Like Wallpaper*, Paris’ MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with ‘Penn & Fashion’, a standout tribute to Irving Penn that retraces his mastery of fashion photography from 1947 to 2008.

Penn is one of MEP’s foundational figures. It began acquiring one hundred of his prints in the early 1990s, with an additional 198 donated in 2023 by the photographer’s son Tom Penn. Irving Penn visited the site of the museum in 1993, while it was under construction. The gallery bearing his name was inaugurated at its opening in 1996.

‘Penn & Fashion’ (showing until 17 January 2027) is comprised of works from MEP’s permanent collection, and exceptional loans from the Irving Penn Foundation, the Nicola Erni Collection, and the Miyake Issey Foundation.

Penn (1917-2009) transformed fashion photography with his Vogue magazine collaboration spanning almost seven decades, the longest in the magazine’s history.

Born in 1917 in Plainfield, New Jersey to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Penn studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts. He studied graphic design under Alexey Brodovitch and became his assistant at Harper’s Bazaar.

In 1943, he was hired by Vogue’s art director, Alexander Liberman, to develop cover concepts for the magazine’s photographers. Impressed by the clarity of his vision and 'a mind, and an eye that knew what it wanted to see', Liberman urged Penn to take the photographs himself.

The exhibition unfolds chronologically. By the late 1940s, Penn had become Vogue’s preeminent photographer. He helped define the relaunch of haute couture with the revolution announced by Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’. He worked with the era’s most famous models – Jean Patchett, Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, and Lisa Fonssagrives, the world’s first supermodel.

In 1948, Liberman sent Penn on his first outdoor fashion shoot on location, in Lima, Peru. ‘Flying Down to Lima’, featuring Jean Patchett as a tourist discovering the city, appeared in the February 1949 edition of Vogue. It was a huge success.

After the shoot, instead of returning directly to New York, Penn headed south-east to Cuzco, the former Inca capital, where he rented a studio lit by natural light from a local photographer, and shot portraits of the Quechua people in their traditional dress. He used a theatre curtain as a neutral backdrop, and shot 2,000 portraits of the Quechua, who lined up outside the studio for three days.

It proved a decisive moment in Penn’s career. It confirmed his preference for the controlled environment of the studio over the distractions and unpredictability of outdoor shoots. The neutral backdrop distilled the image to its essentials. Each image was composed after a deep preliminary reflection, where he could focus on his subject, resulting in timeless compositions.

Penn first met Swedish artist, dancer and model Lisa Fonssagrives in 1947, during a Vogue group portrait of the 12 most photographed models in the United States. She became Penn’s ultimate muse, the subject of his greatest photographs. His portrait of Fonssagrives in a harlequin dress for Vogue’s ‘The Black and White Idea’ issue in April 1950 encapsulates his mastery of composition and contrast.

They married the same year, their son, Tom, was born in 1952. 'That image of my mother in the harlequin dress was very rewarding. He was so in love with her, it came through so beautifully in that particular image,' said Tom Penn.

The 1960s was a time of major change in fashion. Diana Vreeland became Vogue’s editor-in-chief in 1963, ready-to-wear replaced couture, and a new generation of photographers joined the magazine. Penn remained imperturbably faithful to his method of working. He photographed Birgitta af Klercker in a swimsuit, Marisa Berenson in Emanuel Ungaro’s metal wedding dress, André Courrèges’ futuristic designs, with a new generation of models that included Verushka, Lauren Hutton and Naomi Sims.

Practically, Penn had a great deal of leeway in selecting the designers and models featured in Vogue. In the 1970s, he shot Ungaro and Courrèges, in the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel.

He shot the magazine’s beauty pages in colour, wittily surreal images that sometimes verged on the grotesque. Liberman called them ‘stoppers’: images so arresting that they stopped the reader from turning the page.

During the last three decades of his career, secure in his stature at Vogue, Penn became increasingly selective in the designers he chose to photograph. At the age of 90, he photographed John Galliano for Christian Dior, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, and Christian Lacroix, capturing their extravagantly theatrical haute couture in breathtaking images.

He consistently applied his emphasis on the silhouette, volume and texture.

His collaboration with Japanese designer Issey Miyake was unusual. Penn never attended Miyake’s runway shows, Miyake never attended Penn’s shoots. Miyake would send his creations to New York and then receive the transparencies in Tokyo. Miyake’s sculptural garments perfectly complemented Penn’s minimalist style. It worked for them both. 'Penn’s photographs allow me to see my own designs,' Miyake remarked.

'My father was the living example of dignity in the pursuit of one's work, to find the path of something that one wanted to do in life, and to do it as the best one could. He had a way of noticing details others overlooked,' said Tom Penn. 'I try to honour that in the way we care for his work and how we carry it forward, not by holding it still, but by letting it live.'

Penn & Fashion at MEP, Paris, until 17 January 2027

Rough pieces of burlap hang between the Fondation Cartier's 19th-century arches, facing the historic Place du Palais Royal. The humble fabric comes from sacks produced in India or Bangladesh, then used to transport cocoa from Ghana to Europe. In the hands of Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, these tattered workhorse bags are now works of art, heavy with meaning and memory.

For the second major exhibition in its vast new Jean Nouvel-designed space, the Fondation Cartier chose Mahama and nine associated artists and collectives to inhabit the entire museum with a show called 'The Harvest Season'. Mahama's monumental installations, textiles and collages are a perfect fit for the museum's generous volumes and intersecting perspectives.

Born in 1987 in Tamale, northern Ghana, Mahama studied art close to home, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He burst onto the international scene by draping the Arsenale in burlap sacks at the 2015 Venice Biennale, and he has steadily gained in stature ever since. (We’ve previously explored his works at London’s White Cube and seen him turn the Barbican pink.)

Mahama's art is social and political, interwoven with the history of Ghana, from colonialism to the euphoria of independence and the early promise of democracy that ended suddenly with a coup d'état in 1966. Exhibition curator Aby Gaye-Duparc says, 'One of the questions Ibrahim Mahama's work asks, and that underlies this exhibition, is: what remains of these utopias conceived at the time of African independence, in the late 1950s and early 1960s? What legacies have endured? What failures? And how do we build the future from that utopia?'

The artist has reinvested the significant earnings from sales of his work into community and educational projects in Ghana, building three art centres in Tamale where artists, schoolkids or anyone else is invited to explore, experiment and create. At one of them, Red Clay, the property contains old trains that once operated around the country's manganese and bauxite mines. He acquired them as archives, to be recycled from memory-imbibed industrial objects into works of art. 'I've always believed that when an artist produces an object, the object is not just reliant on the so-called intellectual value of the artist, because there are so many people who touch these objects, who use them.'

At the Fondation Cartier, the show includes Mahama's evocative installation Parliament of Ghosts. A parliamentary chamber of empty chairs, it is a metaphor for the democratic experiment cut short. Each time the artist shows this work, he changes it; here, he has used wooden stools from Ghana's Asante Empire, which was forcibly annexed by the British in 1902.

Things Fall Apart is a brand new installation. While Mahama was preparing for this show, he learned that the Aboso Glass Factory in southern Ghana was about to be scrapped. President Nkrumah had opened the bottle-manufacturing plant in 1966, just weeks before he was deposed. 'I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if we used the capital that was coming from the Fondation Cartier to acquire this factory, and then rebuild a section of it here in Paris, but also rebuild it in the studio in Tamale as a new public space that allows us to be able to reflect on these histories? So we did. That's where the question of the harvest came from. What does it mean to be able to harvest the potentials that were in the past, but somehow stayed there and never travelled to the future?’

The installation is massive, consisting of the factory's original sign and metal structure, surrounded on either side with 1,000 stacked wooden crates and over 25,000 green glass bottles. Mahama admits it was insanely difficult to purchase the factory, dismantle it, then move a chunk of it to France to be rebuilt. 'It took two years to conceive and make the forms possible. But I thought that was the most interesting thing, because it would introduce a new audience to a very different position in terms of what art from the continent has to offer.'

The exhibition reveals the breadth of Mahama's practice. It includes collages where he covered archival factory orders with charcoal drawings of African labourers carrying steel rails to build colonial railroads. Photographs of women's arms tattooed with their names, serving as a means of identification when they travelled. Immense mixed-media textiles.

It was one of Mahama's university professors, Dorothy Akpene Amenuke, who inspired his work with burlap, and he's invited her to exhibit her textile installations here, such as the immersive, velvety red weaving called Gli, which means ‘wall’. 'Ibrahim is exceptional,' she says. 'Wherever he finds himself, whatever brought him there, he always acknowledges that he didn't come this far by himself.'

Passersby looking through the large windows of the Fondation Cartier will see screenprinted textiles by the young German-Ghanaian artist Zohra Opoku, examining her heritage as the daughter of a village chief whom she met for the first time at age 27, shortly before he died.

Another invited artist is 97-year-old James Barnor, who witnessed Ghana's liberation as the country's first photojournalist. Two years ago, Mahama paid tribute to Barnor by reconstructing his 1950s portrait studio in Accra, Ever Young, at Red Clay. He set up a large-format Polaroid 20x24 Instant Land Camera and, together with Barnor, shot portraits of the locals. The delightful results are on show here, along with Barnor's earlier work.

Mahama went to art school with the painter Gideon Appah, who is successful in his own right. The Fondation Cartier made the choice to display some of his colourful figurative paintings alongside loans from the Musée d'Orsay, underlining his art history references. At the same time, Appah works with a local vernacular – Black surfers, Accra's once-beloved Roxy cinema, men in suits having a smoke. 'I made paintings that referenced things that were happening in the 1970s, from old newspapers referencing the coolness, you know, of Ghanaian culture way back then.'

Other exhibitors have come from different backgrounds or countries – Slovenia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo – but all share a connection to Mahama. The CATPC, or Congolese Plantation Workers Art League, is a collective of plantation workers/artists using the proceeds from their artworks to buy back land confiscated in 1911 by the brothers who built Unilever and used forced labour to harvest palm oil. One of their sculptures, cast in a highly symbolic mixture of cacao, sugar, salt and palm oil, portrays an art collector riding a bull, meant to represent the Western museums that have pillaged African art. When asked how they feel to be participating in an exhibition in France, Ced'art Tamasala says, 'This is different, because we have chosen to put our works in Western museums that were supported by forced labour. We are coming to take back a bit of the strength, to bring it back to the plantation where everything came from.'

‘The Harvest Season’ opened in Paris in the midst of social upheaval. Was it the perfect timing for Mahama's message of building a better future? 'It's always the time,' he says, 'because the world has been in crisis for far too long, and artists can have a very important role to play. Sometimes, certain artists are able to accumulate certain powers within the art world that allow them to take more responsibility, where ordinarily an artist would not be able. And when that happens, you have to acknowledge it and do it rightfully as it's supposed to be.'

Ibrahim Mahama at Fondation Cartier until 28 February 2027

Gathered in the light-filled spaces of the Petit Palais in Paris, blending into the museum’s permanent collection of work, from antiquity to present day, are 18 figures, visionary women cast in plaster. They are a new addition, courtesy of Paris-born artist Prune Nourry, who is looking to redress a balance that currently sees only 4 per cent of the Petit Palais’ collection created by female artists.

Working in plaster was a conscious choice for Nourry, who was invited by the Petit Palais to include her works as part of her ‘Visionaries’ exhibition. Surprisingly, almost 70 per cent of the works in the museum are ‘studio plasters’, works that were never intended to be displayed, but have survived the decades, unlike their bronze counterparts, which were originally destined for posterity.

It is a fitting analogy for the works themselves. Nourry has populated the Petit Palais with the figures of lesser-known female sculptors, a generous addition to the four female sculptors who are already included in the museum’s collections. As a subject, however, women are prolific.

Upon discovering this, Nourry began to work with three art historians, researching female sculptors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, collecting their writings and portraits in order to gain a sense of who they were. Featured sculptors, including Käthe Kollwitz, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Hélène Bertaux, Jane Poupelet, Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry, Selma Hortense Burke, Daria Gamsaragan, and Sarah Bernhardt, share a strong aesthetic identity to which Nourry was drawn.

Nourry enjoyed the process of creating their representation in plaster – but it was stressful, she adds. ‘Very stressful. Obviously it's an interpretation of them and their portraits, because sometimes on the archive images I have of them, you only have the front, or the profile. If you have different images, they don't look like the same woman – they are from different parts of their life. I had to accept that interpretation was a huge part of this, and I hope that they forgive me.’

Sculpture is an instinctive process for Nourry, the sensuality of which she began to appreciate after being diagnosed with cancer in 2016, at the age of 31. ‘Sculpture is where I discovered the connection between my eyes and my hands – when I went through chemo, I lost the touch within my fingers,’ she says. ‘After that, I started a project where I would be blindfolded and sculpted only with my hands to make them work even more. Because I had the fear of losing them, I focused only on them. Sculpting is what moves me.’

The works here are led by the character of the women themselves, or what Nourry learnt about their character through scrupulous research. While they share arresting marble eyes, in line with the Petit Palais’ sculptures, the busts on show play with scale, a thoughtful consideration of the space a woman can require.

‘I could have done very different styles according to each of their work, but I chose not to,’ says Nourry. ‘The portraits I have are from that time in the 19th century, when you went to the photographer who would arrange you in a certain posture. You wouldn't smile, and you would be quite front-on to the camera. That posture is what you feel in the portraits.’

She wanted the busts to go beyond the concept of the body itself, Nourry adds. ‘I wanted it to be about them as human beings. I did very different sizes, also to show that sculpture can be in very different sizes, and it is not a hierarchy here. It was just based on whose pictures I got first, and I would then start to sculpt first – they would be big because, in terms of the process, this is the timing you have to respect.’

Ultimately, it has been a labour of love for Nourry, and an essential expression of her role as an artist. ‘Sculpture is like my spine,’ she says. ‘It's what keeps me straight.’

‘Prune Nourry: Visionaries’, from 20 October 2026 – 24 January 2027 at Petit Palais; prunenourry.com

'What a relief to see the Americans showed up,' murmured a Parisian art dealer at the opening of Design Miami Paris 2026, just days after rioting shook the capital. Indeed, both the fair organisers themselves and a number of deep-pocketed collectors came, undaunted, for the fourth edition at L'Hôtel de Maisons, displaying 140 years of design and decorative arts from around the world.

Take a tour of Design Miami Paris 2026

The show starts in the courtyard with a huge bronze bear by François-Xavier Lalanne from Galerie Mitterrand, a delightful wooden pavilion with three faces designed by Volumnia's Michele De Lucchi, and 'Arabesque', Pierre Renart's monumental bench crafted from a 17m-long twisted ribbon of weather-resistant moabi wood, winner of the Best Design at Large Presentation award (from Maison Parisienne Gallery).

In the vast gardens behind the 18th-century mansion where Karl Lagerfeld once lived, visitors marvel at the 1944 6x6 Demountable House by Jean Prouvé, clad in timber and decorated like a Japanese tea house, presented by Galerie Patrick Seguin.

This year's Best Gallery Presentation award went to Salon 94 Design, which juxtaposes sculptural works by Alberto and Diego Giacometti with antler stools and other brutalist furniture by contemporary designer Rick Owens.

Director Jackie Greenberg says, 'We knew we were bringing the Giacometti, and we've worked with Rick for a very long time, so it just seemed obvious for them to coexist in the space together.'

'It came out beautifully,' said Owens of the stand as he wandered through the fair with his wife, Michèle Lamy. 'They're opening the Giacometti Foundation next to our house. I always thought, Alberto Giacometti – he lived in squalor, in that artist's studio, and that's what I want our house to look like.'

Italians are prominent at this year's fair. Milan's Nilufar is showing a mix of vintage pieces by the likes of Carlo Bugatti and Gabriella Crespi, alongside contemporary collectible design. Hanging above their stand is the newest version of an annual favourite, a sinuous ceiling lamp in bronze and coloured Murano glass by Christian Pellizzari, this year with seashells at the tips rather than flowers.

Nearby, StudioDanielK's paravent in white parchment and solid bronze opens to reveal a bar in high-gloss Brazilian rosewood. 'It has a little table so you can prepare your cocktail here,' says designer Daniel Kolodziejczak. First shown at Salone del Mobile, it comes in a limited edition of six, customisable with different parchments and woods.

