvana Mangano, the collection was ‘voluptuous, smouldering’ – thigh-skimming tailored short-shorts, overcoats grasped closed at the chest and sculpted bra tops all featured – though quotidien elements, like the pairs of flat-soled tasselled loafers which appeared throughout, grounded it in reality.

Dior, Rome

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s latest Cruise show represented something of a homecoming for the Italian designer: choosing the 18th-century Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome as a location, it was her first time showing with Dior in the city where she was born and raised (and, indeed, spent a large part of her career, having previously worked at Roman fashion houses Fendi and Valentino). Unfolding in the villa’s gardens, guests had been instructed to dress in white (for women) or black (for men), as if attending a ball, while a brief onset of rain just before the show’s start only added atmosphere to what was a theatrical, beguiling collection from the designer.

An ode, of sorts, to her home city and its dress codes, inspirations spanned Renaissance gowns and classical statuary, mid-century Cinecittà glamour and the ecclesiastical vestments of the Vatican (cue hooded gowns, drapes of deep red velvet and the like). Chiuri said that the wide-ranging influences were in part inspired by the term ‘La bella confusione’ (‘beautiful confusion’) – a potential title for Federico Fellini’s 8½ floated by Italian screenwriter Ennio Flaiano – though despite the heady mix of references, Chiuri struck a tone of serenity and romance which has run through her tenure. She likened the collection’s illusory feel to ‘daydreaming’, a ‘magical realism’ – in the evening light, models looked almost like spectral apparitions wandering through rain-dampened gardens – ‘reconstructing the characters, landscapes, stories, and mythology of Rome, in [my] own unique way’.

Louis Vuitton, Avignon

Nicolas Ghesquière described Avignon as a ‘cradle of culture’, choosing the historic French city as the site of his latest Cruise show. Specifically, the dramatic Palais des Papes – a Gothic palace that once served as the papal seat – where the city’s annual theatre festival is held. True to his tenure at the house, which has been defined by postmodern shifts between time and place, the building’s central courtyard was the site of an intervention by British set designer Es Devlin, seeing rows of empty theatre seats rise up the space, populated by the models who then wove their way down onto the illuminated runway, where guests watched on from wooden seating reminiscent of church pews.

It set the scene for a collection that Ghesquière said was about theatre and costume: the ‘performative aspect of clothing, its inherent artistic value, its narrative force, and the emotional power it unleashes.’ A medieval inspiration ran throughout – albeit in the designer’s coolly futuristic style – in rich brocade jackets trimmed with flourishes of shearling, leg of mutton sleeves, and billowing shirts and ruffles. But it was experiments in surface texture that were most striking: bejewelled boots, sliced away at the toe, were adorned with mineral-like gems, a blouse was crafted from delicate threads of silver chains, while rich brocades and jacquards recalled the muralled interiors of the Palais de Papes.

‘I was very interested in clothes for the stage that are so influential in fashion in general, through musicians, actors, [and] dancers,’ said Ghesquière. ‘It’s something very collective and very inspiring.’

Gucci, Florence

Despite being between creative directors, Gucci forged on with its annual Cruise show, transporting attendees to Florence, the Italian city where Guccio Gucci founded the house in 1921 (new creative director Demna, who replaces Sabato De Sarno, will not begin his tenure until later this year). ‘Gucci Is Florence, Florence Is Gucci,’ was the title of the collection, which was revealed at Palazzo Settimanni, a 15th-century building on the left bank of the Arno River, which the house acquired in 1953. Then a production site for the house’s leather goods, it is now a sprawling archive – a ‘time machine,’ as Gucci described yesterday evening, backdropping a collection by the in-house team which doubled down on house codes and served up a dose of amped-up Italian glamour. Nostalgic graphic motifs recalled those found on Gucci’s silk scarves, while the double-G motif – an emblem which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – appeared across glimmering hosiery. Elsewhere, boldly-hued faux furs, reminiscent of the house’s A/W 2025 collection shown earlier this year in Milan, appeared throughout, here teamed with aviator sunglasses, lace bodysuits, and wide-shouldered pussybow dresses. To close the show, models walked out of the Palazzo and into Florence’s magical early evening light – a symbolic close of one chapter, ready for the opening of the next. ‘The house entering the street, once more absorbed back into the city for the beginning of a new journey,’ read the collection’s accompanying notes. ‘Where, as always, Gucci is Florence, and Florence is Gucci.’

Chanel, Lake Como

Chanel selected Lake Como in northern Italy, the perennial playground of the rich and famous, for its first Cruise show since the departure of Virginie Viard (next year it will be in the hands of recently appointed creative director Matthieu Blazy, who will host his debut this September at Paris Fashion Week). Unfolding at Villa D’Este – a palatial hotel on the lake’s shores – the en terrace runway show saw the house’s ‘Creation Studio’ channel an insouciant ease befitting the luxurious surrounds. Think: off-duty movie star padding through the hotel’s covered terrace (memorable patrons of Villa D’Este include Elizabeth Taylor and Greta Garbo).

As such, the collection featured silk made-in-Como headscarves, dark sunglasses and a white tweed coat which coyly referenced a hotel robe, while a disco glamour emerged in ruffled pastel-coloured dresses, opera gloves and lamé capes. Elsewhere, typical playful – and no doubt highly collectable – accessories included gelato-tub shaped handbags, chain-handle beach bags and flower-adorned sunhats, no doubt an appeal to the house’s exclusive-hungry customers, many of whom were in attendance. Other guests included Keira Knightley and The White Lotus’ Sarah Catherine Hook (had a previous series not taken place in Italy, Villa D’Este would be a fitting White Lotus backdrop), while Sofia Coppola, who created a short film for the occasion, also watched on from the front row.

Stay tuned for more from the Cruise 2026 season.

Nothing is quite what it seems with the S/S 2025 collections, seeing designers riff on wardrobe staples with illusory tricks – from trompe l’œil to twisted silhouettes and unexpected fabrications. Whether the turned-up hemline of a leather Loewe overcoat – as though perpetually caught in a gust of wind – or a surreal Hodakova shoe, which squashes together a beach flip-flop and high-heeled pump, these are pieces that appear as one thing, but are actually another (a response, no doubt, to our increasingly disorientating digital age). The effect is something like a surreal collage; garments that implore a second look.

S/S 2025’s twisted wardrobe staples

As such, in the March 2025 Style Issue of Wallpaper* (on international newsstands now), photographer Nicole Maria Winkler and Wallpaper* fashion and creative director Jason Hughes capture these looks in a surreal interior of their own: a liminal apartment whereby Winkler’s archival photographs become trompe l’oeil wall coverings, or adorn folding screens and chests of drawers. Inhabited by Swiss artist and model Veronika Kunz, the space – which was imagined by set designer Kim Harding – is completed with modernist furnishings, from a Ron Arad bed to an Afra and Tobia Scarpa Cassina sofa.

‘Nicole and I have been friends for many years and have played with trompe-l’œil before, and this story was a further exploration of that theme,’ Harding told Wallpaper*. ‘Delving into Nicole’s archive of still lifes, we created some interesting stand-alone pieces to sit among the set itself.’

Model: Veronika Kunz at Kunz Management. Casting: Ikki Casting at WSM. Set design: Kim Harding Studio. Hair: Sophie Jane Anderson. Make-up: Faye Bluff at Of Substance Agency using Makeup by Mario. Manicure: Sasha Goddard at Saint Luke using Dior. Digi tech: Anna-Sophia John. Photography assistant: Tom Porter. Set design assistants: Matilda Greenwood, Heather Allen. Fashion assistants: Nathan Fox, Rebecca Evans-White. Production assistant: Archie Thomson.

A version of this article appears in the March 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, it can be tough to think outside the box if you don’t want to adhere to the prescribed mandate of flowers and chocolate, hurriedly purchased from a supermarket chain.

Fortunately, Wallpaper* is an expert on thoughtful, design-led gifting for the aesthete in your life, whether that be a partner, friend, or even yourself. And, if whoever you’re planning to treat this Friday 14 February is a beauty-obsessive, then look no further than our selection of products in the most amorous of shades: red.

Below, find five suggestions to fulfil or inspire your last-minute Valentine’s Day shopping needs, from lipstick and blush to perfume and nail polish, all in bold, passionate and powerful hues of ruby, burgundy, berry and more.

Valentine’s Day: red beauty products to gift the aesthete in your life

A limited edition lipstick by Chanel

A ruby-like bottle of Comme des Garçons perfume

A flushed cream blush by Westman Atelier

An (almost) burgundy nail polish by Hermès

A fiery glass flagon by Kindred Black

One of the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 winners includes a recent collection of eye and lip pencils from Hermès Beauty, named Trait d’Hermès. ‘I vividly remember that I was one of those kids who loved stationery and having a huge palette of colours in front of me,’ Hermès Beauty’s creative director Gregoris Pyrpylis said of the collection upon its launch in October 2024.

Conceived in collaboration with the brand’s packaging creator Pierre Hardy, it reflects on these childhood memories and is designed to resemble a kaleidoscopic set of new crayons. ‘Make-up has become even more joyful and more playful than ever,’ he continued. ‘And Trait d’Hermès is an invitation to explore this to its fullest.’

Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: make-up collections by Hermès, Dior, Celine, Chanel and Prada selected by beauty editor Hannah Tindle

A grown-up invitation to play with make-up application has felt like a running theme over the past year in beauty. Peter Philips, Dior’s creative and image director of make-up, channelled a similar line of thought into the reimagined Diorshow Mono Couleur eyeshadows and Stylo eyeliners, encouraging spontaneity and experimentation with an array of colours and textures. In the accompanying Diorshow ad campaign, Philips drew abstract black and pastel-toned stripes across model Deva Cassel’s eyes – paying homage to Serge Lutens, whose radically illustrative work for Dior creative director Marc Bohan used every inch of the face as a surface for painting and drawing with make-up.

During his tenure at Celine, Hedi Slimane mined the modernist archives of its founder Céline Vipiana. (Besides clothing, Vipiana produced the brand’s first perfume, Vent Fou, in 1963, alongside accessories and lifestyle objects.) Before announcing his departure last October (2024) Slimane marked a new chapter, launching Celine Beauté with a single product: a satin lipstick in an effortless red dubbed Rouge Triomphe. As quintessential as a piece from Slimane’s ready-to-wear collections, it’s a lipstick so universal that the individual ways it can be worn seem almost endless.

Back in 2022, Chanel set up its Cometes Collective, a group of emerging make-up stars hand-picked by the brand to formulate a seasonal, limited-edition collection – ‘independent thinkers united, above all, by the conviction that beauty comes from the freedom to be and to become yourself in all your richness, complexity and nuance,’ says the house.

The first make-up artists selected were Ammy Drammeh, Cécile Paravina and Valentina Li, with the collective’s debut launching in 2024, courtesy of Li. A painter before she turned her hand to make-up, she sports a blue bob (Li considers the colour to be a ‘reflection of her inner world’). As a result, her Spring 2024 collection traversed a range of blues from cobalt to pale azure in a Les 4 Ombres eyeshadow quad, Stylo Yeux eyeliner and Lumière de L’Océan illuminating powder.

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons described their vision for Prada’s S/S 2025 collection as ‘rallying call against the internet algorithm’ and a rejection of the ‘derivative and expected’. Casting director Ashley Brokaw assembled a roster of new and eclectic looks for the runway show, with Prada’s global creative make-up artist Lynsey Alexander taking an equally tailored approach to beauty. Using products from the brand’s namesake make-up line – including the Memphis Milano-esque Dimensions eyeshadow palettes, which Alexander described as a ‘juxtaposition of ugly and beautiful, coming together to create something quite extraordinary’ in a 2023 interview with Wallpaper* – each model received a unique look, corresponding to their facial structures and personalities.

As artist Cindy Sherman once said, ‘I’m good at using my face as a canvas. I’ll see a photograph of a character and try to copy them on to my face.’ It’s a statement that speaks to the current mood in contemporary make-up and beauty, where the face becomes a canvas in every sense of the word.

Models: Mouy Onak at IMG, Essoye Mombot at Oui Mangement, Marie Loridan at Women Management. Casting: Ikki Casting at WSM. Hair: Rimi Ura at Calliste Agency. Digital assistant: Farouk at Dope Paris. Photography assistant: Theophile Parat. Make-up assistants: Toma Marandeau, Ekaterina Mignery.

Find all the Wallpaper* Design Awards winners in the February 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is available in print on newsstands from 9 January 2025, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Wallpaper’s beauty products of the month is an edit of the make-up, skincare and haircare loved by our resident beauty editor.

Today (1 February 2025) this includes Celine’s expanded lipstick range, Chanel’s S/S 2025 make-up collection and Mantle’s jellyfish mucin serum pads. Plus, Frédéric Malle’s quintessential perfume Portrait of a Lady by Dominique Ropion, dressed up for its birthday in a red lacquered bottle.

The best beauty products of the month recommended by Wallpaper*

Make-up

Chanel’s limited edition make-up collection for S/S 2025

Chanel’s limited edition make-up collection for S/S 2025 has been designed by Ammy Drammeh, one-third of the house’s Cometes Collective alongside Valentina Li and Cécile Paravina. Naturally, the offering is a celebration of colour and texture, with unconventional shades of Ombre Essentielle solo eyeshadows, or Stylo Yeux waterproof eyeliners. (This season, they come as duo sets in hues of mauve, pink, green and nude). Le Vernis nail polish in creamy pastels, and Jeux de Lumieres highlighting powders, complete the house’s offering.

Chanel S/S 2025 limited edition make-up, price varies, chanel.com.

Celine’s expanded lipstick shades

Celine Beauté’s debut lipstick Rouge Triomphe, which inaugurated the Le Rouge Celine collection, has now been joined by 14 others, each in the same hydrating, long-lasting satin texture. Orange Clea is a sultry red; while La Peau Nue is a classic nude, first featured on the S/S 24 Celine runway. There’s also an array of warm, rosy hues: from Rose Palace, through to cooler pinks and purple tones including Zou Zou (also the name of a fragrance launched by the house last year). Nightclubbing, which takes its name from a perfume as well, is the darkest shade of all – a deep inky violet.

Celine Le Rouge Celine lipstick, £62, celine.com.

Dior’s PH-activated lip balm

Dior Addict Lip Glow, a recent launch from the house of Dior’s make-up line, has been made with a pH-reactive formula, so the sheer wash of colour it provides will morph into a distinct, personal hue upon contact with the skin. It also comes in both warm and cool undertones and is intensely hydrating, containing both cherry extract and shea butter.

Dior Addict Lip Glow lip balm, £33, dior.com

Skincare

Omorovicza’s healing blue serum

Omorovicza’s Blue Diamond Super Serum – an addition to the Blue Diamond Surfacing Peel and Blue Diamond Supercream – focuses on eliminating senescent cells to regenerate skin at a deeper level, with ingredients including diamond peptides, tetrapeptides, hyaluronic acid and Omorovicza’s patented healing concentrate derived from the thermal waters of the brand’s native Budapest.

Omorovicza Blue Diamond Super Serum, £350, omorovicza.com

Mantle’s jellyfish mucin pads

Mantle’s Hydra Serum is powered by the combination of jellyfish mucin (said to bind water three times better than hyaluronic acid), and deep sea algae. Together, these ingredients form the Scandinavian skincare brand’s patented mPelagic2 Complex, which is now also found in its Hydra Pads alongside lactobiotic acid, providing exfoliation and intense hydration in just a few swipes. Keep them in the fridge for an additional de-puffing and cooling effect.

Hydra Pads by Mantle, £49, mantleskin.com

Haircare

Dyson’s automatic hot tool

The beloved Dyson Airwrap received an update in 2024 in the Airwrap i.d., a tool that wirelessly connects to an app via Bluetooth. Here, you are able to create your own profile and styling programme, adapting heat, timing and airflow depending on your particular hair type. Then, at the push of a button, the Airwrap i.d. will carry out the sequence. (Last month, it received a makeover in the form of a limited edition colourway called Jasper Plum, which compliments the packaging of its Chitosan products).

Dyson Airwrap i.d., £480, dyson.co.uk.

Fragrance

Frédéric Malle’s Portrait of a Lady (in red)

Frédéric Malle's Portrait of a Lady was created by legendary nose Dominique Ropion in 2010. Ropion is often referred to as ‘the master of flowers’, a title that he demonstrated with aplomb in Portrait of a Lady, where two variations of concentrated Turkish roses meet with notes of blackcurrant, raspberry, patchouli and amber. To mark its 15th anniversary, the fragrance is dressed up in a limited-edition red lacquered bottle, accompanied by a portrait series by photographer David Sims.

Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady eau de parfum, £290, fredericmalle.co.uk

Acqua di Parma’s interpretation of a classic

Colonia Il Profumo by Acqua di Parma is an intense reinterpretation of the Italian maison's original Colonia. Opening with the citrus notes, Acqua di Parma is renowned for, including Italian bergamot, grapefruit, blood orange, and petitgrain, the heart of Colonia Il Profumo features rosemary and ylang-ylang. Going deeper still, vetiver and patouchli provides the scent with a richness quite unlike any other from the brand.

Acqua di Parma Colonia Il Profumo, £264.00, acquadiparma.com.

Dior’s olfactory lucky charm

Christian Dior was a superstitious man. One of the couturier’s lucky charms, a piece of wood he would carry with him to bring good fortune, is the inspiration behind Bois Talisman, a new fragrance by Francis Kurkdjian for La Collection Privée Christian Dior. Kurkdjian, sharing M. Dior’s superstitions – including keeping a sugar cube as a charm – crafted a perfume symbolising the blend of wood and sugar. This scent is an olfactory exploration of cedarwood and vanilla, with multiple extraction methods enhancing the richness of vanilla.

Dior Bois Talisman eau de parfum, £380, dior.com

Tom Ford’s rose exposé

An unconventional composition of florals and leather, Rose Exposed by Tom Ford has been created to ‘capture the ephemeral beauty of a rose at its peak bloom’. It achieves this through an exclusive co-distillation of rose absolute and rose water. Rose Expose is more complex than it first appears, however: white pepper, pink peppercorn, bergamot, and curcuma give a warm and spicy element. A ‘tactile black leather accord’, as the brand describes, is comprised of sandalwood olibanum, and cashmeran.