The Paris-based Galerie Pron, formerly Galerie Italienne, is presenting a colourful and eclectic assortment, including a cabinet with a signature tartan pattern by contemporary ceramic artist Alice Gavalet, and a hammock woven in Nicaragua in 1974, based on an Alexander Calder design. 'This is one of the few in very, very good condition,' says director Matteo Da Dalt.

Scandinavians are well represented, too. Galerie Maria Wettergren brought a new wall installation called ‘Jade’ by Norwegian fibre artist Gjertrud Hals, woven in green and turquoise threads, like jellyfish attached to the wall. Nearby, Mathias Bengtsson's cast and polished stainless steel ‘Membrane’ chair won the fair's award for Best Contemporary Work. 'He conceived it by using a computer program where a digital seed makes the form grow as a living organism,' says Wettegren. 'So it's no longer an imitation of an organic form, it's actually a simulation.'

The New York gallery Hostler Burrows is showing an oversized hand-tufted carpet by Louise Hederström, ‘September’, a tapestry in autumnal shades with various layers of pile. It was woven at the venerable Kasthall mill in Sweden, using materials from the archives of its former lead designer, Gunilla Lagerhem Ullberg.

The Stockholm gallery Modernity makes its fair debut in a spacious pale blue room that happened to be the perfect size for a seven-metre-long knotted pile rug in forest and river shades, crafted in 1952 by Swedish artist Margareta Sundbom-Eichenholtz.

The stand also brought Uno Åhrén's high-backed easy chair with sweeping mahogany lines, first shown at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels (the centenary of which was celebrated last year). 'The exhibition in Paris was Sweden's breakthrough in design,' says Andrew Duncanson. 'Sweden won 26 prizes there, only second to France.'

Of course, French 20th-century design is also plentiful, with exceptional pieces by masters from Robert Mallet-Stevens to Le Corbusier, along with Thomas Fritsch's impressive collection of post-war ceramics. At the Galerie Scène Ouverte, a contemporary French ceramicist, Adélie Ducasse, is showing her first piece in glass, a spherical dark blue lamp made with Venini in Murano.

The one-year old Dubai gallery The A/P Room stops visitors in their tracks with Rogan Gregory's furry biomorphic chandelier and floor lamps, mixing goat fur or horsehair with bronze, ceramic and alabaster, light peeking through the strands of hair. 'It's like a creature. I love the ambiguity between the object and a living thing,' says the gallery's founder, Christelle Basilla, who contrasted the lamps with Brazilian modernism.

Meanwhile, a French-American trio of veteran dealers, Oscar Graf, Robert Kaplan and James Zemaitis, have joined forces to present masterworks of modern design from the 1870s to the 1960s. Their stand is small but packs a punch, with a Joseph Hoffman chair designed for the dining room of the Purkersdorf Sanatorium in Vienna, De Stijl architect Gerrit Rietveld's asymmetrical ‘Berlin’ chair (which belonged to artist Donald Judd), and a Frank Lloyd Wright living room chair from the Ward W Willits house in Highland Park, Illinois.

The Wright chair won the fair's award for Best Work of Historical Design. 'The house was considered Wright's first masterwork of Prairie School design, and he did almost all the furniture,' says Kaplan, adding that most of the pieces are now in museum collections, aside from this one, which formerly belonged to the visionary collector Daniel Wolf. 'It was one chair, not repeated in the house, and not repeated in another commission, so it is truly unique.

Artists' jewellery is another important theme. Elisabetta Cipriani Wearable Art brought new pieces from the Cosmic Jewelry collaboration with renowned textile artist Sheila Hicks, first presented earlier this year at the Venice Biennale. Hicks, who often works at architectural scale, shrank her weavings down to wearable size, wrapping precious stones, vintage pearls, fossils and coral from Cipriani's own collection in colourful silk and wool threads, for round Boules brooches and loom-shaped pendants.

MiniMasterpiece deals in jewellery made by artists, designers and architects; recently, owner Esther de Beaucé convinced the 85-year-old German minimalist artist Franz Erhard Walther to try his hand. The result is a stunning ladder of three half-circles in gold-plated brass, in a limited series of 50. The gallery also has a rare pair of necklaces by Argentine sculptor Luis Quesada, layered from slices of precious woods in the 1960s and 1970s. 'He never made them before or after,' says de Beaucé, who acquired these from the artist's daughter.

This is the second year for the initiative Designers of Tomorrow, sponsored by Apple to spotlight emerging design studios. While the four projects here used a certain amount of tech to produce, they all revealed an astonishing quantity (and quality) of handiwork, from Isabel Rower hand-rolling hundreds of ceramic beads to Yoonjeong Lee meticulously layering 5,000 thin sheets of wood veneer.

Even in our fast-paced, tech-fuelled world, it's evidence that young designers are firmly wedded to the idea of craftsmanship, for pieces that may one day be vintage collectibles in their own right.

Design Miami Paris is on view until 25 October 2026, L'hôtel de Maisons, 51 Rue de l'Université, 75007 Paris

'Good design minds are always, fundamentally, surprising,' says Rodman Primack, who returns as curator for this year's Designers of Tomorrow at Design Miami Paris. 'It’s why we need them: not for the mundane - to find the most efficient choice - but to offer an idea that deviates from the standard.'

Led by Apple in collaboration with Design Miami Paris, the showcase brings together four emerging design practices from around the world to create original works around a theme. This year's topic, Design for Presence, seems particularly pertinent in the era of the attention economy.

Apple's Designers of Tomorrow 2026 explore presence

Displayed across a panelled room in Paris’ Hôtel de Maisons, the thoughtful, highly crafted objects reflect this theme, inviting us to slow our pace – to bask in the soft glow of a lantern by Egyptian-Danish architect Salem S. Charabi, listen to the ceramic beaded fringe on Brooklyn-based designer Isabel Rower’s chair, marvel at the intricacy of Seoul-based artist Yoonjeong Lee’s table and lamp, or share a moment of connection within Mexican design studio Parafernalia’s expandable seating area.

Primack – a designer, curator, former creative director of Design Miami and co-founder of Mexico City gallery AGO Projects – sees a common desire to make something meaningful, despite the four studios’ ‘fundamentally different’ approaches, materials and local contexts.

'I do think designers, not just this years cohort of Designers Of Tomorrow, are seeing that our lives need shape and boundaries and that they can help us by creating objects and circumstances that allow for grounding, for communion with ourselves or each other by inviting contemplation, or the sharing of an experience, or actual presence through physical sensation,' he reflects.

The 2026 cohort was handpicked by a jury made up of figures working across the creative industries – including Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Fabien Cappello, Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, Minjae Kim, Hun Chung Lee, Marion Mailaender, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Jennifer Roberts, and Apple’s Molly Anderson. All four of the selected practices used Apple tools and platforms, from iPads to Apple pencils, to develop their pieces.

Wallpaper caught up with each studio to find out how this new generation of designers is thinking about materiality, making and human experience.

Salem S. Charabi, Cairo, Egypt

Charabi's lantern, 'The Emergence of Light', is made from everyday materials found around his Cairo studio – a limestone base, a banana paper diffuser and an intricate date palm frond frame constructed using a traditional Japanese method.

Wallpaper*: what was the starting point for 'The Emergence of Light'?

Salem S. Charabi: Our first point of gathering was around the fire. I wanted to create this totem of light, to celebrate the moment the days turns to night.

W*: Can you tell us about the making process?

SC: Each strand [of the palm frond frame] is an octagon in profile – just 3 millimetres wide, split by hand, and carefully drilled. The ends are then sharpened with a chisel to interlock.

For this project, every component had to be mapped out in detail. I sketched and did all the 3D modelling on my MacBook Pro. It was a complex process getting everything to fit just right — from the carving of the stone and the paper moulds, down to the delicate base.

W*: How will it encourage people to slow down?

SC: I think innately, observing light slows us down. The way it’s reflected on the moon, the way it may hit the crown of a tree. It makes us wonder.

Isabel Rower, New York, USA

The dramatic proportions of Rower's 'The Padded Chair 1860' draw on 18th- and 19th-century papier-mâché furniture and objets d’art. Its high-gloss finish stands in sharp contrast to its ceramic beaded fringe, chosen for the appealing sound it makes when brushed.

W*: How did 'The Padded Chair 1860' begin?

Isabel Rower: A few years ago I took a photograph of a boudoir chair from the 1860s in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. I found the form highly unconventional and I was drawn to its dramatic fringed skirt. When faced with the prompt of ‘Design for Presence’, I felt that this chair was the perfect object to revisit. Ceramics are not simply a medium but a transmission of thought: a way of communicating ideas and variations through touch, and of constantly reworking the material to generate something new.

I was interested in how swapping the textile fringe of the historic object for a skirt of over 1,500 ceramic beads would not only bring it into a contemporary present, but would bring the person sitting into a state of presence.

W*: How do you imagine the piece will encourage people to slow down?

IR: I investigate emulation and the stories of surfaces, drawing from 18th and 19th century papier-mâché furniture and objets d’art. The chair will offer a passage from the surface to interior histories. The sound of the ceramic beaded fringe when brushed against brings awareness to its materiality. It also works to bring the body that is brushing against it into a space of curiosity and presence. It moves sitting from being a passive activity to an activating one.

Yoonjeong Lee, Seoul, South Korea

The base of Lee's 'New Form' – a wooden table with an integrated lamp – is made from roughly 5,000 thin sheets of stacked veneer. Sheets of paper serve as a lampshade held in place by a trio of worn-down pencils that have been given new life as hardware.

W*: How did 'New Form' take shape?

Yoonjeong Lee: I’ve been making nails for a long time. The reason is simple: I wanted to turn something called a 'fitting', a mere part, into something more meaningful and independent. My work is about looking closely at objects that need to be seen differently.

One day, I was looking at a pencil that was almost used up, and I noticed its shape looked like a nail. A pencil doesn’t disappear as it wears down. It stays on in a new form: as a letter, as knowledge, as music. For me, it stayed on as a nail.

I made a nail from the worn-down pencil and used it as hardware. That small piece of hardware became the starting point, and the work took shape step by step from there.


W*: How does the theme, 'Design for Presence', show up in the work?

YL: I approached the future differently. Usually, we set a goal first, picture what the result will look like, and plan the process around it. I stepped back from that and focused on what I was doing right now. I finished the smallest unit in front of me first, and decided the next step based on the result. What we build by focusing on the present adds up to the future. Tomorrow is built on what I did today.

I spend more time looking at what’s around me, and I think that improves my focus on the moment and the quality of my work. This piece was made that way too. It started from one pencil nail. I chose materials that suited it, and used them to decide what the piece would do. I made the wood for the pencil nail from scratch as well.

Instead of carving a log, I stacked thin veneer, one layer at a time. These choices built up one by one, and the piece came together. The finished piece shows the theme, but I think it also matters that I practiced this year’s theme myself, through the process.

W*: How do you imagine people interacting with your piece?

YL: Grand, heavy, epic narratives are certainly important in their own way. But I like a modest ripple. Something moderate, small, slight, yet with an unexpected impact. That’s why I work with familiar objects and prefer physically small ones.

My pencil and nail works are small, so people sometimes walk past them in the exhibition space without noticing. That’s not a problem. If I can share a moment with the person who does find them, that is enough. I think a work made with a focus on something small has a certain pull. At first the overall form catches the eye, but gradually it draws people closer to the small details.

As people look at the pencil nails, each material, and the many layers of the wood, what makes up the whole slowly begins to come into view. When people realise that the pencil nail was originally a pencil, I hope some of them will remember the pencils they used. 


A pencil carries memories that many people share, but within that, everyone has their own personal ones. I can’t predict which memory it will be. But following that memory, even briefly, can be a way of staying in the moment, or with the time that has passed.

Parafernalia, Monterrey and Mexico City, Mexico

Parafernalia founders Genki Matsumura and Sebastián Zorrilla conceived 'MonoAmbiente 1' as an intimate setting, where two people can converse, play chess, or share a drink. When not in use, the expandable seating area – consisting of a table and two stools and featuring acid-etched stainless steel surfaces – can be neatly folded away.

W*: Where did the idea for 'MonoAmbiente 1' come from?

Parafernalia: We interpreted 'Design for Presence' as an invitation to look at the different ways presence can occur: in solitude, in our relationship to our surroundings, and in moments shared with others. This led us to explore an object that could move between these states, from a landscape that invites observation when closed, to a space for conversation and shared activity when deployed.

Conversation is rarely an isolated activity. We talk while we play, eat, drink, walk, or cook. In this piece, the accompanying activities create the conditions for dialogue rather than defining it. The deployment of the piece marks a shift from solitary observation to shared occupation, from looking to participating.

W*: How did the theme ‘Design for Presence’ shape your choice of materials?

Parafernalia: The material selection was mainly based on what we’re personally interested in at the moment, and the decision was cemented once we determined that etched stainless steel could embody different intentions and qualities, from the decorative to the functional, and that these characteristics would be present in the piece. The high contrast graphic nature of the process invites onlookers to observe with a bit more attention, a bit more closely.

W*: How do you imagine people will interact with your piece?

Parafernalia: For starters, we imagine the piece will be difficult to digest at first – there's a lot going on. The piece is deployable, it is a foldout table and 2 stools that nest underneath, completing the landscape etched in the steel. This produces curiosity and invites close inspection. It makes taking your time and slowing down a necessity in order to fully understand the what’s going on.

We hope it will be fully interacted with, and explored with curiosity. A lot of thought was put into the different details in different parts of the piece and we expect the discovery of each one to be an activity in itself.

Design Miami and Apple Designers of Tomorrow is on view at Design Miami Paris, 21-25 October 2026

Hôtel de Maisons, 51, rue de l’Université, 75007 Paris, France

It’s a landmark anniversary for Art Basel Paris. Now in its fifth year, the fair has evolved, growing to fill the refurbished Grand Palais and branching out across the city. What started as a standalone art fair – albeit an extremely high-profile one as part of Art Basel’s industry-leading stable – has now become Paris Art Week, encompassing events, collaborations and public art initiatives throughout 19-25 October 2026.

'Art Basel Paris has evolved into a major fixture on the international art calendar, while becoming increasingly rooted in the cultural fabric of the city,' says director Karim Crippa, who took on the role in November 2025. 'As I take on the directorship, my ambition is to build on this strong foundation while continuing to foster discovery and new perspectives.'

Paris Art Week is known for its high-level fashion-and-art crossover projects. This time, its annual public collaboration with Miu Miu is Geste de Consolation, by artist Alice Diop, with work by Zadie Smith, Zora Neale Hurston, Audre Lorde and Marie Ndiaye. It will be installed at the Palais d’Ièna.

Also part of the public programme, a monumental work by Japanese artist Keita Miyazaki will be installed on Avenue Winston-Churchill alongside work by Carmen Herrera, Manfred Pernice, Niki de Saint Phalle and Yinka Shonibare.

Maison Guerlain is presenting its annual exhibition at its stunning location on the Champs-Élysées. ‘L’Heure des possibles’ will feature artists Christian Boltanski, Ann Veronica Janssens, Laure Prouvost, Xie Lei, Ugo Rondinone and James Turrell.

Artist CB Evans is collaborating with conceptual fragrance brand The Commentary to bring us ‘The Reckoner’ at Dover Street Market Parfums, and Reiffers Initiatives is presenting another year of their now storied collaborative exhibitions between a younger and older artist, this year featuring Thomas Houseago and Théo Mercier.

Multidisciplinary creative, artist and Ryan Murphy muse Jordan Roth is staging an exhibition of performative sculpture and functional design, ‘To Think of the Tranquil Life of Things’, which will no doubt pique curiosity in both Parisians and the international art crowd.

Inside the fair you can expect presentations from galleries hailing from 41 countries, with ‘blue chip’ galleries bringing stars of art history and the present day. Galleries in the Parcours section on the fair’s balcony bring emerging work, balancing out the biggest names with what is to come. The fair’s talk programme will bring together some of the great minds of the art world including Hans Ulrich Obrist and Simon Fattal, Jeffrey Deitch and Pauline Pavec, Alexandre de Betak and Massimiliano Gioni and Ibrahim Mahama and Zanele Muholi. Those attending the fair at the weekend will be treated to an intervention by Emily in Paris star Sylvie Grateau, who will present a directive along which participating galleries will rehang their booths with new artworks.

'What makes it so distinctive is the dialogue between Paris’ extraordinary heritage and its contemporary energy, bringing together art, fashion, and a vibrant, diverse, youthful, experimental, and creative scene,' adds Crippa.

Paris’ institutions always present a plethora of world-class exhibitions. Ghanaian art star Mahama is in town for his much-anticipated survey at Fondation Cartier, which is one of the must-sees of the week along with Kerry James Marshall’s ‘The Histories’ at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. The trendsetting Lafayette Anticipations has a contemporary focus and is showing exhibitions by Yu Nishimura, Hélène Fauquet and Mungo Thomson. Palais de Tokyo is hosting a group exhibition that includes Valérie John, Ali Cherri, Sonia Gomes and Céleste Richard-Zimmermann. The institution has been on a roll lately so expectations around this show will be high.

Those who love the Impressionists should pop into the Mary Cassatt at the Musée d’Orsay and photography fans should pop into Stan Douglas’ show at the Jeu de Paume, and MEP (Maison Européenne de la Photographie) for ‘Penn & Fashion’, a tribute to legend Irving Penn.

Commercial galleries don’t shut down while the fair is active, putting on shows to complement their offerings at the fair. Heading to your favourite space is highly advised. Hauser & Wirth is presenting a show on the kinetic sculptor Alexander Calder, celebrating his historic return to Paris; Mendes Wood DM Paris is presenting painting and drawing by Afro-Brazilian artist Rosana Paulino; Mariane Ibrahim is showing work by Amoako Boafo and Thaddaeus Ropac is treating us to an exhibition of work by the great painter Jordan Casteel. Gagosian is showing ‘Lee Krasner: Works from the 1960s’, which sounds pretty unmissable – especially in light of the critically acclaimed ‘Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous’ currently on at New York’s Met Museum.

Around town you can head to fairs Asia Now for work from across the whole of the Asian continent, and Paris International which is building a great reputation for presenting the cutting edge. Also running is the new event Reference Festival, founded by Mumi Haiati and bringing together creatives and artists from all disciplines including musician Eartheater, toast of the Venice Biennale Florentina Holzinger, Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Five years in and the balance between London and Paris in the autumn art season is still finding its identity, but this range of stunning shows across the board tells a story of a landmark year for Paris. Time will tell…

Art Basel Paris from 23-25 October 2026

The 91st Mondial de l'Auto de Paris is currently underway at the city’s Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in the south of the city. After the seismic shock of the pandemic, which put paid to the annual motor show circus, the industry cut back on the razzmatazz and ushered in few fallow years on the show circuit as everyone regained their strength (read our reviews of the 2022 and 2024 events). Now showmanship is back and, for the 2026 event (12-18 October), Paris is a stage for a new generation of stars that want to take back the glory days of European industry domination.

In this analogy, the Chinese auto industry is waiting patiently in the wings to seize on any missed cues. It’s a strategy that has served the country’s massed ranks of new brands well as they hoover up the strategic gaps in Euro offerings with every conceivable size of crossover and SUV, all competitively priced and excessively optioned so as make them extremely good value for money.

What China does not have – yet – is heritage. The following were among those new and newish Chinese brands present at Paris 2026; Aito, Avatr, BYD, Changan, Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo, Deepal, Denza, Forthing, Foton, GAC, Geely, Leapmotor, Li Auto, Maxus, Nevo, Xpeng and Zeekr. Into that tangled word salad of brands, allegiances, sub-brands, partnerships and launches you can now add a few more ingredients, including 212 and Linktour, making themselves known for the very first time.

You might be familiar with some of the above – you might even drive one (the Jaecoo 7 is currently the UK’s best-selling car), but even hardened auto journalists are finding it tricky to keep track of the number of new models, many of which cluster around the popular C-segment with not much in the way of design differentiation and memorable naming conventions (although admittedly the Geely Monjaro made its debut at the show – yes, it genuinely does appear to be named after a GLP-1). There was also the Leapmotor B03, the Omoda 4, Geely E2 and upmarket Project KO11.

For the European makers, the threat posed by these imports has created conglomerates that seek strength and economic efficiency through unity. The VW Group (Volkswagen, Škoda, Seat, Cupra, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati and Porsche), Groupe Renault (Renault, Alpine and Dacia) and Stellantis (Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS Automobiles, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, RAM, and Vauxhall) all share platforms and components across their respective brands. To set them apart, what’s needed is more brand differentiation.

Hence the big news stories at this year’s show. Stellantis’ simultaneous unveiling of six new concept cars is designed to put clearer water between each brand, drawing on their respective heritages, cultural memories and inherent strengths. Peugeot, DS Automobiles, Opel, Fiat, Citroën and Alfa Romeo all had their time in the spotlight, with the latter three offering up genuine stars in the shape of the Multiplay, 2CV Concept and Cuerorosso Concept.

Aside from its A2, Audi didn’t offer much in the way of new product, whilst VW debuted the ID Tiguan, a competent but slightly charmless electric SUV. Ultra compacts were also in evidence, ranging from France’s quirky Aixam to new offerings from China, including the tiny Pix Moving, presented alongside its autonomous Robobus counterpart, and the tiny electric Linktour Alumi and retro-styled EZI EM-06; the latter both came with charming if impractical chunky off-road-inspired details like roof racks. Most significant of all was the Smart #2, the revitalised brand’s long-awaited return to a ultra-compact two-seater, this time fully electric.

Another Chinese model making its debut was Beijing Automobile Works’ 212, which offered up a selection of distinctly Land Rover-flavoured off-roaders (with a hint of Toyota stirred into the pot) like the T01 Changfeng. We especially liked the company’s two-storey camping tent; it joined the diminutive Kilow Camping and a pop-top version of the Forthing V9 to create a mini-trend of compact camper vehicles. Also notable was the French debut of Californian manufacturer Lucid, hoping to make a splash in Europe with its luxury EVs.

Read on to discover our highlights of the 2026 show.

Citroën

A surprise showing on the first day of the event, the Citroën 2CV Fourgonnette is the commercial companion to the extremely well-received 2CV Concept. Back in the day, the original 2CV wasn’t just a family car, it was the vehicle of choice for French business big and small. From La Poste to the local boulangerie, the box-backed 2CV van was everywhere.

Citroën is hoping that the new generation 2CV Fourgonnette will do similar business. Bringing the admirable simplicity of the passenger car concept to a small van, the focus here is on maximising load space and practicality, whilst not losing sight of the character that will give this tiny van its competitive edge – a serve as a lovable mobile advert for whichever businesses chose to adopt it.

Citroën.co.uk, @CitroënFrance

Peugeot

An almost inevitable riposte to the R5 Turbo 3E, Peugeot also revealed the E-T16 Concept alongside the RCZ Vision. This muscular addition to the E-208 range is to the electric hatchback what the original T16 was to the Peugeot 205, a radically remastered race and rally machine that bears only a passing resemblance to its sibling.

The clamshell bodywork – where the entire rear-end of the car lifts up – is all present and correct (although obviously less relevant to an EV), while power comes from three electric motors delivering over 800hp. Production is not yet confirmed, but it would be strictly limited edition and very expensive should the E-T16 make it to showrooms.

Peugeot.fr, @Peugeot

Alpine

Whilst the forthcoming Alpine A110 was present only as an abstracted blue sculpture (the production car will be revealed at the end of 2027), Alpine offered up one of the true show stars in the shape of the Alpine A310 Concept. Another exercise in retro design, this two-seater sports car is a contemporary update of the 1971 original.

The modern version doesn’t stray too far from the proportions and details of the striking four-seater 1970s version, one of the most futuristic production cars of the era (and which still looked good when it ceased production, upgraded and enhanced, in 1984). If it goes into production, the new A310 will be an electric supercar that uses the same Alpine Performance Platform (APP) as the next-gen A110 but would only be built in very limited numbers.

Alpine-Cars.co.uk, @AlpineCars

Renault

While Renault subsidiary Dacia showed off its new low-cost Twingo-based Dacia Spring, the parent company is still basking in the success of the R4, R5 and now the new Renault Twingo, all-electric upgrades that have kept the spirit of the originals without compromising modern requirements for size, safety, speed and sophistication. To keep this streak of heritage-driven success alive, Renault chose Paris to reveal the new E-Space concept.

This is the company’s fresh take on the MPV, the category is effectively created back in 1984 with the original mono-box designed Espace. Before SUVs squashed the family car market into high-riding homogeneity, the MPV was the machine of choice for large households. By the time the model had reached its fifth generation a decade ago, the Espace had lost much of its character and individuality, becoming little more than another high-riding crossover.

The E-Space could herald a new beginning. With a very silhouette and packaging proposition to the 1984 car, with a sharp nose and long roofline, the concept is clearly going for maximum interior space. Coach doors – always favoured by concept designers as a better way of showcasing an interior – reveal a red-trimmed cabin with sliding seats. A new Espace might not have the immediate kudos of a compact city car like the Twingo, but with Chinese and South Korean rivals lining up to compete, it could still be a runner.

Also on the stand was the Renault 8 Gordini, a conceptualised reimagining of the cultish Renault 8 R1134 Gordini from 1964. Taking the boxy form of the original R8 plus, with racing blue and striped bodywork, it’s unlikely to go into any form of production, especially with the ongoing focus on Alpine.

Dacia.co.uk, @Dacia_UK, Renault.fr, @Renault_France

Audi

Revealed last month, the A2 E-tron has its global public debut in Paris. Despite its impressive range and the usual Audi attention to detail, the new A2 feels slightly overshadowed by the bolder heritage-infused steps being taken by its rivals. The first A2 (1999 to 2005) still has a strong cult following; has the modern iteration missed a trick by not taking more direct inspiration?

Audi.co.uk, @Audi

Fiat

Alongside the excellent Multiplay Concept, Fiat also showed off its mid-sized Grizzy and Grizzly Fastback, two SUVs that up the brand’s scale without too much dilution of its character. For lovers of super-small cars, the Fiat Multiplina also featured on its stand, a colourful reimagining of the modern Italian piazza.

Fiat.com, @Fiat

Hyundai

Hyundai gave the world its first look at the new Bayon and Tucson, B- and C-segment SUVs respectively. The latter is a long-running model (dating back to 2004) that regularly tops sales charts around the world and both have been shaped and engineered specifically for European markets. Available with petrol, hybrid and plug-in-hybrid powertrains, they promise solid dependability and practicality without over-reliance on character.

Hyundai.com, @Hyundai

Avatr

Chinese brand Avatr announced its arrival in the European market next year, starting with Norway and Spain. The company presented the 2025 Vision Xpectra Concept alongside the world premiere of the Concept T09, although it will be the 06T sports sedan and 07L SUV that will lead the charge in 2027.

Avatr.com, @Avatr_design

Following the success of their Paris café-cum-bistro Le Cornichon, Bertrand Chauveau and Paul Henri introduce Le Poisson Volant, a restaurant and nightclub in the former L’International in the 11th arrondissement. The pair have reunited with Claves Architecture for interiors that draw on Art Deco and the nocturnal world of Wong Kar-wai.

Le Cornichon’s sequel takes Paris into the early hours

‘We wanted to open a late-night haunt where people could eat late, talk and dance around a table, in an environment that felt out of the ordinary,’ the founders say. They found a home for that vision in L’International, an established rock and punk venue between Oberkampf, Belleville and Ménilmontant. ‘Our aim is for the space to evolve in response to what the guests want and to remain a place of freedom, with flexible codes.’

The childhood friends took inspiration from London’s Brilliant Corners, a Japanese restaurant and listening bar in Dalston known for its vinyl DJ sets, and New York’s former China Chalet, where a Chinese dining room doubled as a late-night party venue. Closer to home, they looked to the restaurants of Belleville and the 13th arrondissement as places where different communities came together. Among their favourites was La Bénédiction, a Chinese restaurant with consistently good cooking and loyal regulars.

Chauveau, who trained at Ferrandi and worked with Jean-François Piège and David Toutain, developed the menu with chef Yanxin Yin. Originally from Tsingtao, Yin studied in Xi’an and Lanzhou, specialising in noodles, dumplings and Peking duck, before working with Bao Family in France. The menu spans pork and chive potstickers, steamed aubergine with chilli and herbs, and braised chicken with vin jaune and black mushrooms. Their backgrounds meet most clearly in wontons served with pig’s trotter and langoustine tartare.

Claves founders Laure Gravier and Soizic Fougeront have taken an equally expansive approach to the interiors, completely reworking the building behind a frontage that recalls a traditional Chinese restaurant. Inside, a new grid of columns and beams defines the spaces, drawing on Brutalism and the neighbourhood’s industrial architecture, while large mirrors echo these lines and extend views across the rooms.

Art Deco patterns painted in silver animate the walls and structural elements, while high-backed chairs inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh add slender verticals to the sturdy geometry. An oval bar in patinated steel anchors the room, surrounded by purple-brown walls, patterned carpet and hand-painted mirrors. Saturated colour, low lighting and fractured perspectives evoke the films of Wong Kar-wai – what the studio calls ‘an imaginary Shanghai by night’, unbound by any particular era.

In addition, a commissioned work by Chinese artist Shuo Hao traces the staircase down to the basement club, where an aquarium filled with mineral compositions conceals a private room, recalling Pierre Huyghe’s installations. Reflections and artificial light carry through from upstairs, while the lack of street views makes it easy to lose track of the hour.

With no natural light, the ceiling becomes a canvas for Matière Noire’s luminous panels, set within the architectural grid and supported by concealed lighting. As dinner gives way to DJ sets, the lighting shifts from a diffuse glow to strobes. Sound received the same attention: the founders worked with FLEiK to ensure consistent acoustic quality throughout the venue.

At Le Poisson Volant, Chauveau and Paul Henri programme the music themselves, inviting figures from the Paris scene to establish residencies and bring in guest artists and DJs. Both floors are designed to work together. ‘It is not inherently a club, but it becomes one through the way it is used,’ they say. Dinner is served daily from 7 pm to midnight, with the entire venue becoming a nightclub until 5 am from Thursday to Saturday.

Le Poisson Volant is located at 5 Rue Marguerite Moret, 75011 Paris, France

Stellantis used the 2026 Mondial de l’Auto in Paris to set out its stall for the near future. Promising a veritably galactic spread of concept cars, plus a vast stand at the show itself, where a grand total of 60 cars across its eight-brand portfolio were on display.

Ahead of the opening day, Stellantis assembled six ultra-significant concepts for a special showing at Hangar Y in Meudon, to the south of the city centre, where a former airship hangar has been converted to a vast event space on a forested site. ‘The Night Before’ promised a close-up view of the building blocks of Stellantis’ Fast Lane 2030 strategy, complete with buoyant CEOs bigging up their respective charges in a familial and welcoming environment.

The music ebbed and throbbed in Zimmer-y approximations, graphics spun across the screen and Stellantis milked the galactic associations for all they were worth. With a runway flanked by tiers of seating, the night was clearly meant to ape the style and presentation of a fashion show, taking care to put clear blue water between each brand with a shift in music, graphics and presentation modes.

This, Stellantis reckons, is its path to success: brand differentiation. With such a big portfolio, there are savings to be made by using shared platforms. That’s all the more reason to dig into the history of each brand, identify what it’s best at and strive to make that the focus going forwards. Think of Stellantis’ future portfolio as a big box of Quality Street, as opposed to a packet of M&Ms.

Of the six concepts showcased at Hangar Y, some were more successful than others, but that speaks volumes as to the prominence and cultural memory of particular brand histories, and how each individual name has managed to steward, shape and evolve these values over the decades. Here’s our guide to the unveiling and the event.

Citroën 2CV Concept

Top of the tree and the best-received concept on the night was the long-awaited revival of the legendary Citroën 2CV. Stung by rival Renault’s assault on the sales charts with its cheekily retro R4 and R5, as well as mindful of stablemate Fiat’s own masterful control of its heritage, it’s surprising that it’s taken Citroën so long. Like the R4 and R5, the 2CV will be electric only. The concept is – we’re promised – apparently very close to the production reality.