Tom Ford Rose Exposed eau de parfum, £222, tomford.com.

‘Haute couture aspires to reach great heights; it promises escape from our complicated reality,’ said Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry on Monday morning (27 January), as he opened Paris Haute Couture Week S/S 2025 with a show titled ‘Icarus’. He chose the tragic mythical figure to represent his own ‘quest for perfection’ in the medium, ‘a quixotic struggle, a climb, to reach an ever-higher level of execution and vision’.

Execution and vision are the bedrock of haute couture, which represents the industry’s very pinnacle of craft and making, a rarefied art form, undertaken entirely by the hand of the couture atelier and led by a designer’s singular vision. As such, the week – which is currently taking place in Paris – attracts a glamorous slew of attendees, from Hollywood celebrities to the dramatically attired clients themselves, who travel from all around the world to view the couture houses’ latest fantastical creations (to gain such status, a house must be approved by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, and have a dedicated haute couture atelier of at least 15 full-time employees creating at least 35 looks by hand twice a year).

Coming in the wake of Paris' Men’s Fashion Week, Haute Couture Week S/S 2025 has seen shows from the titans of Parisian fashion – among them Dior, Chanel and Schiaparelli, as well as Armani Privé and Valentino (the latter, on Wednesday, marked the much-anticipated couture debut of designer Alessandro Michele). Here, as the week concludes, Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss selects the best shows of the week.

The best of Haute Couture Week S/S 2025

Jean Paul Gaultier by Ludovic de Saint Sernin

As the latest in a series of guest designers to take over Jean Paul Gaultier’s haute couture line (and if the whispers are to be believed, the last), Brussels-born, Paris-based designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin titled his S/S 2025 collection ‘Le Naufrage’, which translates from French as ‘shipwreck’. For this once-in-a-lifetime moment, de Saint Sernin, who is known for his sensually charged garments (a recent collection saw him collaborate with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, while perhaps his signature piece is a pair of men’s underwear which laces up along the back), began by thinking about a Seal and Mylène Farmer video in which the pair are lost adrift at sea. As such, the collection, which was full of Gaultier hallmarks (from impossible corsetry to dramatically sculpted silhouettes) had a dishevelled, windswept glamour, played up by the models, who prowled the runway at the house’s longtime headquarters in a theatrical manner. A sailing ship headpiece recalled an archival Gaultier style from the mid-1990s, while an underwear-clad male model in angel wings was a nod to the house’s particular brand of camp. If the rumours that the guest designer project is to come to an end are true, it is a shame: from Simone Rocha to Haider Ackermann, the collections shown under this unique way of collaborating have brought a thrilling new energy to the house. Last night, de Saint Sernin was no exception.

Valentino

Anticipation was high for Alessandro Michele’s debut couture collection for Valentino, which was staged in central Paris’ Palais Brongniart on Wednesday afternoon (29 January 2025). ‘48 dresses, 48 lists,’ the Italian designer wrote in the hefty press notes left on attendees’ seats prior to the show, explaining that he was inspired by Umberto Eco’s assertion that the list is a tool to ‘confine the infinite extension of the existing within a meaningful framework… to bring some order to the chaos of the universe’. Here, he used the list to attempt to harness the infinite opportunities that the haute couture atelier affords a designer (the petite mains who work on the collection represent the pinnacle of dressmaking, with a near-limitless potential for creation). So as the models walked across the long black stage, a stream of rolling words and phrases ran across a screen behind them, from notes on silhouette, fabric and colour, to philosophical musings, historical figures and personal reminiscences. They allowed an insight into the way Michele had designed the eclectic, era-spanning collection, which in his dizzying style shifted between enormous flared gowns, waterfalls of tulle, and showstopping surface embellishment. In his words: ‘a constellation of visions… a plurality of interconnected worlds. Each dress is not just an object It’s rather the knot of a net of significance, [recalling] eras, cultures and echoes of past stories.’ It was a thrilling opening act.

READ: Inside Alessandro Michele’s showstopping debut haute couture show for Valentino

Giorgio Armani Privé

‘Creating is my reason for existing,’ said Giorgio Armani prior to his latest Armani Privé show, which marked 20 years of the couture arm of the Milanese house (the line was started in January 2005). The celebratory show also inaugurated Palazzo Armani, a sprawling new residence in Paris’ 8th arrondissement that will house the Privé atelier and studio (a more modern addition to the 19th-century building will also become Armani’s offices in the city). Presented on a pearlescent runway that snaked through the palazzo’s upper rooms (evoking a traditional haute couture salon show), the collection had a celebratory air. Titled ‘Lumieres’ for the way it was designed to catch the light, in typical Privé style it was a collection rich in surface embellishment (here, a shimmering assemblage of crystals and coloured gems), lustrous fabrications, and a fluid line that drew inspiration from Eastern dress. The 90-year-old Mr Armani – who will celebrate a slew of other anniversaries this year, including 50 years of his original Giorgio Armani label – looped the runway to a rousing ovation at the end of the show, arm-in-arm with one of his glittering model muses.

READ: Armani Privé celebrates 20 years with a glittering show staged at the house’s opulent new Paris palazzo

Chanel

Celebrating 110 years of Chanel haute couture, the Parisian house staged its latest runway show on an enormous set of undulating ramps in the centre of the Grand Palais, created by the American designer Willo Perron. From above, they recalled the house’s emblematic double-C motif, but also an infinity sign – a symbol of the house’s status as the oldest couture house still in operation, and the ‘infinite excellence of haute couture’. It also was an assertion of the fact that, despite Matthieu Blazy not commencing his much-anticipated role as creative director until later this year, that Chanel is a house which is more than able to stand on its own (here, the collection was designed by an in-house team, alongside the petites mains of Chanel’s historic couture atelier). Presented in the fresh winter sunshine – which flooded the Grand Palais space through the vast domed glass ceiling, recently renovated for the Olympics – this was a collection of lightness and youth, seeing the team embrace a bolder palette of crimson red, royal blue and purple, alongside the satisfying softness of pastel pinks, greens and yellows. The inspiration, they said, was Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s embrace of colour in the 1980s, which was highlighted in the 2023 V&A exhibition of her work (she is more readily associated with black and white). Indeed, there was something of the 1980s to the silhouettes, too, like a billowing satin cape or a bold shoulder line in the collection’s tailoring, though there was a delicacy to tweed suits edged with folds of tulle and floating organza dresses adorned with feathers. It felt like a breath of fresh air.

Dior

This season Maria Grazia Chiuri stepped through the looking glass for a fantastical collection which drew inspiration from Alice’s journey through Wonderland. It spoke to what Chiuri called a renewed freedom this season, and there was certainly something in the exploration of silhouette – largely centring on a dramatically flared crinoline waistline – which felt like a departure for the Italian designer, whose signature at the house so far has largely been more columnar, rooted in traditions of classical Greek and Roman dress. The A-line shape was derived from the house’s archive – Chiuri has often referenced lesser-known moments in Dior’s history in her collections – seeing her draw inspiration from the flared ‘Trapèze’ line that was designed for Dior in 1958 by Yves Saint Laurent (the French couturier spent a brief two years at the helm of the house after Christian Dior’s death).

It led to a series of richly adorned mini dresses with jutting crinolines that fell away into strands of ribbon adornment or were overlaid with tulle. Suggestions of flora and fauna – echoed in a fantastical show set by artist Rithika Merchant – came in delicate 3D floral motifs on featherweight ruched tulle, while open-fronted tailoring, nipped at the waist, was reminiscent of 17th-century dress. Indeed, Chiuri said the collection had emerged from obsessive research on historical fashion; the aim, she elucidated, was to ‘disrupt the order of time, taking us back to a dimension that belongs neither to past nor future, but to fashion itself and the idea of transformation associated with it’. In this hopping through eras – or, indeed, stepping through the looking glass – Chiuri felt liberated to create perhaps her richest couture collection yet.

READ: Indian artist Rithika Merchant on her fantastical show set for Dior couture

Schiaparelli

The invitation for Daniel Roseberry’s latest Schiaparelli outing was a golden feather, cast in metal, a reference to the Greek myth of Icarus, from which this season’s show took its name. ‘How high can we as couturier’s go?’ said Roseberry, using the close-to-sun allusions to create a collection that paid ode to the great couturiers of our time, among them Yves Saint Laurent and Azzedine Alaia (‘I didn’t want to copy their work; I wanted to learn from them,’ he said). Silhouette was the focus: extraordinary sculpted gowns, darting inwards at the waist and outwards at the hips, recalled the work of Charles Frederick Worth, while others flared under the chest using crinoline-like structures that bounced as the models walked (or, indeed, twirled and posed in a manner reminiscent of traditional haute couture presentations). Elsewhere, equally architectural tailored jackets – replicating the nipped-waist silhouette of midcentury couture – fell away into waterfalls of tulle, while an opera coat worn by Alex Consani was adorned with fronds of feathers and hung seductively off the shoulder.