There’s a wealth of genuinely entertaining detailing here, all of which hasn’t just been carried out in homage to the original, but as a way of finding new methods to keep costs down. Citroën aims to get the production 2CV (here by 2028, hopefully) to come in at the magic €15,000 mark. Whether global geopolitics will allow such a thing to happen is another matter, but you can’t argue with their thinking.

This pricing is largely down to the new E-Car platform, Stellantis’ dedicated electric city-car underpinnings. With so many of its brands occupying various strata of this important European sector, it makes sense to find a new, ultra-efficient way of catering to it. Alongside the price, the tech is also designed so that cars can be made within Europe itself.

The original 2CV had its origins before the Second World War, a car for everyone that was equally at home on the rutted tracks of rural France as it was on cobbled Parisian streets. The concept takes this stripped-back ethos and runs with it, from the rollback canvas roof to the bent metal sofa stylings of the seats. The door handles, the vents, the removable radio, the creased bonnet, the bumpers, the quirky gear shift – it’s all here. Nostalgists will have a field day, and it's still a delightful sight for the rest of us.

Citroën.fr, @Citroen

Fiat Multiplay Concept

Next up in the desirability stakes is the Fiat Multiplay. Representing a pleasant and perverse stroll down memory lane, the Multiplay takes the three-row six-seater 1956 original Multipla and splices it with the three-abreast quirkiness of the 1999 revival. All of this is intertwined with the DNA of a pick-up truck.

Relatively hefty in scale (4.5m long) and extremely capacious inside, the Multiplay offers three of endlessly reconfigurable seating and a clever rear end that slides forward to open up the boot to the elements so it can take large items like bikes and camping gear.

Slide it back and the interior space achieves its full volume. Flexible interiors elements include the ‘Petsenger seat’ and the ‘Sunseat’ lounger, while the bright pastel packaging and simple interior forms evoke the best contemporary Italian domestic design.

The Multiplay came on stage soundtracked by the spirited and deliberate gibberish of Adriano Celentano’s 1972 hit ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’; we can only hope the future of Fiat’s Utility Vehicle makes more sense.

Fiat.com, @Fiat

Alfa Romeo Cuorerosso

Fury and spirit are the emotions conjured up by the angry-looking Alfa Romeo Cuorerosso concept, a four-door saloon that previews the next generation electric Giulia. In the sliced and diced demographic pie that makes up the Stellantis audience, Alfa owners are meant to be the most emotional (and perhaps irrational?), letting their heart rule their head. Alfa calls the design approach that's laser targeted at these folks the ‘Bellezza Necessaria’ philosophy.

From some angles, the Alfa Romeo is almost cartoonish in its approach, all red and black masculinity with a throaty voiceover. The deep Rosso red bodywork, massive pepperpot style wheels, illuminated front grille and spoiler that appears to scoop all before it are all amped up elements from Alfas past. As are the insectoid front headlamps, circular rear units and the muscular bonnet and rear haunches come together to complete the picture.

Describing it as a ‘car for people in love with driving’, the Cuorerosso has aesthetic antecedents from recent memory, notably the 4C sportscar and the 2008 Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione. In its exaggerated posture and stance, we think it’s a bit more Brad Bird than Brad Pitt.

AlfaRomeo.com, @AlfaRomeoOfficial

DS Automobiles DS Fever

Along with Maserati (a no-show tonight together with Jeep, Lancia and Abarth), DS Automobiles is probably batting on the stickiest wicket in the Stellantis camp. Ostensibly a luxury brand, DS builds great and elegant cars that sit in a great airless no-man’s-land betwixt premium and volume offerings.

To help balance the books, DS needs to sell more cars and the best sector in which to do that is the upscale supermini. Hence the DS Fever concept, styled F3VER in a not-so-subtle nod to the fact that it previews the next generation DS3. This is an important car for the brand, the model that started it all and helped persuade others that small cars could be premium objects of desire.

Setting itself a tall target of ‘reinventing the compact car’, DS Fever offers a weighty, well-balanced stance and a neat rear three-quarter view. All those semi-translucent panels and intersecting colours give customers ample opportunity for customisation (which helps the bottom line).

While the infinity-style rear lights work well, our first glimpse of the front end was a bit like seeing a deepwater fish loom out of the gloom. ‘It doesn’t try to look like anything else,’ said the company spokesman, candidly.

DSAutomobiles.com, @DS_Automobiles

Peugeot RCZ Vision

The RCZ Vision was joined be the T16 Concept on the Peugeot stand, but at The Night Before it stood alone, a representation of the newest iteration of Peugeot’s ever-evolving design language. Taking the form of a revival of the quirky RCZ from 2009, the concept does a decent fist of making the bubble-topped original more elegant and fluent. The first car was meant to be an Audi TT rival but never quite got off the ground.

The Peugeot design revival has certainly given its hatchbacks, SUVs and estates a good going-over, but the company still hasn’t made a truly beautiful two-door since the Pininfarina-penned 406 Coupé from 1997. Could the RCZ be the one to fix this omission? Or is it simply representation of the ‘soul of our brand’, with a little bit too much emphasis on its alleged leonine qualities.

The double-bubble glass cabin is mirrored in the transparent glass information screen hung from the dash, while Peugeot’s idiosyncratic quartic steering wheel – the ‘hypersquare’ – is all present and correct. A brightly illuminated Peugeot badge finishes off the front end – an almost universally adopted device across this future preview of the Stellantis range.

Peugeot.com, @Peugeot

Opel STX Concept

Perversely, all things Opel are known as Vauxhalls in the UK, even if every other aspect of the car changes. For a long time, Vauxhall was one of the biggest UK manufacturers and it’s fair to say that a vox pop of older car buyers would describe the brand as British. Opel, on the other hand, is very German. So German, in fact, that it announced the new STX Concept with a flurry of campy Berlin techno and doubled down on the Germanic engineering obsession that the concept represents.

So could this boxy four-door shooting brake pass off as a Brit when the badges are switched? Possibly not. The STX Concept offers up an idea of the future direction of the non-SUV elements of its range. Cars like the Astra Sports Tourer do venerable service in a culture that largely overlooks the utility of a small but practical estate car. The STX – Sports Tourer Experimental – wants to change that staid image and give it a bit of a kick.

From the abrupt verticality of the Kamm-style tail to the ultra-faceted frontal treatment, the ‘Vizor’, with its new vertical light elements, the STX Concept could set Opel (and Vauxhall) on a very different course, one that’s more emotive rather than staid and practical.

Opel.fr, @Opel

Yesterday evening (6 October 2026), Paris Fashion Week drew to a close with the latest collection from Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton. Staged amid a runway set that recalled a surreal motorway, over which hovered a traffic jam of futuristic floating cars, the collection saw Ghesquière strip things back, reimagining the classic elements of a wardrobe in ultra-lightweight fabrications. ‘It’s like a second skin,’ he said post-show, continuing a theme that has run throughout this week – collections from Hermès and Dior saw designers Nadège Vanhée and Jonathan Anderson, respectively, embracing the same pursuit of lightness.

Another through-line of the week was collections that sought to outfit the multiplicities of women’s lives. At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy’s wide-ranging collection was inspired by the changing personal style of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel across her lifetime (‘[This collection is] about the women within a woman,’ he said), while Sarah Burton at Givenchy and Michael Rider at Celine presented collections that sought to provide an expansive wardrobe attuned to the demands of modern life. ‘I wanted a sense of balance and clarity,’ said Burton. ‘A wardrobe to bring precision and simplicity to dressing as we speed through the multiple perspectives and perpetual motion of all our lives.’

Here, we pick the standout collections of Paris Fashion Week as the S/S 2027 shows draw to a close – from Drew Henry’s confident first outing at Courrèges to a gilded collection from Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent, a show rumoured to be his last.

Dior

The invitation for Jonathan Anderson’s latest ready-to-wear collection for Dior was a pair of ‘wénwán’ walnuts, an ancient Chinese pursuit which involves rubbing together two walnuts in the hand until they get a glossy, ‘jade-like’ lustre (it can take over five years to achieve, hence their use for meditative purposes). They worked as a dual metaphor: one, that beauty can be derived even from nature’s simplest of bounties (‘wénwán’ walnuts in their final phase were highly coveted decorative objects), and second, that to create something precious takes time and patience. The latter feels particularly apt for Dior as a haute couture house – a couture gown can take over 100 hours of hand-stitching – but also for Anderson as he hones his vision for the Parisian house, one year after holding his first womenswear show.

Indeed, this was a collection that saw Anderson reiterate what are becoming his house codes: namely, a mood of contemporary femininity and romance conjured in intriguing fabrications (plissé jacquards, bouncing ruffles, fluttering organza petals) and whimsical accessories, from a swan-shaped metal evening bag to sandals adorned with glittering crystals and bows. His shrunken bar jacket, a signature since his debut, also featured, here with a contrasting collar evoking barn jackets, as did the metallic jeans which featured as part of his S/S 2027 menswear collection, shown in June. Like at that show, he also reimagined heavy tailoring wools in featherweight trompe l’oeil organza, nodding to a theme of lightness which ran throughout the collection. ‘Something that, as it walks, leaves a kind of residue behind,’ he said of the ethereal mood. Jack Moss

READ: Jonathan Anderson looks to the ‘preciousness’ of nature for a romantic Dior show

Maison Margiela

Despite being a Spring/Summer collection, there was something almost ‘back-to-school’ in the way the new offering from Maison Margiela was communicated. The notes, typed in Courier font, were written with an ‘in this essay I will…’ cadence, the contents part lesson in the traditional workings of an atelier, part rebellious upstart undermining, dismantling, and reframing those traditions.

The crux of the proposition was a rethinking of the interplay between hard and soft, which in a Parisian maison would be delineated according to the tailoring and flou departments, the former structuring garments according to classic menswear guidelines, the latter responsible for draping. Creative director Glenn Martens suggested an approach which blurred these lines: fortified folds so that what was hard read as soft; fabric stretched over rigid structures; a squishy briefcase.

Florals were a motif – sometimes in kitschy curtain fabric with bold outlines, elsewhere more diffused and painterly – and the show was staged amidst an abundance of flowers, a tribute, the brand said, to Raf Simons’ debut collection for Dior in 2012, but time-worn, drooping and faded. India Jarvis

Saint Laurent

Though it has not been officially announced by the Parisian house, Anthony Vaccarello’s latest collection for Saint Laurent is widely rumoured to be the Belgian creative director’s last (it was hearsay the designer indulged in at the show, handing a set of ‘house keys’ to his son Luca at the end of the show). If so, this was a fitting final act to a decade-long tenure, which saw him hone a vision of nocturnal glamour that often hinged on the power of repetition – his collections would mine a singular silhouette (usually power-shouldered and razor-sharp) ad infinitum, making for a definitive Saint Laurent ‘look’.

This season, taking place on a runway lined with enormous chandeliers under the glimmering shadow of the Eiffel Tower, silhouette gave way to colour. Here, Vaccarello – save for a few closing gowns in black – rendered the entire collection in gold, reimagining the hallmarks of Yves Saint Laurent (the trench; the safari jacket; brocade tailoring; ruffled blouses; opulent drapery and bows) in various golden-tinted hues. ‘I love gold,
 it’s a magical colour. When reflecting a woman, it’s the colour of the sun,’ Yves Saint Laurent was quoted as having said, on the collection notes, with Vaccarello concurring that it is perhaps fashion’s most transformative shade. ‘Gold, magical and mythical, can alchemically transform everything it touches,’ he said.

It made for a glittering finale to an equally transformative tenure. ‘A light shines all the more brightly because we know it cannot be held,’ he said, somewhat cryptically. ‘What passes sometimes leaves more light than what remains.’ Jack Moss

Courrèges

It’s an interesting assignment, taking on the reins of a brand so absolutely associated with 1960s Space Age optimism, when our contemporary space exploration is anything but. In August, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashed into the moon, which, when André Courrèges was in the atelier pioneering his signature futuristic silhouette, was still untouched by humanity. Now, space travel is being undertaken largely in order to find an alternative habitat to replace the planet we’re destroying, and it’s difficult to have a conversation about the universe without inevitably mentioning the name of one of our more problematic billionaires. Space isn’t quite as exciting or enigmatic as it was then – things are more confusing.

Drew Henry, who previously worked within the design teams of Phoebe Philo and Burberry, has taken on this mantle as the house’s new creative director. The show space set the stage for a dialogue between the retro and the modern – through an eclectic curation of unmatching chairs, sourced from different periods – that the ready-to-wear continued.

Henry, it seems, is an optimist. The collection captured the spirit of both past and present, the latter most especially through ideas of freedom and self-expression, which for many in 2026 may feel like dwindling commodities. His colour palette was vivacious: lime, vermillion, and of course that bright, bright white. But where he borrowed from archival gestures and shapes – the go-go boot, the Mod-ish A-line, the Peter Pan-collared pea coat, the chubby piping – he tempered the collection with a lack of uniformity that felt more recognisably contemporary. There was a kind of eclecticism and occasional incongruity to the collection which have become staples of much high fashion in the 2020s, a nod, perhaps, to the pace of the world and the speed and tenor of our image consumption, which have already come to define this era. India Jarvis

Dries Van Noten

Rugby shirts, austere knitted vests, and deck shoes may not read to most as the trappings of glamour, but for S/S 2027, Julian Klausner was preoccupied with the universal symbols of elegance a person might add to garments such as these, in order to capture something of the feeling. The idea of getting dressed up for no loftier reason than to admire yourself in the mirror – the application of a red lip, the addition of a sparkling trinket, or mixing in a flash of leopard print.

The base in question, at Dries Van Noten, read like the clothing of a particularly chic interwar-era aristocrat: boyish silhouettes with the occasional cinching at the waist, loose mid-length skirts and slouchy cardigans. The vintage-inspired cuts were offset with exquisite embellishment, and graphic prints made from movie posters imagined and designed in the atelier. If the modern woman doesn’t already define pussy-bows and drooping strings of beads as the height of glamour, this beautiful collection from Dries Van Noten may convince her to reconsider. India Jarvis

Acne Studios

The 30th anniversary of Acne Studios, the brand founded in Stockholm in 1996, has clearly got creative director (and co-founder) Jonny Johansson thinking about the idea of history. In spirited style, Johansson played a game of mash-up – nods to historical costuming, from billowing satin and brocade skirts to prints evoking Renaissance portraiture, were clashed with that most Acne Studios of staples, the denim jean (the brand began with 100 pairs of denim jeans; three decades later, it is a global fashion powerhouse showing twice-yearly at Paris Fashion Week). Elsewhere, frock-coats and shirts were reimagined in contemporary style (they came cropped to bare the stomach or were nipped dramatically at the waist), while references to historic maritime apparel came in slouchy lace-up T-shirts and sou'wester-style hats. Leather, another of Acne Studios’ foundational materials, added further juxtapositions in biker pants and patinated jackets.

‘Reflecting on the journey past and what’s to come, I wanted to keep exploring the energy released by bringing together two things that don’t belong,’ explained Johansson. ‘That tension has always inspired me. Here, denim becomes a canvas that moves through time. [This collection] affirms something I believe to my core: that Acne Studios always likes to play, but we never want to pretend. For me, it has to be real.’ Jack Moss

READ: Jonny Johansson on 30 years of Acne Studios: ‘I look forward much more than I look back’

Chloé

At the Chloé show’s midway point a parade of charming raincoats came out in quick succession: one white, draped across the shoulders like a poncho, followed by blush pink overlaid with transparent vinyl, another in beige, then black, then high-gloss firetruck red and sunshine yellow. ‘May the love that poured into this collection endure forever,’ the show notes read. May the rain pour forever too. Chemena Kamali described these pieces, inspired by fishermen’s coats and capes and paired with asymmetrical sou’wester hats, as one of her ‘obsessions’ of the season, alongside lingerie and floral embroidery, leading to a collection guided as much by her own instincts and passions as by the history of the brand itself. The signature Chloe flou, interpreted in crisp white broderie anglais and flounced organza, found its contrast in sharp-shouldered tailored pieces and skin-tight body suits in block colours, but it was the outerwear, in all its iterations, which stole the show. Spring showers can’t come soon enough. India Jarvis

Balenciaga

Corals provided the starting point for Pierpaolo Piccioli’s third ready-to-wear collection for Balenciaga, in part inspired by the textile works of artist Aude Franjou (one of her pieces, Les Coraux de la Liberté, ‘Corals of Freedom’, hung in the showspace). And, although a liberated use of colour and under-the-sea-inspired embellishment nodded visually to the marine creatures – anemone-style pom poms, seashell jewellery, and sponge-like neckpieces all featured – Piccioli said he was also drawn to the coral reef for the way it is an eco-system of ‘profound symbiosis’. ‘No one shines alone,’ he wrote in a letter to guests. ‘Joy and light are never solitary achievements.’

It is something that he likened to the haute couture atelier, which requires a collective spirit to create its extraordinary creations (Piccioli showed his first couture collection for the house in summer 2026). With this ready-to-wear collection, he sought to bring some of couture’s magic into these everyday garments – from a sewing technique used to give curving ‘basque’ shapes to T-shirts and jackets, to a more generous use of volume throughout, a nod to haute couture’s synonymy with abundance. ‘Through superlative cut and construction – human intervention – we can change the language of the known,’ he said. Jack Moss

Rick Owens

Rick Owens described couture-levels of labour intensive process in the press notes which accompanied his S/S 2027 collection: ‘millefoglie’ jackets (named for the dessert dish, which translates to ‘a thousand leaves’) were constructed from individually cut circles of recycled nylon tulle and then sewn onto a tulle base followed by a poplin base, sculpted to the body and taking around 45 hours per jacket to complete. Fabric was conceived from scratch, including a heavy double-duchesse inspired by industrial cargo straps, or a satin wave consisting of 100 double-twisted silk yarns per centimetre, a time-consuming process which produced just 30m of fabric a day.

These experimentations and innovations were subsumed into looks which followed the Rick Owens house codes to the letter: rigidity counterbalanced with draping; exaggerated verticality; pointed yokes; and an out-of-this-world quality, this season emphasised through pentagram designs, perforated and printed discreetly as, described Owens, ‘my little protest against judgemental condemnation and intolerance’. ‘We can see,’ he continued, ‘that it can be human nature to superstitiously demonise otherness.’ India Jarvis

Loewe

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s latest collection took place in a Caper Mueller Kneer-conceived ‘arena’ in the grounds of Paris’ Château de Vincennes. Its in-the-round space – through which models criss-crossed – was designed to evoke a sense of immediacy, said the American designers, formerly of Proenza Schouler. They likened the set-up to the Anatomical Theatre in Padua, the Globe in London, and La Scala Opera House in Milan, though the space also evoked the bull ring – a traditional ritual of Spain, where Loewe was founded in 1846. Indeed, the pair said the collection was an ‘old-world – new-world conversation’, clashing ‘New England with Andalucia’, ‘the ease of American pragmatism, and nods to Spanish drama, ritual, history’.

Cue sporting blazers worn with flouncing mini skirts; summer dresses that twisted at the midriff to reveal the naval; or slouchy polo shirts worn with striped woven skirts (they were actually crafted from intricately woven glass beads, a collaboration with Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025 finalist Cécile Feilchenfeldt). Elsewhere, elements of play and experimentation continued from last season: moulded resin collars were set on top of knitwear and trench coats (they each were finished with over 20 layers of varnish), while ultra-short mini dresses, cut from leather and flared towards the hem, had a paper-doll quality (these graphic silhouettes have become something of a hallmark of McCollough and Hernandez’s tenure so far).

‘What we’re putting forward here is a proposition for dressing. How does this new Loewe language become a wardrobe?’ they said. ‘We’re taking the vision, the craft, and injecting a reality and character. There’s proximity to the clothes, proximity to living, and proximity to our own sensibility.’ Jack Moss

Issey Miyake

Taking the Japanese principle of ma as its starting point, Issey Miyake’s S/S 2027 was an ode to negative space. Ma refers to the perception of emptiness, an essential counterbalance to substance, as seen across design and artistic disciplines from gardening to musical composition to cinema.

Here, Satoshi Kondo utilised a number of techniques to emphasise the notion of ma: the show was staged in an almost vacuum of blackness at Dojo de Paris, a canopy of fabric held up by a troupe of dancers, aerating and collapsing with their movement like a parachute. After a period of silence, pianist Koki Nakano began a souring, multi-instrumental piece, engaging, as the brand explained, ‘in a dialogue between music composition and clothes-making, where auditory and visual senses inspire one another to give rise to a more intimate integration of music and clothing.’

As for the clothes themselves, they oscillated between close fitting – the return of the papier mâché second skin-like breast plate – and billowing, creating different configurations of ma according to how much negative space there was between fabric and skin. Among the typically deft and complex fabrication, a scrunched silk with bulbous pockets of air in places, artful creases in others, was a standout – used across dresses, skirts, trousers and tops. India Jarvis

Lanvin

There is something completely timeless about Peter Copping’s Lanvin – he seems to be a designer utterly resistant to gimmicks or trends which might immediately place a collection in the present day, although that’s not to say his clothes come across as nostalgic, more like classic. For S/S 2027, sensual fabrics in elongated proportions called to mind the New Woman, a continuation from the previous season and an homage to what is the centenary year of menswear for the brand – Copping has been weaving this anniversary into the shapes and attitude for womenswear with aplomb. For all its fluidity there were moments of graphicness too: sharp double-breasted suit jackets with contrasting buttons, the flare of a peplum, exaggerated deep V-necklines, a vivid red shoe breaking up a monochrome look (the latter a tribute to dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, one of the influential women that were on the mood board for the season). India Jarvis

Givenchy

Sarah Burton’s collections at Givenchy thus far have been concerned with the multiplicities of women’s lives. Her latest outing, which took place amid a graphic show set by Hollywood production artist James Chinlund, continued this approach, which is defined less by strict thematics than an intuitive means of creating a contemporary woman’s wardrobe (as one of a rare number of women creative directors, it is a task she has taken on with zeal). Indeed, Burton offered little in a way of explanation for the collection: ‘I wanted a sense of balance and clarity,’ she said in a short note issued to guests. ‘A wardrobe to bring precision and simplicity to dressing as we speed through the multiple perspectives and perpetual motion of all our lives.’

There is something refreshing about this lack of soul-searching; instead, Burton delivered a direct and desirable collection, which spanned the alternating facets of a women’s life. There were well-cut denim jeans and vest tops edged with luminous piping (belt buckles which doubled as powder compacts added a sense of play); brightly coloured satin shirts and skirts, cut from leather; Burton’s signature razor-sharp tailoring, this season deconstructed or flaring into a peplum; and a vivid series of gowns, from the Grecian-style, installed with sculptural metal ‘wings‘, to a ruffled elongated dress adorned with intricate beading in Japanese-style motifs. Through it all, a clarity that she said was attuned to the overwhelm of contemporary life. ‘In a world that’s so off-kilter, how do you find balance?’ she said. ‘I wanted to take it back to this precise simplicity.’ Jack Moss

Victoria Beckham

There’s a bit of a separation of church and state, as far as Victoria Beckham is concerned; her work in the fashion world, at the helm of her eponymous label since 2008, is almost entirely detached from her past life as a pop mega-star, and for one so famous – for her personal style as much as for her musical career – she is seldom self-referential in her designs. S/S 2027, however, introduced a little nod to her own history, not through bandeau tops, or mini-dresses, or oversized sunglasses, but through illusions to dance.

In particular, Beckham was interested in the avant-garde movements of the 1920s, ‘when forward-thinking dancers rejected the restrictions of classical ballet in favour of a freer relationship with the body, developing styles that often connected movement with painting and other forms of art’. References to this period were most clearly communicated in the statuesque silhouette of some of the gowns, in a modernist bird print, and in the collection’s colour palette – taken apparently from the backdrops of contemporary portraiture.

But the dance of other eras was present too – fanning pleats brought the costume of Loie Fuller to mind, boxy tailoring, slightly oversized, might have been borrowed from Gene Kelly, and exaggerated funnel-necked blousons and balloon shorts matched the proportions of modern-day warm-up gear worn by ballerinas. India Jarvis

Junya Watanabe

For S/S 2027, Junya Watanabe continued his collaboration with movement director Pat Boguslawski, which lent a spectacular, dramatic quality to the much-lauded A/W 2026 collection, but this season in more classic fashion-show style: swaggering struts rather than the tango-inspired choreography seen in March. This matched the tone of the collection itself, which, whilst still fizzing with ideas and complex constructions, was more closely aligned to his blingified menswear outing this summer. Chaka Khan’s ‘Like Sugar’ and Michael Jackson’s ‘Just Can't Stop Loving You’ provided the soundtrack to the collection, which was titled ‘Funky’, and the American R&B star Ciara – pregnant with her fifth child – walked the runway, prompting whoops from the Palais de Tokyo crowd.

In the collection itself, athletic body stockings formed the basis for many looks, overlaid with cut-away trench coats and half-finished tailored jackets with the tacking still in situ, or cropped bouclé jackets strung with pearls. Laser-cut bodices in hard plastic came with ‘don’t come near me’ razor-sharp spikes, while a glittering, tiered contraption worn over the head called to mind a chandelier. Watanabe notoriously gives little away about his starting point for any given season, preferring to refer to collaborators over concepts (here: ‘The bodysuits were produced in the factory of CW-X, the high performance sportswear brand by the Japanese underwear company Wacoal’), so his work is necessarily open to interpretation. But here there felt no need for over-intellectualisation – all he willed you to do was sit back and enjoy. India Jarvis

Celine

Michael Rider is another designer working with intuition over big ideas, but this doesn’t make his clothes less intelligent – in fact, they were among the most desirable of fashion month so far. Continuing to hone his vision for a contemporary wardrobe, where a luxurious insouciance meets elements of sportswear and prep (Rider was born in Washington DC and attended Brown University; he also worked at Polo Ralph Lauren prior to Celine), there was a more sensual undercurrent to this latest collection, from the use of satin (it came in vivid tones of pink and green, and was gently pressed and creased across its surface), to references to underwear and slip dresses (the latter was sized-up in proportion and came in vampy black). He described the collection, which spanned mens- and womenswear as one of ‘positive obsession’. ‘[It’s about] being fabulous,’ he explained. ‘And letting clothes just do their job.’ As with past collections, there were also heaps of great accessories here: from sized-up belts and accordion handbags to colourful satin totes, two-tone pumps and leather diaries, carried in the hand. ‘[It’s about the] memories, moments that made us love fashion,’ he continued. ‘Moments where you get a glimpse of possibility.’ Jack Moss

Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood

‘It was a stifling summer,’ wrote Andreas Kronthaler. ‘I lived in a nightshirt with nothing underneath.’ The experience, shared by many, of unbearable temperatures prompted the Vivienne Westwood designer to question what clothes will become as these conditions worsen. The conundrum of heatwave style is on everyone’s lips these days, but the bigger, more pressing concern of climate change – and the role fashion and clothing production plays in that – has been part of the brand’s DNA for far longer than a few hot summers. The late Vivienne Westwood, to whom Kronthaler was married from 1992 until her death, was a highly influential campaigner for many causes, the fight against climate change among them, and her legacy of activism and mission-driven creativity remains a constant of her eponymous brand (this season’s collection also included a limited-edition T-shirt in honour of the suicide prevention charity Body & Soul, of which the couple were long-term supporters).

So what is the climate change wardrobe according to Andreas Kronthaler? Fabrics were billowy and often clashing – as if they’d been salvaged from multiple sources, and, as the show notes thriftily pointed out, ‘valuable fabric [was] used only at the front’. Shirts and jackets were left open, skin on show, and swimwear, kaftans, a yellow garland lei, and sandals brought a certain beachy chill to an otherwise typically punky and chaotic offering. India Jarvis

Hermès

This season at Hermès, Nadège Vanhée stripped things back – at least in terms of the mise-en-scène, which saw the Garde Républicaine showspace transformed into a gleaming white box (previous seasons have seen it filled with mounds of moss or sandy dunes). It lent the S/S 2027 collection a feeling of crispness and clarity, particularly the more vivid expressions of colour which the French designer evoked this season – yellows, oranges and reds had an almost electric quality in the otherwise sparse space (such was the brightness of the scene, some guests donned sunglasses to watch the spectacle unfold).

In what has becoming a thematic thread of the week, Vanhée was concerned here with the pursuit of lightness: the collection notes described garments ‘floating by, like feathers in the air’, with the idea of ventilation running throughout, whether through gauzy fabrics, netted construction, or perforated leather and suede (bucket bags even came with air holes of their own). Other pieces were cut into streamers at the hemline – a technique which added a sense of movement and ease to Hermès’ signature leather – while knitted bra tops, some wrapped with a plissé version of the carré, had a streamlined feel. Vanhée said the collection was one of pragmatism: recent travels to California and Asia, as well as across her native Europe, were defined by rising heat. Fittingly, Paris was in the midst of the last blush of late-summer warmth, with the sweltering showspace making her vision of lightness one of particular appeal. Jack Moss

Comme des Garçons

Denim is not a fabric typically associated with Rei Kawakubo’s runway shows for Comme des Garçons, though for S/S 2027 the designer put the humble workwear fabric – one synonymous with both the American West and her native Japan – front and centre.

Used here to construct Kawakubo’s typically imposing forms, from enormous spherical skirts that cracked like eggs to reveal ruffles of red fabric inside, to undulating panelled jackets which flared dramatically at the waist, it was part of a collection which she described as ‘when royal life and everyday life become one’ (she typically describes her collections in such cryptic one-liners, willing guests to draw their own conclusions).

Alongside denim, striped and polka dot fabrics captured a similarly ‘everyday’ mood, transformed here by the vastness of the silhouette – models had to shimmy past each other to traverse the zigzagging runway thanks to the size of the various garments – and teetering crowns by Nobuki Hizume, which together lent this arresting collection a regal, ceremonial air. Jack Moss

Miu Miu

‘To bring elegance to sports,’ was how the sage-like Miuccia Prada succinctly described her S/S 2027 collection for Miu Miu, which was an attempt, explained the Milanese designer, to capture the ‘here and now’. Bringing elegance to the everyday – or, indeed, to that which is typically deemed ugly or unappealing – has been a modus operandi of the designer since her early days at Prada (alongside Miu Miu, she is co-creative director of the house her grandfather founded in 1913, alongside Raf Simons).

For this latest collection, the effect was achieved through unexpected combinations: a bejewelled bra top over a Miu Miu-branded rash vest, for example, or a cross-laced houndstooth skirt which revealed Lycra swimwear underneath (cross-lacing ran throughout, including on a new collation with American denim brand Wrangler). It lent the collection an intuitive, eclectic feel: in Prada parlance, an ‘intentional, nonconformist dialogue’, one which felt an apt reflection of our mixed-up times.

Also in the Miu Miu melting pot were painted leather jackets, zip-up track tops and purposely crinkled cocktail dresses, while a line-up of famous faces, including Olivia Colman, Jamie Bell and Emma Corrin, added to the collection’s freewheeling appeal. Jack Moss

READ: Miu Miu drafts an all-star cast for a collection which marries sportswear and sophistication

Akris

Akris creative director Albert Kriemler borrowed his palette and his mark-making from the Viennese artist Martha Jungwirth, whose rhythmic, at times carnal abstractions were translated in a collection that graduated through a veritable rainbow of colours, precisely picked out from Jungwirth’s oil works: scarlet through puce, into the off-white of primed paper, then velvety black, sky blue, canary yellow. Jungwirth’s brush strokes were transformed into ribbons, appliquéd as details, or appear as laser-cut fringe, turned upside down and into dresses which become bouncy and feathery. Jacquard was reversed so the loose chaos of its underside became a print of its own, and elsewhere entire looks were kept confidently, boldly monochrome: ‘Seeing Martha’s colours for the first time, I was struck by their sheer audacity,’ Kriemler wrote. ‘Her paintings never give themselves away at once. You have to keep looking. Emotion and experience, recorded in paint. Reds, pinks, violets. “Gefühlsfarben”, as Martha calls them. Felt as much as seen.’ India Jarvis

Valentino

Troye Sivan’s Party provided the booming soundtrack for Alessandro Michele’s latest Valentino show, which saw the Italian designer take over the historic Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève close to the Pantheon (the venue has never been used before as a fashion show). The setting was purposeful: this collection was titled ‘Antilibrary’, a reference to Umberto Eco’s belief that the most valuable books are not the ones which you have read, but the ones you haven’t – to him, they represent the possibility of knowledge to be learnt (he practiced what he preached, owning a private library of over 30,000 books, the majority of which he had never read).