Roseberry called the silhouettes ‘rigorous’, and there was certainly a new clarity to his vision this season, which began with a series of vintage ribbons the designer had collected from the 1920s and 1930s. Alongside inspiring the colour palette – one of buttery beiges, brown, and mink grey – they also had him considering how such objects of beauty in the past could be translated to the present day. Why, he questioned, does modernity have to mean minimalism and reduction? ‘Can’t the new also be worked, be baroque, be extravagant? Has our fixation on what looks or feels modern become a limitation? Has it cost us our imagination?’ he questioned. Instead, with this collection, he sought to hit new heights, embracing rich adornment and dramatic, over-the-top construction – a recognition of haute couture’s status as fashion’s pinnacle. ‘Haute couture aspires to reach great heights; it promises escape from our complicated reality. It also reminds us that perfection comes at a price. How high can we couturiers go? As high as the sun – and the Gods – allow us.’

The art of make-up organisation is a skill I have honed over a number of years. Every January, I’ll start culling products that I’ve accumulated over the past however many years. (Yes, make-up and skincare expires, and although some has a longer shelf life than others, no matter what the packaging states, it’s best to check how certain formulas are faring every so often).

What can be sharpened, scraped, sanitised or wiped clean with isopropyl alcohol – lip and eye pencils, solid cream concealers, blushers, highlighters, lipstick bullets and even powder products – I usually keep, providing they’re still performing or aren’t humiliatingly ancient. Liquid products in pump bottles, such as foundation, keeps slightly longer than those that require a ‘dipping’ action: wands, doe foot applicators and fingers are bacterial harbingers of doom for make-up past its prime. So mascara, liquid liner and anything contained in a jar sadly must go.

Then, its time to address what needs replacing, before re-categorising or consolidating to free up space. I might even look at investing in something new – brushes and essential tools, perhaps – or storage for the designated beautifying area in my compact London flat (some examples of which are included in the below guide).

Design solutions for make-up organisation: a guide by Wallpaper's beauty editor

Wipe-clean storage units and multipurpose desk tidies

B-Line trolley

I apply my make-up at a small desk in my bedroom and purchased a second hand Joe Colombo for B-Line Boby trolley from eBay a few years ago. It’s been the ideal vessel for storing beauty products, with its multiple pockets and drawers that fan outwards on hinges. Plus, I can glide it in and out from underneath the table as needed.

Joe Colombo Boby trolley, £494.00, aram.co.uk.

Kartell drawers

Similarly, the Kartell Mobil drawers, designed by Antonio Citterio and Oliver Löw in 1994, are a great option for moveable, compact make-up and skincare storage, with drawers numbering between one and six and a choice between gloss or matt finishes. Some models also include additional shelving, with newer editions of the Mobil Mat drawers made from recycled industrial waste materials.

Kartell Mobil Mat drawers, £670.00, heals.com.

Vitra desk tidy

Pretty much anything that works as a desk tidy can double as multi-functional organisation for make-up and skincare. Case in point, Vitra's O-Tidy and S-Tidy by Michel Charlot. The former has a dish shape with a cup in the centre; perfect for holding brushes. The latter is also great for brushes, plus liners and products in elongated bottles that stand on a base, with its sectional, ‘serpentine’ shape. (Another tip: I often use Loewe's empty ceramic candle pots for a similar purpose).

Vitra O-Tidy, £39, twentytwentyone.com.

Muji acrylic drawers

When it comes to the organising of make-up and skincare, I don’t know where I’d be without Muji. Not only does the Japanese lifestyle brand have a wealth of wipe-clean drawers and boxes, but also make-up cases and pouches, reusable 100ml bottles, and cotton pads and buds. (Its thin-stem cotton buds are my favourite for precise clean ups, such as correcting mistakes, removing mascara that has transferred to the eyelids or sharpening the border of a red lip).

Muji acrylic 6 drawer unit, £32; thin-stem cotton buds, £2.95, muji.co.uk.

Adjustable table lamps for make-up application in low lighting

Flos LED lamp

Applying make-up with a light source shining directly onto the face is the only way to properly see what you are doing, alongside the true textures and colours of products. Ideally, the source is natural daylight. After dark, in place of a less-than aesthetically pleasing ring light, I use a portable and adjustable table lamp (such as Antonio Citterio’s Kelvin, designed for Flos) to assist me.

Flos Kelvin Led Base table lamp, £380, flos.com.

Artemide clip-on lamp

Similarly, Michele De Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina’s Tolomeo Pinza lamp (a miniature version of the Tolomeo desk lamp designed in 1987) is made from lightweight aluminium. If you need a change of scenery, its signature clip mechanism means it can be attached to varying surfaces, providing a face-on light source in any space in the home.

Artemide Pinza lamp, £175, aram.co.uk.

Multi-angle, versatile mirrors for horizontal and vertical surfaces

Artek multi-angle mirror

Viewing your face from every angle – front on, plus the so-called ‘bad’ and ‘good’ sides – allows for a complete understanding of how your make-up appears. (This is usually something I will check on for formal occasions that take place during the day, such as a wedding). Daniel Rybakken’s 124° mirror, created in 2017 for Artek, can either stand freely on a horizontal surface or be fixed to a wall, offering a multi-perspective solution. It includes a tray-shaped base to place products in whilst you use them, too.

Artek 124° mirror, £388, finnishdesignshop.com.

Ligne Roset trinket mirror

Marie-Aurore Stiker-Métral’s Nimbe mirror, created for Ligne Roset with a steel rose beige-coloured frame, is a compact enough for a table top and portable enough to be moved around the house to work with different sources of light. The moulded polyurethane dish-shaped base is also a practical solution for holding (or storing) make-up, skincare products and tools in.

Ligne Roset Nimbe mirror, £466.00, chaplinsfurniture.co.uk.

The make-up tools to invest in, including eyelash curlers, brushes and tweezers

Prada Beauty make-up sponge

Although they can last through many applications and washes, after a while, I will replace any make-up sponges that are feeling a little ragged round the edges. The Prada Beauty foundation blenders can be used wet or dry, are designed different shades for various skin tones and are cut with a triangle edge (a nod to the house's inverted triangle emblem, a motif present throughout Prada’s make-up line) for precise application.

Prada foundation blender, £26, flannels.com.

Shu Uemura eyelash curler

The Shu Uemura eyelash curler is, in my opinion and that of many others, one of the best there is. The tool is even mentioned in The Devil Wears Prada by supermodel Gisele, her character Serena in disbelief that Anne Hathaway’s Andrea doesn’t know what it is: ‘We were in the beauty department and [Andrea] held up this Shu Uemura eyelash curler and she said, “What is this?”’ The S curler, a second and smaller version of the original tool, launched in 2013, which is suitable for an even more extensive range of eye shapes and lashes.

Shu Uemura S eyelash curler, £20.15, stylevana.co.uk.

Victorinox tweezers

If you’re finding that your tweezers are losing their grip, or never really had a strong enough one in the first place for that matter, it’s time to replace them. An expertly-designed pair can last a lifetime, such as this pair by Victorinox, made in collaboration with fellow Swiss brand Rubis. Crafted from stainless steel, their precision-cut slanted tips will grab, seize and remove even the most miniscule of hairs.

Victorinox tweezers, £ 37.50, victorinox.com

Rae Morris make-up brushes

An expertly-designed set of make-up brushes will also stand the test of time. Australian make-up artist Rae Morris is renowned in the beauty industry for her namesake line of professional brushes with magnetic handles. This allows for the brushes to be affixed to metal surfaces, or the brand’s custom-built stainless steel Rae Frameor Rae Plate, ensuring that they never roll away during use or occupy too much space on a table top.

Rae Morris Personal brush set, £330, raemorris.com.

Nars pencil sharpener

A dual-blade pencil sharpener accommodates all widths of eye and lip products. This particular tool by Nars is built with a removable and adjustable adapter, so even extra-thick pencils, remain clean and whittled to a point. It also comes alongside a blade cleaner and a hard cover to catch fall out.

Nars pencil sharpener, £9, spacenk.com.

Essential products that cleanse brushes, remove make-up, prep skin and more

Mac brush cleanser

Used make-up brushes should, in an ideal world, be deep cleaned once a week. I use a solid soap bar and gentle shampoo to wash just the bristles in the bathroom sink, watching the diluted product residue slide down the drain, before laying them down to air dry on a towel. Therapeutic as this process may be, its an activity that takes a bit of time. So a brush cleaner is another absolute essential for the days in between. (I suggest this one by Mac).

Mac brush cleanser, £15, selfridges.com.

Chanel micellar water

Alongside cotton pads, buds and tissues (plus a sturdy and inoffensive tissue box such as the Birillo by Alessi) micellar water is a must. It can be used to dampen a brush, clean up the back of your hand if you’ve used it as a palette, or remove an entire face of make-up when a technique has gone awry. Chanel’s micellar water in particular contains marine plant extracts and a prebiotic molecule to keep the skin’s microbiome balanced.

Chanel L’Micellaire micellar water, £36, chanel.com.

Aesop eye and lip make-up remover

When it comes to wiping away most make-up products, micellar water gets most of the job done. But waterproof mascara or long-lasting, budge-proof formulations are another story entirely. Here, you will need something oil based, such as Aesop’s eye and lip make-up remover, made with nourishing grape seed, soothing blue chamomile and vitamin E. Follow with a rigorous double cleanse.