For this latest collection – which was preceded by a call for guests to bring a book to donate to local Parisian libraries – Michele applied the idea of ‘Antilibrary’ to the fashion show, seeing garments that you have not yet worn as receptacles of possibility. Nowhere is this more true than a fashion show, where viewers – whether those in the room, or watching at home through phones and screens – can project their own fantasies onto the clothing presented on the runway (there have been numerous times when a runway show has willed guests to rethink their entire wardrobe in their 15-minute-or-so run time). It lent the collection a bold, freewheeling approach, seeing Michele’s nostalgia-tinged designs reimagined in vivid combinations of colour and texture, from fluoro-coloured satin and lace to ruffles, feathers and bows. Topping off the youthful, spirited mood were caps which read ‘Villan Teen’.

‘I want to give back to fashion what fashion has always given me,’ he said. ‘I would love to push people to inject something more, because otherwise we risk falling asleep.’ Jack Moss

Jean Paul Gaultier

A full annual circuit of collections now under his belt – including his debut haute couture collection in June – Duran Lantink’s command to his atelier as they readied for year two was thus: ‘Always look for something that excites you. Don’t be afraid,’ continuing: ‘Things don’t have to make perfect sense. That’s also quite a Jean Paul Gaultier code.’ Evidently, it landed, as the brand summarised the ensuing S/S 2027 as having a ‘folky, witchy 1980s Ibiza vibe’, a wacky Venn diagram that came together into a surprisingly wearable collection.

The show’s first half was a focused experiment, as is Lantink’s want, on how garments can distort the body – so shoulders, clavicles, and breasts were subtly augmented through exaggerated cuts, but the fabrication and palette was kept low key: white cotton and sturdy brown leather. Colour and print was introduced later – plaid, ticking stripe and red needlepoint embroidery all lent a rustic, almost domestic quality to more outré shapes. Embellishment, of which there was little, took the form of bells, and accessories included matronly, veil-like headdresses and an expanded shoe offering (footwear is a new vertical for the brand, introduced under Lantink), including an inversion of the popular tabi style. India Jarvis

Zimmermann

Nicky Zimmermann’s Spring collection looked towards the figure of the butterfly, an insect chosen by the Australian designer ‘not because of its delicacy but because of its resilience’. The revelation had come when she and her team had a private tour of the butterfly collection in the Australian Museum, including the 19th-century illustrations of Harriet and Helena Scott, which she found particularly inspiring. ‘There’s a real strength in the way [the butterfly] moves and constantly transforms, and that became an important thread throughout the collection,’ she said. Cue Zimmermann’s signature vision of ethereal femininity – billowing shirts; flouncing ruffles; skirts cut with panels of lace – interrupted with elements of toughness, from denim jeans to stand-collar jackets and face-shielding visor sunglasses. Other pieces appeared as if Zimmermann’s protagonist for the season had stepped into the butterfly house: skirts, tops and dresses were adorned with three-dimensional organza butterflies, their wings fluttering to life as models walked the Carreau du Temple runway. Jack Moss

Chanel

Acts of transformation have defined Matthieu Blazy’s tenure at Chanel so far, which now spans a year since he showed his debut collection for the Parisian house last October (in the time since, the house has undergone a transformation as a whole, with rising sales reflecting the fervent response to designs). For S/S 2027, he looked once again to the idea of metamorphosis (last season, he evoked the metaphor of a caterpillar and a butterfly to denote the way the collection moved from the pragmatic to the spectacular), inspired by the personal style transformation of house founder Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel over her lifetime. ‘[It is] layered history of selves within a layered history of the clothing she wore,’ Blazy described of the collection, which was shown at the Grand Palais on a runway lined with a flock of giant birds in flight.

As such, the show began with Gabrielle Chanel’s own 2.55 quilted handbag, retrieved from the house’s Patrimoine archives and carried by Dyanira Hurbuscher, the model who opened and closed the show. In between, nods to the jersey underwear which began Gabrielle Chanel’s fashion career, peeking out from the opening looks; Edwardian corsets, deconstructed and paired with blooming tutu-like skirts, referencing the constricted silhouette she once wore and later rallied against; alongside the hallmarks of her style which would become house codes, from tweed tailoring (reimagined by Blazy in a stretch fabric for ease of movement) to floral corsages and strings of pearls (here, those pearls were reimagined in fabric).

Through this ode to Gabrielle Chanel, the show also had a more universal message: that the process of constructing our identity through clothing is rarely static. ‘Throughout their lives, women become multiple selves, different faces of the same coin. It’s like a game of exquisite corpse, where one identity leads to another,’ he said. ‘[This collection is] about the women within a woman.’ Jack Moss

READ: At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy’s latest collection takes flight

Louis Vuitton

This season, Louis Vuitton regained its position as fashion week’s closing act with a typically blockbuster runway show held in the Cour Carré du Louvre (to take over such a landmark is a show of the house’s might in itself). The show set, which was built in the historic courtyard of the former royal palace, evoked a motorway (complete with tarmac roads and concrete crash barriers) over which 34 futuristic Louis Vuitton-branded ‘cars’ hovered. Creative director Nicolas Ghesquière said he wanted this surreal urban scene to provide a juxtaposition to the collection itself, which was defined by a feeling of lightness and ease (silhouettes were scarf-like and caught the air; while tailoring was reimagined in ultralight fabrications that gently clung to the models’ bodies as they moved).

Indeed, he titled the collection ‘Ergonomie’, though he was quick to assert that this was not ergonomic in the sense of being moulded to the body; instead, ‘nothing is rigid, everything is fluid, like a second skin serving to define physicality in motion’. In this pursuit of lightness, it felt like something of a departure for Ghesquière, whose 13-year tenure at Louis Vuitton has largely been defined by the structured and the sculptural. ‘I wanted to express something that [gives an] impression of minimalism. But the work behind this construction, this simplification, to make things extremely light, is really complex,’ he elaborated backstage. ‘It looks simple, but that was the goal.’ Jack Moss

Drawn in white gold and white diamonds, the ‘Roc’ necklace is a collar-sized, choker-style necklace designed by Valérie Messika. The collier is part of ‘Terres des Contrastes’, a new Messika high jewellery collection that pays creative tribute to the landscapes of Botswana.

‘“Roc” is a piece about strength, structure and movement,’ says Messika, creative director of the modern jewellery maison she founded in 2005. Her inspiration for ‘Roc’ was far from Paris: the necklace’s dramatic shape nods to the Organ Pipes, a group of columnar vertical basalt pillars that formed 150 million years ago in Namibia. ‘I loved the idea of translating this raw geological power into a jewel,’ says Messika. ‘What fascinates me about “Roc” is the tension between its graphic rigour and its fluidity. At first glance, it feels bold and sculptural, almost like a piece of architecture. But once it is worn, it moves with the body and becomes incredibly alive.’

The necklace was unveiled earlier in October 2026 in a Messika show held at the Grand Palais in Paris. For this, Messika partnered with Carine Roitfeld. ‘I love this necklace because it sits like a choker, which immediately gives it a more modern, contemporary feel. I really like this way of reimagining diamonds and making them easier to wear every day,’ the seminal fashion editor enthuses.

If ‘Roc’ was hers, how would Roitfeld wear the statement piece? ‘I would keep it as simple as possible, with a black or white T-shirt and jeans,’ she says. ‘I think it’s much chicer not to wait for an evening out or a special occasion to wear diamonds. I love the idea of wearing them naturally, every day, with very simple pieces.’

At the centre of ‘Roc sits an emerald-cut diamond of 5.02 carats. There are roughly a further 20 carats of white diamonds set across the necklace. Are diamonds a Parisian gem? Roitfeld says yes, and states her case. ‘I think diamonds bring a special kind of light: they illuminate the face and instantly make us feel more beautiful. And I think there is something very Parisian about wearing diamonds during the day, effortlessly, without needing a special occasion. It’s precisely that contrast between something precious and a very simple look that I love.’

Anyone who knew Mulholland Drive (2001) needed little introduction to the name Silencio. So when a real-world version of the fictitious nightclub opened in Paris in 2011, with interiors conceived by David Lynch himself, the curiosity was inevitable.

In the former printing rooms of L’Aurore, founder Arnaud Frisch had given the late filmmaker’s enigmatic nightspot a tangible Paris address, with a cultural cachet as idiosyncratic as its surroundings.

Silencio at 15

Lynch may have been the initial attraction, but the programme quickly became a reason to pay attention in its own right, bringing musicians, filmmakers, artists and writers into regular company. Fifteen years later, Frisch’s favourite milestones range from Lana Del Rey’s first Paris concert to Virgil Abloh’s first DJ set. ‘We understood that people were looking for more than a conventional nightclub,’ says Frisch. ‘The idea was to create a place where cinema, art, music, food and conversation could coexist, and where different creative worlds could meet.’

Prince, Björk and Kendrick Lamar have all performed at Silencio too, while the club’s wider creative cast includes filmmaker and photographer Larry Clark, designer Michèle Lamy, director Gaspar Noé and novelist Bret Easton Ellis. Their shared taste for provocation gives some sense of Frisch’s programming instincts, which allow music, cinema, fashion and literature to rub shoulders. In his words, they belong to ‘the same editorial universe’.

Frisch’s own tastes took shape in the electronic music scene of 1990s Paris, where going out eventually grew into an interest in creating places for others to gather. He launched Social Club with his partners, catering to the city’s appetite for electronic music, and his ventures now include Wanderlust, Salò and FVTVR. Each has taught him something about the relationship between a venue and its public: Social Club found a committed musical following, while the rooftop club Wanderlust showed him how nightlife and the seasons could alter the habits and geography of a neighbourhood. ‘What connects them is that we have never tried to reproduce the same formula,’ he says. ‘Each project responds to a place, a moment and the community around it.’

In Paris, a few kilometres can separate an underground club from a rooftop party, a cultural venue or a large electronic night. Frisch sees that proximity and variety as essential to the city’s character, though the allegiances of its audiences have changed. Younger guests are comfortable sampling several scenes, following their interests between music, fashion, art and food without feeling obliged to belong to any one of them.

At Silencio, a screening or a talk is as much a reason to visit as a night of music, with private events also punctuating the calendar. Membership helps pay for that breadth and gives the team some freedom in choosing what to programme. For Frisch, the value lies in seeing the same people often enough to get acquainted with their work – and, occasionally, find someone to collaborate with. ‘Exclusivity is not the objective,’ he says. His account of membership centres on familiarity: enough repeated encounters for people to get beyond introductions. A well-connected opening party is one thing; maintaining that company over years requires attention. He is similarly measured about the famous names.

‘You can create the conditions for things to happen by inviting artists, directors, writers and musicians you believe in and giving them freedom,’ he says. ‘But you cannot manufacture what a place means culturally.’ That depends on the projects, the encounters people remember and whether artists choose to return.

Frisch’s choice of architectural collaborators has given each address its own personality. At the short-lived Joséphine, which occupied the Théâtre du Châtelet from 2019 until March 2020, he worked with Virgil Abloh. Studio KO furnished a different Parisian proposition at Silencio des Prés, which opened in 2021 at the former Beau Regard, combining a restaurant, terrace and cinema. The venue has since closed, but that same year took Silencio to Cala Molí in Ibiza, where Moredesign’s timber, raffia and sandy floors accommodated art, music and long lunches by the sea. Artist Miranda Makaroff contributed to the opening, and the addition of Japanese restaurant Urusai in 2024 brought architect and designer Kulapat Yantrasast into the company’s creative roster.

In New York, meanwhile, Harry Nuriev arranged Silencio around a rectangular red dance floor, framed by curtains, LED strips and reflective padding. ‘We start by understanding the venue: its architecture, its neighbourhood, and the cultural scene around it,’ says Frisch. ‘We can’t reproduce a single model.’

Later this month, Silencio will take up residence in Berlin’s former Watergate nightclub, overlooking the Spree in Kreuzberg. Running until May 2027, the pop-up will host a different collective each weekend, allowing successive organisers to shape the programme and bring their own following to an address already familiar to the city’s clubbers.

For the opening, artist and architect Marc Leschelier is working with Studio Karhard, with lighting by Studio Raito and visual identity by Bureau Borsche. Leschelier’s practice draws on construction and heavy industry, giving the temporary occupation a vocabulary of weight and apparent permanence. ‘What I find extraordinary in his work is the precision and economy of his vocabulary,’ says Leschelier. ‘A few elements can acquire an incredibly strong presence and create an entire atmosphere.’

Silencio is accustomed to temporary arrangements, having become a familiar presence on the international art and film circuit, with pop-ups around the Venice Biennale, Cannes Film Festival and Art Basel Miami Beach. In February, it spent three nights at the West Hollywood Edition during Frieze Los Angeles.

Frisch is considering a hotel, too, although he offers no definite plans. His interest in hospitality has always accommodated screenings, dinners and conversations alongside the music; somewhere to stay would extend that thinking. Berlin, meanwhile, offers ample reason to retain his faith in the nightclub as a destination in itself. A book due in September 2027 will collect Silencio’s first 15 years. Frisch has plenty of material, and a reservation about dwelling on it: ‘A club cannot be preserved like a museum; it has to respond to new generations, new artists and changes in the city around it.’

lesilencio.com

At the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, the legacy of designer Jean Schlumberger is currently in the process of being future-proofed. In partnership with The Tiffany Archives, the French cultural institution has set to (where needed) restore, conserve and digitally capture roughly 5,000 drawings and a further 5,000 archival documents. Among them are Schlumberger’s sketches for Bird on a Rock gems – the maison’s winged mascot since tastemaker Bunny Melon acquired the first of its kind in 1965 – and personal ephemera such as a paper notecard received from his friend Christian Dior. Alongside them sits Schlumberger’s book of collaged press clippings.

'His creative process was quite extraordinary,' says Tiffany & Co chief gemmologist Victoria Reynolds. 'It's like stepping into the mind of a genius.' A genre-defining designer, Schlumberger dreamt up his creations on paper, before they evolved into three-dimensional small treasures, realised in partnership with craftspeople including a modelmaker and a gemmologist. 'You can see his way of thinking. You can understand his process,' says Reynolds.

Schlumberger, previously a maker of visually striking buttons for Elsa Schiaparelli, had been operating his own jewellery salon for about ten years when, in 1965, Tiffany & Co. president Walter Hoving asked him to design for the marquee brand. Given creative carte blanche, Schlumberger brought colour to Tiffany & Co, in the form of vibrant gemstones stored in the company’s fabled safe, alongside humour and whimsy. Exotic birds, sea creatures, flora and fauna – all lend shape to precious gems in Schlumberger’s sketches. Jackie Kennedy fell for Schlumberger’s work, as did many others, including Babe Paley and Elizabeth Taylor.

The preservation project ensures that Schlumberger’s world – not only the finished jewels, but the ideas and experiments behind them – remains accessible to future generations. In doing so, Tiffany & Co and the Musée des Arts décoratifs are keeping his imagination alive as a resource for future creatives.

Like the familiarity of your morning jogging route, running-store design sticks to a well-trodden path: a wall of shoes, a jumble of fuel belts and caffeinated goops, and that distinct, fresh-out-of-the-box aroma of synthetic fabrics.

As running has experienced a post-pandemic explosion, though, the culture – and the style– has swiftly evolved. Leading the pack is Paris-based label Satisfy, a running brand known for its routinely sold-out technical apparel as much as its viral marketing activations (say, a mosh pit in the Arizona desert).

This month, Satisfy opened the doors to its first-ever brick-and-mortar storefront in Paris’ historic Marais district. Rather than cashing in on thousands of $140 moth-eaten T-shirts, however, this boutique is selling something else: ‘It’s not really a Satisfy store. It’s Satisfy as a store,’ founder Brice Partouche wrote on Instagram.