Aesop Remove eye and lip make-up remover, £19, liberty.com.

Chanel beauty has created a gua sha-inspired face massage tool as part of its sustainable skincare line, No.1 de Chanel. The accessory is made from 85% bio-based materials, such as camellia seed husks, and wood by-products sourced from FSC-certified supply networks.

Designed by in-house experts to work in tandem with products such as the peptide-rich Revitalising Serum (also now available as a limited edition duo alongside the Revitalising Eye Serum), its also an ideal accompaniment to the Red Camellia Cream, a new iteration of the original No.1 de Chanel Revitalising Cream formulation.

Chanel Beauty’s No.1 de Chanel facial massage tool

No.1 de Chanel launched three years ago (January 2022). Armelle Souraud, international scientific communication director at Chanel Beauty, says it was developed ‘by gaining understanding of the mechanisms that drive senescence [aging] in the skin’. This is how, through research conducted at its open-sky lab in Gaujacq, France, Chanel was able to identify the benefits of red camellia extract. By harnessing this active ingredient, the brand claims to be able to ‘preserve cell vitality for skin that is healthy-looking and youthfully radiant’.

Camellia extract has a high concentration of polyphenols and protocatechuic acid, which Chanel says can target the first stage of senescence, increasing skin vitality. (The ingredient can also protect skin from oxidative stress, addressing things like wrinkles, pores, elasticity and radiance). The new No.1 de Chanel Red Camellia Cream is also enriched with a camellia ceramide, which provides a plumping boost of moisture whilst protecting the skin barrier.

Below, follow Chanel’s specific techniques for using the No.1 de Chanel massage tool, both before and after applying the serum and moisturiser.

How to use Chanel Beauty’s No.1 de Chanel face massage tool

• Before applying the the No.1 de Chanel serum and Red Camellia cream
• To target pores, position the notched edge of the accessory on the nose and cheeks and rub up and down, then perform horizontal, outward smoothing strokes.
• To target elasticity, use the two points of the V-shaped end to twist the skin on the lower part of the face, working outward.
• To target wrinkles, place your index finger and the massage accessory on either side of each wrinkle and stretch the skin. Then, use the pointed tip of the accessory to perform zigzag movements along each wrinkle.
• Apply the serum, then apply small dabs of the cream. Then, perform a series of outward smoothing movements using your hands.
• After applying the the No.1 de Chanel serum and Red Camellia cream
• Using the V-shaped end of the accessory, perform deep strokes along the jawline, from the chin up to the ear.
• To boost skin’s radiance, perform smoothing movements using the concave part of the massage accessory.

chanel.com

While January might typically be a month of piety and abstinence, we have always been proponents of embracing the new year in a more celebratory fashion. Particularly when it comes to clothing – after all, in the year’s darkest months, there is still joy to be had in dressing up.

Here, taken from the January 2025 issue of Wallpaper* – a celebration of a new era of design – photographer Dham Srifuengfung and Wallpaper* fashion and creative director Jason Hughes capture the best men’s and women’s looks from the Resort 2025 collections, which herald the beginning of a new year in style.

The best Resort 2025 fashion

Reflecting a wider shift in fashion, away from the quiet and the beige, the Resort 2025 collections are defined by a mood of nostalgia and eclecticism, with looks made to be mixed and matched with abandon – whether flourishes of animal print or faux fur, pussybows or neckties, or playful combinations, like a classic Dunhill tuxedo worn with MM6’s riff on the carpenter jean.

Each look comes complete with an equally sonic accessory: an assemblage of vintage music devices, from Walkmans and Discmans to dictaphones and iPods. It’s our nod to the season’s free-spirited mood: we imagine these looks as ones to pound the streets in (complete with your own soaring soundtrack) or for letting loose at your very own silent disco.

Models: Giovanna Pinho and Anick Chan at IMG, Valentin Haedecke, Raad Al Gabril and Abdallah El Farjani at Supa Management, Jamie Riselay, Kentha Kirezi and Marcello Chang at The Milk Collective, Zhou at Linden Staub. Casting: Hien Le Casting. Hair: Anna Cofone using Authentic Beauty Concept. Make-up: Faye Bluff at Of Substance Agency using Surratt. Props stylist: Haleimah Darwish. Photography assistants: Emmet Banahan, Ben McManus. Fashion assistants: Lucy Proctor, Leonie Dennett. Hair assistants: Jessica Hau, Lee-Anne Willoux. Make-up assistants: Craig Hamilton, Lily Simmonds. Props assistant: Kash. Production assistants: Archie Thomson, Ady Huq.

A version of this article appears in the January 2025 issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

This edit of face and body cleansers will aid in starting the new year afresh. (Plus, as it’s the first day of 2025, suffice to say many of us could use a little help in the post-NYE rejuvenation process).

Against a make-up-eliminating Augustinus Bader cleansing balm and a Chanel gel-to-oil formula, the remnants of last night’s mascara stand little chance. And to soothe sore muscles (or heads, for that matter) look no further than an Alpine-inspired bath soak by Susanne Kaufmann.

Read on for more purifying products with the Wallpaper* seal of approval.

Face and body cleansers for a fresh new year

Augustinus Bader (above)

Containing the brand’s signature TFC8 technology, developed by Professor Augustinus Bader for optimum cell renewal, ‘The Cleansing Balm’ is a gentle formula that effortlessly dissolves make-up and impurities, turning into a milky texture upon contact with water. Unlike many other balm cleansers, it leaves no trace of residue. So those with clog-prone skin can proceed without caution.

Augustinus Bader ‘The Cleansing Balm’, £62.

augustinusbader.com

Mirror Water

As Estée Lalonde, the founder of London-based brand self-care brand Mirror Water points out: ‘When have you ever regretted taking a bath?’ And in the case of New Year’s Day, never a truer word was spoken, particularly when said bath is sprinkled with Mirror Water’s ‘Soak Bath Salts’. Made entirely from naturally derived Himalayan and magnesium salt the product is also infused with essential oils, which radiate a deeply comforting aroma.

Mirror Water ‘Soak Bath Salts’, £38.

mirrorwater.earth

Aesop

Some skincare products are considered ‘cult classics’ for good reason, such as the ‘Geranium Leaf’ body cleanser by Aesop. With a verdant and citrusy fragrance, this bath and shower gel may have a low-foaming, gentle formula. But its potent ability to leave one feeling thoroughly refreshed (and, in this instance, ready to take on whatever awaits you in 2025) is unmatched.

Aesop ‘Geranium Leaf’ body cleanser, £39.

aesop.com

MyBlend

Last year, Wallpaper* featured MyBlend’s ‘myLED’ face mask in the February 2024 Design Awards issue. But we are also fans of the brand’s skincare products, too, including the ‘Revitalising Cream moisturiser and the ‘Exfoliating Body Gel-Cream’. The latter is a body treatment providing both chemical and manual exfoliation that removes dry and dull skin to unveil a whole ‘new you’.

myBlend ‘Exfoliating Body Gel-Cream’, £100.

uk.myblend.com

Chanel

Chanel’s ‘Sublimage’ skincare range contains a hero antioxidant developed by the house in its Madagascar Sky Lab, called Polyfractioned Vanilla Planifolia. (Read more about this in Wallpaper’s feature on the ‘Sublimage L’Extrait de Nuit’ night serum, here). The ‘Sublimage Gel-to-Oil Cleanser’ features Vanilla Planifolia Water in particular. Starting as a gel, upon contact with the skin the product turns into a make-up removing oil, before finally transforming into a nourishing milk.

Chanel ‘Sublimage Gel-to-Oil Cleanser’, £95.

chanel.com

Dr Barbara Sturm

Incredibly gentle on sensitive or irritated skin needing a reset for the new year, Dr Barbara Sturm’s ‘Cleanser’ not only removes make-up and impurities but has the benefit of strengthening skin barrier function, with calming and soothing ingredients such as purslane and aloe vera, plus vitamin E and glycerine. One pump dispenses the ideal amount of foam-based formula, which thickens up into a creamy texture when lathered.

Dr Barbara Sturm ‘Cleanser’, £55.

drsturm.com

Susanne Kaufmann

Mother of sustainable luxury skincare Susanne Kaufmann founded her namesake natural beauty brand on the principles of Austrian Alpine living. The ‘Mountain Pine Bath’ soak, is designed to ease tension, soothe the skin and stimulate blood circulation, with extracts of mountain pine oil and spruce needle oil. (The recycled glass bottle even contains a hand-picked spruce sprig).

Susanne Kaufmann ‘Mountain Pine Bath’, £55.

susannekaufmann.com

The breaking news of Margot Robbie becoming the new face of Chanel No.5 (and starring in a Luca Guadagnino-directed campaign film alongside Jacob Elordi), plus the reveal of Marina Abramović’s new range of skincare, are just two of the beauty features on Wallpaper.com that you loved reading in 2024.

Below, find a wider selection of articles that got you clicking and scrolling, including a look at Dyson’s latest science fiction-like styling tool and a 15-step illustrated guide outlining the meticulous process of a Korean scalp treatment.