To distill Satisfy’s ethos – one driven by performance, design innovation and a winking sense of humour – into an IRL location, Partouche hired Ciguë, a multidisciplinary architecture and design office located just outside of Paris. The firm, founded by three friends in 2003, is known for its innovative takes on tried-and-true typologies, ranging from hotels (see: Ace’s new Athens location) to factories.

‘Satisfy is one of the few brands where we were like, “We should call them,’” Ciguë co-founder Alphonse Sarthout recalls. ‘But Brice called us first.’

Satisfy’s Paris footprint occupies two storefronts on opposite sides of Rue de Saintonge – Supply, which hosts the boutique, and Fuel Station, a pint-sized coffee shop that concocts caffeinated pre- and post-run beverages. ‘The brand has been online for 11 years, and it sells super well, so the main target of the store was not to sell more – it was to sell differently and finally meet the people,’ Sarthout says.

The main store, Satisfy Supply, feels more like an art gallery than a running store. That’s because it’s mostly bare, save for a wall-spanning triptych of the American West by painter Othelo Gervacio. The mural – which depicts rugged buttes and a mustang horse – comes directly from Satisfy’s brand lore, which draws heavily from desert terrain and the kitsch that can accompany it (fringe is a common feature on Satisfy apparel, as are bald eagles). It also serves as Ciguë’s boldest design move: ‘We had the idea of a diorama, like in a museum,’ Sarthout explains.

Against this western backdrop, the designers kept displays to a minimum. Clothing hangs off of suspended stainless steel rods or gridded display racks; shoes are displayed on sculptural wood plinths; and T-shirts are splayed out on custom cast-Zamak alloy slabs, hovering just inches off the ground. ‘So many brands would be like, oh, you kill the strength of the product. How can I buy a $200 T-shirt when it's lying on the floor?’ Sarthout says. ‘But [for us] it's very interesting because it slows down the rhythm of the space – you almost feel like sitting, and bending down to touch the products.’

There are other retail unorthodoxies. For instance, there is a conspicuous absence of explanatory text touting the technical qualities of shoes and clothing; the choice encourages customers to ask questions of sales associates, who underwent months of product knowledge training. ‘It brings back the importance of hosting and the team working there,’ Sarthout says. The same thought went into the changing rooms, which are clad in knotty timber (not unlike an old school diner you might stumble into on Route 66) and feature linen curtains. The store even features a custom scent. ‘It makes you feel like you’re in a luxury fashion store and not in a running store,’ the designer adds.

Satisfy Fuel Station, the coffee bar, has a similarly minimal feel, akin to American gas stations and hardware stores. The idea is for runners and shoppers alike to achieve the coveted endorphin-driven ‘runner’s high’ with hydrating, energising or carb-rich concoctions (the menu is helpfully organised into ‘pre-high’ and ‘post-high’ categories). The western imagery continues on the shiny espresso machine. ‘Here you can just come in, get a drink, and not necessarily buy something [at the store], so it becomes a gathering space,’ Sarthout says. Already, the Fuel Station has become the de facto meeting point for Satisfy’s regular ‘LSD’ club runs – runners'-speak for ‘Long Slow Distances.’

Judging by the queues that regularly form outside the shop, it’s likely that there are more Satisfy locations in store (a spokesperson said the brand is currently exploring opportunities for expansion). And even if Satisfy’s vibe (or price tag) isn’t aligned with your personal running aesthetic, the label is demonstrating a principle that other athletic brands would be wise to note: create community or eat dust.

Bruce of Los Angeles was one of the most prolific photographers of the male nude, and his influence was far-reaching. Artists including Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber were inspired by his physique photography, which blended studio professionalism with an old world Hollywood glamour.

Critic Vince Aletti – who published his own collection of physique photography last year – has long been a fan, curating a selection of Bruce’s works for an upcoming exhibition at Acne Paper Palais Royal, Paris. The 77 images in the collection, drawn from his personal collection, are from the photographer’s Rodeo series, created during his travels across the American West.

They mark a change in Bruce’s previously established style, seeing him move away from working with professional models in a studio environment, instead photographing cowboys and rodeo riders in their own environments across Arizona, California, Oregon and Canada. He resisted embellishing or imposing narratives on his subjects, letting them be as they naturally were, rather than performing for the camera.

Born Bruce Bellas, the photographer began his career as a chemistry teacher in his home state of Nebraska, losing his job after photographing a male nude. He moved to California, opening his studio in 1948, establishing a distinctive style which celebrated the male body for a mostly hidden gay audience. His Rodeo series was widely recognised as some of his most personal work, and something he pursued for the rest of his life, cut short in 1974 after Bruce suffered a fatal heart attack while photographing a rodeo in Alberta.

'Bruce of Los Angeles: Rodeo' at Acne Paper Palais Royal, Paris from 3 September – 7 October 2026

Jewellery designer Nikos Koulis specialises in the offbeat and the precious. His jewellery is distinctive for its subversion of classic design, a philosophy expressed in unconventional cuts, clever engineering and surprising materials.

When he announced the opening of his first boutique outside his native Greece, we expected a lot. Koulis has gamely risen to the challenge, opening his Paris flagship to reveal a haven of good jewellery and good design.

Greek-born, London-based architects Bureau de Change worked closely with Koulis on the boutique, located on rue Boissy d'Anglas, with an understated design that respects the clean lines of the original building, erected in the 1700s.

Inside, the jewellery sits among classics of design, from a midcentury Kalmar glass chandelier, mirrors by Gio Ponti , and art from Koulis’ personal collection and objects from his own line, including a series of candlesticks. ‘I wanted to create a gentle and inviting space, to reflect not only my work but also my world,’ Koulis says.

‘The jewellery speaks for itself, but I wanted to propose my way of creating, my way of living, my way of looking at things,’ he adds. ‘The overall aesthetic with my personal choices in the design pieces, the artworks and even the flowers we change every week brings my own sensibility to the space. [There are] layers of intimacy, flair and depth as I wanted to subvert the jewellery boutique rules and codes.'

Out of all the objets d’art in the new space, what are his favourites? ‘I keep changing my [mind about] favourites, it's in my Gemini nature! From jewellery, I would currently choose the ‘77’ necklace. From [my] ‘moNO’ [series of objects and furniture], two candlesticks: the feminine and the masculine, a nod to a very human journey with different traits, free imagination, and constant flux.’

nikoskoulis.com

When La Réserve Paris opened its doors in 2015, it quickly became one of the city’s most sought-after addresses, offering a fresh take on Parisian hospitality. At a time when many of the capital’s best-known hotels were defined by their old-world grandeur and opulence, Michel Reybier instead took his cues from the intimacy and elegance of a private residence. Occupying a 19th-century Haussmann mansion tucked behind a discreet red door on Avenue Gabriel, La Réserve still feels more like an exquisitely run private home than a hotel. It’s this residential atmosphere, together with faultless service and Jacques Garcia’s richly layered interiors, that makes it as compelling today as it was ten years ago.

Wallpaper* checks in at La Réserve Paris Hotel and Spa

What's on your doorstep?

In the 8th arrondissement, between the Champs-Élysées and Faubourg Saint-Honoré, La Réserve occupies one of Paris’ most coveted addresses. Whether you’re a first-time visitor ticking off the capital’s landmarks, or a return traveller who simply wants to spend the day meandering without an agenda, the hotel is perfectly placed to explore the city on foot. The Grand Palais sits directly opposite, making it easy to drop into one of its exhibitions before wandering towards the Petit Palais, Place de la Concorde or the banks of the Seine. Avenue Montaigne’s designer boutiques and the Eiffel Tower are both within easy walking distance, but sometimes, the greatest pleasure is to spend an afternoon drifting through the surrounding streets, people watching over a glass of wine on a terrace, or settling into a neighbourhood bistro.

Who is behind the design?

Jacques Garcia’s fingerprints are unmistakable, but La Réserve is less about his usual theatrical flourishes or statement pieces. Instead, he channels the elegance of a lived-in Parisian residence, restoring original cornices and mouldings and layering the interiors with antiques, opulent fabrics, selected artworks, carved marble fireplaces, and precious woods. The result is timeless and full of character, with a level of attention that comes together to create a series of beautifully cohesive spaces, from the subtly illuminated bookshelves and embossed leather wall coverings in Le Gabriel to the handwoven silk wallpaper that envelops the bedrooms and the upholstered headboards.

The room to book

It’s hard to go wrong with any of the rooms at La Réserve Paris, but the Eiffel Presidential Suite ticks all the boxes. At 140 square metres, it’s generous in size, but it’s the flow that makes the biggest impression, where the living room connects seamlessly to the bathroom, dressing room and bedroom and then loops back, giving it the feel of a gracious Parisian apartment. French doors open onto a narrow balcony big enough for lingering breakfasts for two against Eiffel Tower views, while inside, Garcia’s richly layered interiors and luxurious marble bathrooms come together to create an elegant space you’ll find hard to leave. Even at turndown, the silk-upholstered headboard is protected with a bespoke linen cover in one of those memorable details that perfectly encapsulates La Réserve’s meticulous approach.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

One of the things La Réserve does so well is that its restaurants and bars are every bit as inviting for visitors as they are for guests staying upstairs. Le Gabriel, Jérôme Banctel’s three Michelin-starred restaurant, is the hotel’s culinary centrepiece, serving refined French cuisine through three tasting menus - Virée, Périple and Escale - that celebrate seasonal produce in a gorgeous dining room wrapped in embossed leather wall coverings.

During the warmer months, The Patio at La Pagode becomes one of the loveliest spots in the hotel for a leisurely breakfast or a caesar salad with a crisp glass of wine beneath century-old maple trees, while the Duc de Morny Library serves the same menu in cosier surroundings, where floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and deep armchairs invite lingering over an afternoon coffee. Come evening, the best space for an aperitif is Bar Le Gaspard, where the drinks menu features the hero cocktails from each of the La Réserve hotels around the world. The Golden Negroni from the Zurich property goes down a treat with the lobster club sandwich, followed by a glass of cognac in the intimate cigar lounge.

Where to switch off

After a day exploring the streets of Paris, there’s nowhere better than retreating to the Spa Nescens. Hidden away on the lower ground floor, it’s a calming space centred around a 16-metre indoor pool. There are just three treatment rooms and a menu that focuses on doing a few things expertly well, through its partnership with Swiss better-ageing specialist Nescens. Alongside facials and massage offerings like the Tesla Med Full Body Sculpt, which works on firmness, contouring and toning, there’s also a hair salon and beauty studio, making it tempting to pop in for a blow-dry before heading back upstairs for dinner.

The verdict

It’s easy to understand why La Réserve Paris remains a favourite for those in the know. Yes, the interiors are beautiful, and the location is exceptional, but it’s the intuitive service and the feeling of staying somewhere genuinely personal that sets La Réserve apart.

La Réserve Paris is located at 42 Av. Gabriel, 75008 Paris, France

When Rosewood took over Hôtel de Crillon in 2013, many were curious to see how one of Paris’ most storied palace hotels would evolve. More than a decade on, it has retained the grandeur and heritage of the original while giving it the unmistakable feel of a Rosewood. Discreet, warm and instinctively personal, the experience begins with a glass of champagne and the choice of checking in either in a private reception salon or from the comfort of your suite. That feeling carries through the rest of the stay, with staff who instinctively read their guests, whether that’s a butler who immediately checks the room temperature is to your liking, or a doorman waiting with a bottle of water after your early morning run. It’s this blend of Rosewood’s warm hospitality and one of Paris’ most iconic addresses that makes Hôtel de Crillon feel every bit as special today as it did when it reopened.

Wallpaper* checks in at Hôtel de Crillon, Paris

What’s on your doorstep?

Occupying a prime position on Place de la Concorde in the 8th arrondissement, Hôtel de Crillon puts quintessential Paris on your doorstep. Whether it’s a morning run to the Eiffel Tower, an afternoon exploring the latest exhibition at the Grand Palais or a stroll through the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre, it’s easy to spend an entire day on foot. Rue Saint-Honoré, Place Vendôme and the Champs-Élysées are all close by, while some of the greatest pleasures come from ducking down a quieter side street before settling into a neighbourhood bistro for a long lunch spent watching Paris go by.

Who is behind the design?

The restoration of Hôtel de Crillon was the work of architect Richard Martinet together with interior designers Aline d’Amman, Tristan Auer and Chahan Minassian, who have given the hotel a lighter, more contemporary feel. Original details such as marble, carved stone, crystal chandeliers and gilded mouldings are balanced with contemporary furniture, carefully chosen artwork and a softer colour palette. It’s brighter than many of Paris’ palace hotels, with natural light pouring into the public spaces through a series of open-air courtyards, drawing attention to the craftsmanship throughout. The end result feels elegant and timeless, making it difficult to pick a favourite space.

The room to book

It’s hard to find fault with any of Hôtel de Crillon’s rooms, with even the entry-level rooms thoughtfully designed, and often used by butlers accompanying guests who require round-the-clock service. The Grand Premier Suite, however, strikes the sweet spot. Available with either courtyard or Rue Boissy d’Anglas views, it’s at its best first thing in the morning, when the French doors are thrown open and the sounds of Paris drift inside.

Decorated in a palette of soft greys, creams and pale blues with French oak parquet flooring, bespoke furniture and marble bathrooms, it perfectly reflects the hotel’s balance of history and modernity. If, however, you’re looking to experience one of the city’s most extraordinary hotel rooms, Karl Lagerfeld’s Les Grands Appartements deserve a look. Inspired by Versailles, the two apartments combine classical French detailing with a restrained palette of greys, marble and mirrored surfaces. Among the many standout details is a two-tonne solid Carrara marble bath, so heavy it had to be lifted through the window before being lowered into place on a block of ice, allowing it to settle gently onto the bathroom floor as the ice slowly melted.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The best thing about Hôtel de Crillon is that its restaurants and bars feel just as much a part of Paris as they do the hotel itself. Breakfast is best enjoyed in the hotel’s leafy courtyard, where baskets of warm baguettes, generous slabs of salty French butter and an entirely à la carte menu set the tone for the day. Return later for dinner at Nonos by Paul Pairet, where the lively courtyard is one of the city’s loveliest places to dine, with standout dishes including the signature cheese soufflé, theatrically finished tableside.

The real showstopper, however, is Les Ambassadeurs Bar. Set beneath one of Paris’ most spectacular painted ceilings and surrounded by crystal chandeliers, gilded detailing and soaring windows overlooking Place de la Concorde, it’s the sort of room that, even on a balmy Paris evening, makes people choose to sit indoors rather than on a terrace. The signature cocktail menu takes inspiration from nostalgic memories, transforming everything from birthday cake to forest walks and summer barbecues into inventive drinks, while the black truffle and Comté croque is reason enough to linger for another round. Before leaving, make a detour via Butterfly Pâtisserie, where chef Matthieu Carlin’s beautifully crafted pastries provide a suitably sweet finale.

Where to switch off

Tucked beneath the hotel, the spa feels like a sanctuary from the bustle of Place de la Concorde above. At its centre is a beautiful 14m heated indoor pool, framed by pale stone, oak and softly lit alcoves that give the space a calm, residential feel rather than that of a traditional hotel spa. Alongside a sauna, steam room and fitness studio, the treatment menu combines bespoke massages and facials using Maison Caulières and EviDenS de Beauté products.

The verdict

There are grander hotels in Paris, and there are more intimate ones, but few strike the balance quite as well as Hôtel de Crillon. Beautifully restored, impeccably run, and warm with its instinctive service and relaxed atmosphere, it’s a hotel that’s just as enjoyable to return to after a day exploring the city as it is to simply spend time in.

Hôtel de Crillon is located at 6 Pl. de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France

La Fantaisie in Paris has handed over one of its 73 rooms to the Hungarian artist Szabolcs Bozó, whose vibrant creatures and fluid, folk-inflected forms now occupy Room 607 for a nine-month residency. Running until 22 February 2027, the project continues the hotel’s ongoing artistic series, which previously saw a takeover by French contemporary artist Ben Arpéa.

Tour La Fantaisie’s Art Suite by Szabolcs Bozó

Bozó’s work has always carried the cadence of a spontaneous drawing and the nostalgia of a childhood memory. Rooted in Hungarian folk traditions and shaped by a self-taught visual language, his paintings, sculptures and installations are populated by zoomorphic figures that orbit somewhere between dream, fable and playground.