The most-read Wallpaper* beauty stories from 2024

1. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi almost become lovers in Luca Guadagnino’s Chanel No.5 campaign

In October, Margot Robbie was announced as the new face of Chanel No.5. (2024 also saw Robbie front a nightclub-inspired‘Rouge Allure Velvet’ lipstick collection). See You at 5, an accompanying Chanel No.5 campaign film also starring Jacob Elordi and shot by Luca Guadagnino, saw the two actors ‘almost’ become lovers, as they attempt to meet one another against the backdrop of the setting California sun.

Read the full feature here.

2. How the 15-step Korean scalp treatment rejuvenates hair like nothing else

For the Wallpaper* February 2024 Design Awards issue, we presented a beauty award to the Eco Jardin hair salon in Seoul, for its meticulous 15-step scalp treatment. Including a microscopic scalp analysis, massage, steam LED light therapy and more, Lucy Birant illustrated each step of the process.

Read the full feature here.

3. Marina Abramović releases a skincare and wellness range ‘inspired by mindfulness’

In January, artist Marina Abramović brought the principles of her ‘mindfulness-based’ Longevity Method to a new skincare and wellness collection developed with Dr Nonna Brenner. The project certainly raised a few eyebrows – was it another performance piece, perhaps? Or was she deadly serious? – the Wallpaper.com feature on the products and ideas behind them certainly got people talking.

Read the full feature here.

4. Poor Things’ Oscar-winning make-up and hair: behind-the-scenes interview

Yorgos Lanthimos’ film Poor Things, based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Grey, received critical acclaim. Winning a Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, it also garnered 11 nominations at the Academy Awards, with Emma Stone winning Best Actress for her performance as Bella Baxter. The hair and make-up design team, led by Nadia Stacey, also received several accolades including an Academy Award and a BAFTA. We interviewed Stacey about her work on the film on Wallpaper.com.

Read the full feature here.

5. First look: how Diptyque used synaesthesia to create its poetic new perfume collection

Diptyque launched a new luxury perfume collection in the summer of 2024, ‘Les Essences de Diptyque’, which was (true to Diptyque’s form) inspired by the natural world. Here, five unique fragrances captured ‘the scent of coral and mother of pearl’, with five unique fragrances designed by a team of noses using synaesthesia. We interviewed them all for a first look at the project on Wallpaper.com.

Read the full feature here.

6. The new Dyson ‘Airwrap i.d.’ will style your hair using an app

Dyson made further strides in hair and beauty in 2024, with ‘Chitosan’ (its first-ever range of hair care products) and the ‘Airwrap i.d.’, an updated model of its beloved ‘Airwrap’ styling tool. Upon its launch in August, we covered the news on Wallpaper.com, revealing the ‘Airwrap i.d.’ works in tandem with the ‘MyDyson’ app to carry out a personalised curling sequence at the touch of a button.

Read the full feature here.

7. The Substance: how Pierre-Olivier Persin transformed Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley with prosthetic make-up design

The Substance was a film on everyone’s lips in 2024, drumming up plenty of ‘discourse’ for its subject matter and visual language. Directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, the story of Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) and her ‘other self ’Sue (Qualley) came to life through the visionary prosthetic make-up design by Pierre Oliver Persin. We spoke with Persin to gain insight into transforming the actors into the grotesque and comedically tragic characters ‘Gollum’ and ‘Monstro Elisasue’.

Read the full feature here.

8. Bleach London’s permanent dyes transform hair (without using bleach)

Session stylist Alex Brownsell (who has worked with everyone from Gucci and Versace to Celine and Marc Jacobs) founded the east London hair salon Bleach in 2010, after growing tired of dying her friends’ hair in the kitchen sink. In 2024, however, Bleach made a revolutionary development for dying hair at home, with its ‘No Bleach London’ permanent box dyes, which create vibrant colour without any bleach at all. Brownsell shared her insights on the products with Wallpaper*.

Read the full feature here.

9. Jamie Dornan takes a bath in Le Corbusier’s villa for Loewe Perfumes

In September, the news broke that brand ambassadors Jamie Dornan and Sophie Wilde were the new faces of Loewe Perfumes. A portrait series and film by David Sims saw Dornan and Wilde make themselves at home inside the master bathroom in Villa Savoye, which was designed and built in the 1930s by Le Corbusierand Pierre Jeanneret. The 2024 campaign also spotlighted four scents from Loewe Perfumes’ ‘Botanical Rainbow’ and ‘Un Paseo por Madrid’ collections: ‘Esencia’, ‘Agua Drop’, ‘Un Paseo por Madrid Doré’ and ‘Prado’.

Read the full feature here.

10. What makes a ‘winter perfume’? The Wallpaper* guide to fragrances that linger on the skin and in the air

As temperatures dropped in November, we turned our focus to a selection of potent and long-lasting perfumes for the winter months. This includes fragrances from the Dior ‘Esprit de Parfum’ collection, also featured in the Wallpaper* December Entertaining Issue, ‘L’Eau d’Hiver’, by nose Jean Claude Ellena for Frederic Malle, and more.

Read the full feature here.

Unboxing beauty products on Boxing Day? Well, metaphorically speaking, why not?

Here, we take a look back at the pages of Wallpaper* from the past year, reflecting on the make-up, perfume, tools and accessories that defined our 2024.

Unboxing beauty products from 2024, as seen on the pages of Wallpaper*

Chanel lipstick in Wallpaper* February 2024: The Design Awards Issue

In the February 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, we presented a design award to the Chanel ‘31 Le Rouge lipstick’. The lipstick comes in several shades and textures, all created to be housed in a glass case crafted by Japanese artisans and designed by Sylvie Legastelois.

Read the full article here.

MyBlend led mask in Wallpaper* March 2024: The Style Issue

For the first Wallpaper* Style Issue of the year in March 2024, we turned the spotlight on the MyBlend ‘myLedmask’, with its uniquely contoured design slightly reminiscent of Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In.

Read the full article here.

Acne Studios x Frédéric Malle perfume in Wallpaper* April 2024: Global Interiors

We spoke with the creative director of Acne Studios Jonny Johansson, fragrance legend Frédéric Malle and emerging nose Suzy Le Helley about their collaborative work on ‘Acne Studios par Frédéric Malle’ eau de parfum, previewed in the April 2024 issue of Wallpaper*.

Read the full article here.

Bottega Veneta scented candle in Wallpaper* June 2024: The Travel Issue

Bottega Veneta launched scented candles earlier this year, with three different fragrances available in red, yellow and green lava glaze ceramic pots. We captured the brand’s ‘Redstone’ candle on the pages of Wallpaper* June 2024, which contains notes of plum nectar, tobacco and cedarwood.

Read the full article here.

Rimowa vanity case in Wallpaper* June 2024: The Travel Issue

Rimowa's vanity case also made its debut in Wallpaper* June 2024, our annual travel issue. A reimagined 1970s design from the Rimowa archives, the case is robust enough to contain a multitude of products and tools without fear of damage whilst on the move.

Read the full article here.

Fendi perfumes in Wallpaper* July 2024: The Design Directory

In 2024, Fendi created seven exclusive perfumes, inspired by the personalities and memories of close members of the Fendi family. The collection, which we included in the July issue of Wallpaper*, features refillable glass bottles evoking the vocabulary of Roman architecture.

Read the full article here.

Calvin Klein CK One perfume in Wallpaper* August 2024: The USA 100

The August 2024 issue of Wallpaper* was dedicated US creatives, with an accompanying portfolio shot by Inez and Vinoodh. In addition, we looked at 12 American design icons, including Calvin Klein’s ‘CK One’ eau de toilette. First released in 1994, the fragrance remains a best seller to this day.

Read the full article here.

Solid soap in Wallpaper* September 2024: The Style Issue

For Wallpaper* September 2024, the year’s second issue dedicated to style, we celebrated the pleasures of solid soap, including bars from the likes of Aesop, Celine, Diptyque, Hermès and Sisley.

Read the full article here.

Celine Beauté lipstick in Wallpaper* October 2024: Guest Editors

Celine launched its first-ever beauty line in October 2024, Celine Beauté. Designed by Hedi Slimane, who has since left the house in the hands of his successor Michael Rider, the ‘Le Rouge Celine’ lipstick in a shade of red called 'Rouge Triomphe’ made its Wallpaper* premiere in the same monthly issue.

Read the full article here.

Hermès eye and lip pencils in Wallpaper* November 2024: The Art Issue

Hermès’ ‘Trait d’Hermès’ eye and lip pencils were designed by Pierre Hardy and Gregoris Pyrpylis, the house’s creative director of beauty, to evoke a playful stationary set. We captured the collection’s kaleidoscopic colour palette in Wallpaper* November 2024.

Read the full article here.

Bottega Veneta perfume in Wallpaper* November 2024: The Art Issue

Bottega Veneta’s fragrance collection by Matthieu Blazy (now succeeded by Louise Trotter after his appointment as creative director at Chanel) includes five scents inspired by Venice, with bottles blown in Murano glass. Above, is the brand’s ‘Come With Me’ eau de parfum, as featured in the November 2024 issue of Wallpaper*.

Read the full article here.

Dior perfumes in Wallpaper* December 2024: The Entertaining Issue

In 2024, Francis Kurkdjian, the creative director of Dior Parfums took five fragrances from the house’s ‘La Collection Privée’, reinterpreting their notes in ‘Esprit de Parfum’, a new scent range featured on the pages of Wallpaper’s December Entertaining Issue.

Read the full article here.

Dries Van Noten lipsticks in Wallpaper* December 2024: The Entertaining Issue

After taking a final bow on the runway earlier in the year, for the December 2024 issue of Wallpaper* we caught up with Dries Van Noten about his next steps, which include growing the beauty and fragrance arm of his eponymous brand (and spending more time in his beloved garden).

Read the full article here.

Beauty and fashion are close bedfellows. But in 2024, this relationship got even cosier, with a litany of turbocharged crossovers between the two disciplines.

The year began with Pat McGrath’s viral porcelain doll make-up for John Galliano’s tenure-defining Maison Margiela Artisanal S/S 2024 show. Later, during September’s S/S 2025 show season, Olivier Rousteing welcomed the much-anticipated Balmain Beauty. (As well as releasing a line of perfumes called ‘Les Éternels’, the Balmain runway collection included clothes and accessories directly referencing the fragrance bottles, alongside yet-to-be-released products such as lipsticks and eyeshadows).

In October, Celine debuted its first-ever beauty line, with a red lipstick called ‘Rouge Celine’, designed by Hedi Slimane. (Slimane announced his departure from the house soon after). During the same month, Matthieu Blazy unveiled a collection of Bottega Veneta fragrances in Murano glass bottles. Last week (12 December 2024) it was revealed that Blazy would be stepping down from Bottega Veneta and into the role of creative director at Chanel. The day before that, news broke that John Galliano would be exiting Maison Margiela.

If one is to believe fashion’s rumour mill, there are more major changes yet to come in the new year. But if the past 12 months have taught us anything, beauty is going to be a huge part of whatever these changes may be. Here, Wallpaper* takes a closer look at a selection of key fashion-meets-beauty moments, which set the tone for 2025 and beyond.

How 2024 brought beauty and fashion closer than ever before

Beauty on the runway, from Maison Margiela to Marc Jacobs

Even if you still haven’t seen the videos of Maison Margiela Artisanal S/S 2024, where John Galliano’s cast of models (including the likes of Gwendoline Christie) staggered beneath the arches of the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, dressed as dolls plucked straight from Émile Zola’s demi-monde, you’ll have seen the make-up. Or, perhaps the endless reproductions of it across Instagram and TikTok at least. After all, almost immediately after the Pat McGrath-created look appeared on the runway, the internet was ablaze with beauty creators trying to decode the secret formula to the waxen, porcelain skin.

The hubbub around the look reached such a fever pitch that McGrath eventually weighed in herself, sharing the lengthy list of products – including a dizzy combination of peeling masques layered and dried directly on the skin with a hairdryer – that it took to achieve. (Ever the savvy entrepreneur, though, Dame Pat also revealed that her empire-scale beauty business, Pat McGrath Labs, is in the process of developing an all-in-one product for fans eager to get the look).

If there’s another fashion figure who won big in the beauty stakes this year, it would have to be Marc Jacobs, who collaborated with McGrath on a limited edition ‘MatteTrance’ lipstick to mark the 40th anniversary of the American design’s namesake brand.

On the runway, however, it was the S/S 2024 40th anniversary Marc Jacobs show, held in March, which saw the likes of Alex Consani and Kaia Gerber transformed into living dolls (a key theme this year, it would seem).

Strutting out from beneath large-scale Robert Therrien sculptures, their clumped eye make-up by Diane Kendal was offset with hectic 1960s-esque bouffants from Duffy. The label’s second show of the year for A/W 2024, which took place in July, pushed the all-pervasive doll theme yet further, with models sporting cartoonish overblown pastel eyelid covers, sewn from fabrics and trimmed with spidery faux lashes.

Beauty-inspired collections, from Balmain to Abra

But runway beauty went the extra mile in 2024, with collections even taking direct inspiration from beauty products themselves.

At Balmain, Olivier Rousteing used the house’s S/S 2025 show, staged in September, as an opportunity to toast a new line of perfumes called ‘Les Éternels’ and tease yet-to-be-released Balmain Beauty products. Flacon-shaped clutches, trompe l’oeil lipstick heels and eyeshadow palette pochettes figured alongside dresses embroidered with depictions of scarlet tinted lips and lacquered nails. (In 2022, Balmain partnered with Estée Lauder to bring Balmain Beauty to life. William P. Lauder, grandson of Estée and chairman of executive chairman of The Estée Lauder Companies, watched the collection unfold from the front row).

Elsewhere, independent label Abra leaned into beauty-inspired design for its A/W 2024 show, presented over Paris Fashion Week in February. The brand was founded in 2019 by Abraham Ortūno Perez, who has worked with Jonathan Anderson on footwear for both JW Anderson and Loewe. In particular, Perez is responsible for the former’s giant chain mules and the latter's surrealist sandals for S/S 2022, which included heels in hyper-realistic broken eggs, bars of soap and bottles of nail polish.

For the Abra collection in question, make-up brushes were transformed into necklaces, while lipsticks and mini eyeshadow palettes became earrings and brooches. There was also an oversized white T-shirt dress, which appeared as though the model had wiped her hands on it after applying foundation.

Beauty launches, from Celine to Bottega Veneta

2024 was as much about what landed on shop floors as what we saw on the runways, with the year bringing a glut of beauty launches from brands and houses.

One of the most memorable is Celine’s first-ever make-up product, ‘Le Rouge Celine’, a classic satin-finish scarlet hue that comes in an exquisite gold case, developed under the direction of Hedi Slimane. The entire cosmetics line, Celine Beauté, is set to continue under his successor Michael Rider, with more products such as eyeliner, eye pencils and more coming next year.

Elsewhere, Victoria Beckham’s booming beauty empire expanded further, with a collaboration with Augustinus Bader on a concealer pen, which contains the science-led skincare brand’s patented TFC8 technology. Augustinus Bader, which was founded by its namesake biomedical scientist and CEO Charles Rosier, is no stranger to fashion partnerships, having previously teamed up with the likes of Haider Ackermann. (On another note, Ackermann joined Tom Ford in September 2024, drumming up intrigue around the direction the French-Colombian designer will take its revered fragrance and beauty line, which recently put out a lipstick campaign starring Angelina Jolie).

Victoria Beckham Beauty debuted ‘21:50 Rêverie’ – a scent inspired by a twilight dinner she and her husband David once had in the Javan rainforest – by perfuming the designer’s S/S 2025 show space with it. (This wasn't the only time that scent was seen on the runway this year, with Burberry perfuming its A/W 2024 show space with ‘Ivy’ by Perfumer H).

Acolytes of Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta were blessed with scented candles in volcano-glazed pots and five perfumes including ‘Come With Me’ and ‘Acqua Sale’, all inspired by Venice, the ultra-luxe label’s home city. Each was housed in glass bottles that echoed the texture of handblown Murano and perched on a miniature Verde Saint Denis marble plinth.

Beauty and fashion in 2025, from Dries Van Noten to Miu Miu

Keeping track of the developing relationship between the worlds of fashion and beauty in 2024 was truly a head-spinning task. This year also saw Dries van Noten take a final bow as creative director of his brand, after almost a decade at its helm. (On 9 December, it was revealed that Julian Klausner would succeed him).

However, Van Noten will continue to work on its beauty and fragrance division, stoking excitement around how its offering could develop. As the designer told Wallpaper* in the December 2024 issue: ‘My life changed quite a lot this year,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting time. We had some storms, with big trees falling over, so there is more work to do in the garden and some thinking to be done.’

Perhaps the launch to look out for next year, though, is the arrival of Miu Miu beauty. Launching by way of a licencing agreement with L’Oréal, the new line expands the Prada Group’s beauty foothold, which was first established in 2023 with Prada Beauty, under the creative direction of Lyndsey Alexander.

It is also worth keeping an eye on Chanel. Although beauty and fragrance will not be under new creative director Matthieu Blazy’s direct purview, it will nonetheless be interesting to see how his creative vision informs and interacts with this vital and storied branch of the French house.

Matthieu Blazy has been appointed as Chanel’s new creative director. ‘I am thrilled and honoured to join the wonderful House of Chanel. I look forward to meeting all the teams and writing this new chapter together,’ he said in a statement issued this evening.

Since the departure of Virginie Viard from the house this past June – Viard had worked at the house for three decades since the departure of Karl Lagerfeld in 2019 – rumours have swirled through the vaunted halls of Paris’ great houses as to who would become her successor. (There have been rumoured sightings of designers at the Chanel offices, some purportedly high-profile job interviews, and near-endless conjecture and chatter from the front row).

Matthieu Blazy is is Chanel’s new creative director

But the noise is now quieted. Blazy, exiting Italian house Bottega Veneta, will become the latest artistic director of Chanel, arguably fashion’s biggest job (at least, if Lagerfeld was anything to go by, the highest profile). Announced in the wake of Chanel’s Métiers d’art show in Hangzhou, China, Blazy’s appointment will be immediate, with his first show taking place next February during Paris Fashion Week. He will oversee ready-to-wear, accessories and haute couture and design the house’s Cruise and Métiers d’art collection.

Blazy was born in Paris in 1984, before moving to Belgium to study fashion as the prestigious La Cambre school in Brussels (other notable alumni include Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello, Rabanne’s Julien Dossena and Courrèges’ Nicolas Di Felice). An industry stalwart, he went on to work at Raf Simons as men’s designer, at Maison Margiela overseeing the Artisanal line and women’s ready-to-wear, and Celine, under Phoebe Philo.

However, it was at Bottega Veneta – which he joined after briefly working again with Simons when he became creative director at Calvin Klein in 2016 – that would thrust Blazy into the spotlight. Working again behind the scenes as the number two to Daniel Lee during the British designer’s transformative tenure at the house, in 2021, after Lee exited to go to Burberry, Blazy was appointed as creative director.

His critically lauded and commercially successful tenure at the house (in October 2023, it was the only house in the Kering roster to make a profit in the conglomerate’s third quarter) has been defined by a playful use of the house’s historic leather atelier. Notably, his first collection featured a pair of blue denim ‘jeans’ which were actually trompe l’oeil leather; other such visual tricks have featured throughout his collections. Often riffing on quotidien garments in luxurious fashion, his collections have drawn inspiration from the dress codes of the Italian street (his opening trilogy).

His greatest success, though, is bags: his Andiamo handbag, which is crafted from the house’s intreccato woven leather with a looping golden clasp, has become ubiquitous. Other successes have included the Sardine bag (a reference to its metal fish-shaped handle), the Kalimero, and the roomy Hop bag. He has also forged strong links with the design world – collaborators have included Gaetano Pesce, Flos and Cassina – while in October 2024 he launched his first fragrance, encased in a dramatic Murano-glass bottle.

‘I am delighted to welcome Matthieu Blazy. I am convinced that he will be able to play with the codes and heritage of the House, through an ongoing dialogue with the Studio, our Ateliers, and our Maisons d'art. His audacious personality, his innovative and powerful approach to Creation, as well as his dedication to craftsmanship and beautiful materials, will take C in exciting new directions,’ said Bruno Pavlovsky, President of Chanel Fashion and Chanel SAS.

Louise Trotter will succeed Blazy at Bottega Veneta. Trotter joins the house from Carven, where she was appointed as creative director in 2023. ‘I am deeply honoured to join Bottega Veneta as Creative Director. The House’s storied legacy of artistry and innovation is truly inspiring, and I am excited to contribute to its future and celebrate its timeless vision,’ says the British designer.

Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s opulent Rue Cambon apartment – a Paris address that also houses the haute couture atelier of her namesake maison – features eight lacquered Coromandel screens, the richly decorated folding partitions that originate from China. They were a particular fascination of the couturier, who is said to have owned 32 in total, and who would use them as lavish wall decorations or to cover doorways when she wanted to hide away from guests. ‘I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time,’ she said of her opening encounter with the decorative object, aged 18.

The largest screen in the Rue Cambon apartment features a depiction of West Lake, a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, the capital of China’s historic Zhejiang province. Its serene waters, which once were located inside the ancient city’s walls, feature manmade islands and causeways, as well as numerous decorative pagodas and temples along its shoreline. As such, it has been a subject of mythic tales and poetic musings, before being used by Marco Polo as a symbol of China that he brought back to the West in the 13th century. In 2011 West Lake was designated a World Cultural Heritage Site by Unesco.

Earlier today, West Lake was also the location of Chanel’s latest Métiers d'Art show, the annual happening that celebrates the various, highly specific craftspeople and organisations that contribute to the house’s collections, from feather workers and embroiderers to milliners and goldsmiths (. The location was teased with a Wim Wenders-directed film released earlier this week, which features longtime house muse Tilda Swinton travelling from the Rue Cambon apartment to West Lake before cruising its famed waters in a traditional decorative boat (the film also stars fellow house ambassadors Xin Zhilei and Leah Dou).

‘Gabrielle Chanel never travelled to Hangzhou,’ reads the film’s final slide. ‘In the coming days, the house of Chanel finally will.’

And so the show took place at the onset of evening, a series of wooden runways, hovering just above the lake’s surface, providing the runway (the idea, said Chanel, was to evoke the illusion that they were walking on water). Indeed, there was a decidedly nighttime mood to the collection, from the sweeping midnight black overcoats which opened the show, to lavishly decorated tweed jackets and a series of garments in gilded gold (others were adorned with delicate, boudoir-like feather trims). The tweed suit ran throughout, in various iterations – some jackets were cropped to reveal patterned bodysuits beneath, while skirts moved from abbreviated and kilt-like to a longer, fuller skirt – while a more casual mood emerged in bermuda shorts, denim skirts, and a gently padded set which recalled nightwear (the idea of travel and movement was another inspiration).

As ever with the house’s Métiers d’Art collections, the true poetry of these pieces came from the extraordinary expressions of craft and embellishment that ran throughout. There were camelia motifs embroidered by Lesage (Coco Chanel’s love of the flower was purportedly in part inspired by their use in Chinese artworks), intricate pleats and piping, and fantastical panels of sequins and crystals. In a statement, Chanel praised the ‘savoir-faire’ of its various Métiers d’Art, ‘the dynamics of its layering and the romanticism of its refinement’.

The collection was designed by the house’s studio team, following the departure of former creative director Virginie Viard last June. Rumours of her replacement continue to swirl, and the news is reportedly imminent. Though this evening in Hangzhou, it was the Chanel craftspeople – those magicians behind the curtain – who took their deserved place centre stage.

Watch Wim Wenders’s short film for Chanel, starring Tilda Swinton, below.

chanel.com

Bill Prince, Editor-in-Chief

'The second week of November invariably means a visit to Geneva for the ‘Oscars’ of the world’s watchmaking fraternity – the GPHG, or Grand Prix Horlogerie d’Geneve. In recent years, the scale of the event has grown in tandem with the growing interest in fine and high watchmaking, with makers from Malaysia and Japan joining the Swiss-based throng at the lakeside Theatre Leman. Overseen by jury president Nick Foulkes, journalist and author of Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner published in partnership with Wallpaper*, top prize this year was awarded to IWC for its Eternal Calendar, able to account for irregularities in the Gregorian calendar for the next four centuries. Suddenly, ‘same time next year?’ takes on a whole new meaning.'

Jack Moss, Fashion Features Editor

'I loved seeing Jonathan Anderson’s brilliant S/S 2025 Loewe collection up close this week at a press day – it was one of my highlights of the womenswear shows this past September in Paris. It featured these incredible feathered T-shirts decorated with the works of Manet and Van Gogh, as well as portraits of Mozart and Bach, entirely painted by hand. Inspired by Anderson’s morning commute along the River Seine, where tourist stalls sell tea towels and canvases imprinted with the works of the art masters, they make for an idiosyncratic take on band merch.'

Hannah Tindle, Beauty & Grooming Editor

'On Thursday just after the sun went down, I attended the New Bond Street Christmas light switch-on. This year, the display has been designed in collaboration with Chanel Beauty. Brand ambassador Lucy Boynton performed the honours, wearing a Chanel A/W 2024 ecru and silver tweed dress, illuminating the stretch of luxury stores from Piccadilly to Oxford Circus with over 85,750 LED bulbs made from recycled aluminium. The ambience of the street now feels a little like the 2004 Chanel No.5 campaign by Baz Luhrmann, starring Nicole Kidman. (In keeping with the festive spirit, I've also now got my eye on several products from Chanel Beauty's limited edition 'Winter Tale' make-up collection).'

Hannah Silver, Watches, Jewellery, Arts & Culture Editor

'Taking a pause before Christmas celebrations seriously kick in, this week I have been slinking home early and loading up on nutritional goodness from Oxford Circus gem, Nathalie. The juices and lunch boxes are a stand-out from the usual central London fare.'

Sophie Gladstone, Photography Editor

'Meetings with photographers, agents and other creatives to get discuss potential ideas are always high points of my week. Where these interesting conversations happen varies but a favourite of mine is Toklas bakery, where this week I enjoyed a perfect danish, filled with pear and saffron. I also love their hibiscus tea.'

Ellie Stathaki, Architecture & Environment Director

'Caravan is a firm favourite for coffee in London. This week, I met friend and Piercy & Co communications manager Gwen Webber at their under-the-radar, north London roasters and headquarters in a renovated Victorian warehouse for a cup and chat. The smell of freshly ground coffee and bread from the bakery is unbeatable. It always inspires interesting conversations.'

Sofia de la Cruz, Travel Editor

'Lucky me saw Okay Kaya perform her new album Oh My God - That’s So Me at Village Underground last week. The Norwegian-American musician blessed us with her soft vocals and decisive bass sets. The rather intimate venue in east London seemed the perfect setting for what was a wholesome conversation between artist and audience. Kaya’s mischievous lullabies are invigorating, perplexing and, at times, seductive – watching it all live was an otherworldly experience. My favourite part? When the singer and songwriter awkwardly walked off stage after her final song and her microphone fell into the hands of the front row, who began to sing off her most popular track, ‘Mother Nature’s Bitch’.'