The walls of Room 607 have become an in-situ canvas, layered with works made directly for the space, while the existing artworks have been replaced entirely with pieces by Bozó. Handmade cushions and bespoke bedspreads woven with his signature animal-like motifs bring the collaboration into the soft furnishings; large-scale soft sculptures introduce a more physical sense of play; and hand-painted lampshades cast the room in a warmer, stranger glow.

A booklet for guests offers an introduction to the artist alongside the works available to purchase, while a selection of co-branded objects is also available and is exclusively sold at La Fantaisie, featuring caps, stickers, playing cards, and trays.

The Art Suite by Szabolcs Bozó spans 42 sq m, sleeps up to three guests and overlooks the hotel’s garden. It comprises a large walk-in closet, a plush bathroom with a bathtub and shower, and a sofa bed which can be turned into an additional sleeping quarter. Designed by Martin Brudnizki, La Fantaisie is already a botanical exercise in colour, pattern and exuberance, with boutique rooms, a glass-roofed restaurant, garden terrace, street-facing café, rooftop bar and spa in Paris’s 9th arrondissement.

‘Coinciding with my exhibition Antidote at Semiose, my collaboration with La Fantaisie brings together familiar elements from my studio, but also new materials, including fabric and everyday objects, allowing guests to experience my work in an even more tactile way. Paris as a location has always been close to my heart, with my first show taking place here,’ says Bozó of the opening.

La Fantaisie is located at 24 Rue Cadet, 75009 Paris, France. Rates for the Art Suite by Szabolcs Bozó start from 1,000 EUR inc. breakfast (approximately 862 GBP)

Haute Couture Week represents the rarified pinnacle of the fashion calendar, taking place each year in January and June or July in Paris. To be considered a couture house – and show as part of the official schedule – you must adhere to a series of rules set by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM). Notably, garments must be made to order for clients using a dedicated couture atelier of over 15 staff and 20 technical workers, with participants showing more than 50 designs twice a year (several of fashion’s biggest names, including Chanel, Dior and Armani, have couture arms, and present during the week). The FHCM also chooses a series of guest designers to show each season, while off-schedule events take place across the city – including the presentation of high jewellery collections in showrooms in and around Place Vendôme.

Held this season from 6-9 July, the A/W 2026 edition of Haute Couture Week looks set to be defined by a pervading newness: Pierpaolo Piccioli and Duran Lantink will show their first couture collections for Balenciaga and Jean Paul Gaultier respectively, while Olivier Theyskens – formerly of Rochas, Nina Ricci and Theory – will debut his new label, Boloria. Meanwhile at Chanel and Dior, Matthieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson, respectively, will host their sophomore haute couture collections, after lauded debuts earlier this year. Rounding out the schedule are shows from Schiaparelli, Armani Privé, Viktor & Rolf, as well as a debut on the schedule from London-based label Standing Ground.

In anticipation, we break down all the moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2026.

There will be debuts at Balenciaga and Jean Paul Gaultier

On Wednesday 8 July, there will be a duo of debuts at two of haute couture’s major houses: Balenciaga and Jean Paul Gaultier. At the former, Pierpaolo Piccioli will show his first couture collection for Balenciaga, taking the mantle from Demna, who reinstated the house’s haute couture arm in 2021 (the Georgian designer’s couture collections were critically acclaimed in their subversion of the historic medium, with memorable moments comprising haute couture ‘jeans’ and runway appearances from Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman and Dua Lipa). Piccioli is no rookie when it comes to haute couture, though: his memorable collections for Valentino were some of the most lauded of recent times.

At Jean Paul Gaultier, Dutch designer Duran Lantink will host his first haute couture show at the house, having presented two ready-to-wear collections at Paris Fashion Week in recent seasons. Expect the unexpected from the boundary-pushing designer: his debut was a polarising take on the French house’s codes, featuring bodysuits printed with the naked body. ‘I’m trying to break free of what’s considered good taste,’ he told Wallpaper* in our March 2026 Style Issue.

As well as sophomore shows at Chanel and Dior

Last season was marked by its blockbuster debuts: there was something of a fashion arms race as Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Jonathan Anderson at Dior showed their first couture collections (both for the houses, and personally, having previously worked at Bottega Veneta and Loewe respectively, which do not have couture offerings). Both presented different – but equally beguiling – debut collections, with Blazy striving for impossible lightness (memorably, a pair of ‘jeans’ were cut from featherweight organza) and Anderson conjuring a series of bold sculptural forms, inspired by the contours of Magdalene Odundo’s ceramics, which bloomed with floral adornment. ‘You realise that that's why we love clothing – it's this idea of the make,’ Anderson said of his first experience in the medium. ‘Couture is really a dying craft; it’s nearly instinct. There are only a few houses doing it. So in a weird way, it’s about protecting that.’

London label Standing Ground will join the schedule

The acclaimed Irish designer Michael Stewart, who started his label Standing Ground in 2022 after graduating from the Royal Academy of Art, has never been one to stick to the typical fashion schedule. In fact, he hasn’t shown on the runway since 2024, preferring instead to either present via cinematic lookbooks or simply work directly with the clients who purchase his designs. This season, Stewart will show as a guest of Haute Couture Week on the evening of Monday 6 July, a decision that tracks with the designer’s vision: his elongated, columnar silhouettes are painstakingly constructed by hand and to the wearer’s body, in an echo of the couture atelier. Winning the Savoir Faire award at the 2024 LVMH Prize, expect a continuation of his distinctive aesthetic, which marries the graceful forms of ancient standing stones with a more futuristic sensibility, where body-clinging contours and ectomorph-like protrusions have an HR Giger-esque bent.

Fendi will show in Rome

Maria Grazia Chiuri will host her first haute couture show for Fendi not in Paris – where the house has shown traditionally, and did so under previous creative director Kim Jones – but in Rome, the home city of both the designer and the house. Taking place on 9 July (many editors will fly straight from Paris to Rome for the show), it will unfold at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea – a nod to both Chiuri’s longtime collaboration with the art world, and the location of a new exhibition, ‘After, a Creative Journey. Fendi / Karl Lagerfeld 1985’. Marking just her second outing for Fendi, after a debut ready-to-wear show in Milan in February, the event will see guests move straight from show to exhibition preview, ahead of the latter’s opening to the public the next day, on 10 July.

Olivier Theyskens will reveal his new label, Boloria

The Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens, who began his eponymous label in the mid-1990s before roles at Rochas, Nina Ricci and Theory, is often seen as one of fashion’s most prodigious talents, forging a darkly romantic aesthetic that borrowed from historical costuming with an industrial edge (Madonna was an early fan, wearing a memorable corseted yellow dress for the VH1 Fashion Awards in 1998). On the eve of Haute Couture Week, 5 July, Theyskens will make his return, debuting Boloria, a new label led by the designer. Fellow Belgian Willy Vanderperre shot the teaser images for the brand, which is based in Antwerp and intriguingly funded by Weareone.world, a Belgian company that runs the Tomorrowland music festivals. What to expect? ‘[The] distinctly Belgian values – sensitivity, integrity, emotional resonance – that have always inspired Theyskens’ work and approach to fashion,’ said a statement when the news was revealed earlier this year.

A landmark Maison Martin Margiela auction will take place

For the wealthy few, Haute Couture Week is one for shopping: fashion house’s top-spending clients attend to shows to select the looks that they will purchase over a given season (they are then remade to the exact measurements of their body, and oftentimes in an edition of one). But, for those after something even rarer – or, at least, a definitive piece of fashion history – an unprecedented auction will take place on 9 July at 2pm in Paris, featuring 200 pieces from legendary Belgian designer Martin Margiela’s personal collection (known for staying entirely anonymous, he founded his highly influential eponymous house, Maison Martin Margiela in 1988, before leaving in 2009). Held in collaboration between Paris’ Maurice Auction and London’s Kerry Taylor Auctions, it will span clothing, photography and ephemera. ‘These objects are like holy relics of fashion; they’re part of a great mythology, which is a real dream for an auctioneer,’ Kerry Taylor Auctions’ Alex Baddeley told Wallpaper*.

READ: This auction sees Martin Margiela’s personal archive go on sale for the first time: ‘These are the holy relics of fashion’

‘Almost everyone said some version of “it’s about time”,’ shares Youssef El Sayed, relaying the chorus of gratitude and recognition that new retail project Jihan received in its early stages. Dreamt up by photographer Mariam El Gendy (the project’s founder and creative director; El Sayed is director of business development), Jihan is unique in positioning itself as both shop and conversation: ‘a city-to-city narrative’ that considers the emerging relationships between commerce and culture, rooted in the language of African and West Asian design. ‘There’s this sense that you can spend years building careers through international brands and institutions, but still crave a space that feels closer to home. Not necessarily geographically, but culturally and morally,’ El Sayed continues.

While El Sayed and El Gendy began collaborating in a formal capacity at university in London, the duo unofficially started sharing ideas as pre-teens in Cairo, says El Sayed. Today they operate between London and Paris, where they’ve just launched the first Jihan pop-up store in Le Marais in the 3rd arrondissement (through 2 July 2026; an e-commerce site will follow later in the summer, and a London event is planned for autumn).

Named after El Gendy’s mother, her biggest cheerleader and first best friend – ‘Mariam’s mother is also a force of fashion and a legendary shopper,’ notes El Sayed – the Jihan moniker is additionally significant in that it channels the full scope of the project, translating as ‘the universe’ in Persian and Turkish. ‘In many ways that's what we're trying to build, a world where different people, stories, and objects can exist together,’ offers El Gendy.

Paris concept store Jihan is both a ‘shop and a conversation’

‘There has always been a very specific feeling when encountering work coming out of the region – a photograph, piece of music, or object – a sense of familiarity I can't quite explain,’ she adds, recalling the project’s initial emotional genesis. The decision to launch in Paris was largely centred around the pair’s established sense of community, while El Gendy’s personal relationship with the city was also informative: growing up, her father lived between Cairo and Paris. ‘It was my first encounter with art and fashion, and looking back it influenced me more than I realised.’

‘Jihan asks people to slow down, and the pace [in Paris] resonated with me,’ El Sayed adds. ‘There are layers to what we’re doing, and Paris feels like a city that still has patience for nuance.’

For the store opening, the pair collaborated with more friends, bringing in photographer Dexter Navy for a series of campaign images and working with designer and maker Adam Gobran on the shop’s metal displays. Presenting fashion, beauty, jewellery, accessories, and home and pantry goods, the initial line-up includes Super Yaya by Rym Beydoun, Paria Farzaneh, and Cynthia Merhej’s Renaissance Renaissance, as well as Diane V, Misaj, and Kaia Olive Oil. ‘Photography taught me the importance of context and storytelling, and that things we buy are connected to people, places, histories, and communities,’ says El Gendy. ‘From the beginning, I was interested in a store becoming a platform, nurturing people, stories, and creative practices.’ With Worldy Matters then, the project’s culture programme, the space will host a film screening with Shasha Movies and an interactive reading room with Hikma.

‘At its core Jihan is a framework for gathering people. As a creative strategist, I’ve spent years helping brands understand who they are, but what interests me more is who they exist for. Who are their people? What are they contributing?’ reflects El Sayed. ‘A lot of the places we come from are often represented through nostalgia or exotification – we wanted something contemporary and nuanced. Yes, it can be kitsch, it can be chic. But it can also be intellectually rigorous, experimental and deeply current.’

For El Gendy, connection has been paramount to the experience so far. ‘Reaching out to the very people whose work has inspired and shaped our own, and being met with warmth and excitement, has been really special,’ she shares. ‘[Jihan] existed only in our heads for years, so it’s incredibly emotional, and there are so many ideas we'd love to explore. A couple of days ago, Sayed and I were talking about how most of the projects we've worked on have had an ending, whereas this is only the beginning.’

Jihan is at 6 Rue Charles-François Dupuis in Le Marais, Paris, until 2 July 2026. An e-commerce store is slated to follow.

Claude Monet, as the father of Impressionism, was obsessed with light, believing that it transformed the essence of colour as day progressed into night. He painted the same scenes in the French countryside multiple times a day, capturing their transformation and a century on from his study of how ‘envelopes’ of light and air changed our view of the world, an exhibition touching on his legacy will begin in Paris at L’ École School of Jewelry Arts dedicated to American artist Daniel Brush entitled The Art of Light and Line.

Seventy-five of Brush’s paintings, standalone and wearable sculptures will be presented, some of which have never left his New York studio in a body of work that both contemplates and celebrates the freedom of light and movement that Monet articulated in his own work. The exhibition is curated by Olivia Brush, Daniel’s lifelong muse, partner and collaborator and the writer and historian Vivienne Becker, inviting visitors to experience Brush’s vision in a symphony of materials including pure gold, steel, plastic, resin, ink, diamonds and canvas.

Daniel passed away in 2022 and during his career, he rejected the idea that art should be segmented to make it more understandable, denouncing the hierarchy that polarises fine and decorative art. 'This is not easy work,' says Olivia Brush. 'It is important for people to see and understand that an artist does not need to be bound, branded or categorised.' Key works in the exhibition are Maze, a handheld object paying homage to the Byzantine Mosaics of antiquity, Ménagerie Magnétique a selection of animals realised in Bakelite plastic created to be worn via magnets on clothing and Thinking about Monet, a compilation of hand-engraved steel sculptures created between 2015-2020 where light reflects in a dawn to dust cacophony of pinks, oranges and purples.

'Brush’s work is deeply rooted in the past and traditions yet helps us understand our contemporary world through the prism of perfection and contemplation,' notes Lise Macdonald, President of L’ École. An impressive book accompanies the show written by Olivia Brush and Becker with photographs by Carly Leigh Lapidus of his studio in different seasons, different lights and at different times of the day – as Monet might have appreciated it. Intimate portrayals of the work itself are photographed by Benjamin Chelly.

Established in 2012, L’ École with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, to expand education around the jewellery arts, yet the relationship between Brush and the brand goes back further to the 1980’s when Philippe Arpels began collecting his paintings. In 2012 before an exhibition Brush had at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, Nicolas Bos, visited Brush’s studio and from there, exhibitions in Paris, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo followed. A synergy emerged which celebrated Brush’s singular boundary-pushing talent and which amplifies his voice today. Olivia Brush is philosophical. 'Daniel always felt he was writing visual poems – his mind, his voice, his breathing, his heartbeat. There were never any designs or pre-thinking. Never limitations.'

Daniel Brush – The Art of Light and Line runs from June 8^th – October 4^th, 2026, at L’ École School of Jewelry Arts

‘Qui est “in”? Qui est “out”?’ sang Serge Gainsbourg in his 1966 song of the same name. His lyrics immortalised the Bus Palladium as the epicentre of Paris nightlife, name-checking the ‘little guys from Liverpool’ and the explosive energy of Rue Fontaine. Opened in 1965 by 22-year-old bebop dancer James Arch, the club democratised live music by running shuttle buses to the suburbs – hence the name ‘Le Bus.’ It became, as Jane Birkin described it, a ‘mental laboratory’: a place where long-haired beatniks and suburban teenagers could rub shoulders with models and rock stars, where you could expect the unexpected, like bumping into Salvador Dalí leading a panther by a leash, say.

In spring 2026, Pigalle’s paradigmatic icon rises from the ashes, not just as a club, but as a boutique hotel. Thanks to an extensive makeover by Chapitre Six Hotels, the building has gained five new storeys, a sleek bar and restaurant and 35 vintage-inspired rooms, making it arguably the 9th arrondissement’s coolest stay.

Wallpaper* checks in at Hôtel Bus Palladium, Paris

What’s on your doorstep?

Once-gritty Pigalle has been the beating heart of Parisian nightlife since the 1800s. Though it was long a neighbourhood of ill-repute – a former red-light district where the main drag is still lined with neon sex shops and the iconic Moulin Rouge – today’s Pigalle is more chic than seedy. It is a neighbourhood in the midst of a bold transformation, and has been rapidly evolving into one of the most stylish corners of the city. To get a feel for it, head to Le Mansart, a 1950s-style café that’s permanently packed with locals and perfect for people-watching over a coffee or a beer. Fittingly for such a music-oriented stay, the Phono Museum is also on your doorstep and traces 140 years of sound recording history.

If you’re craving culture, the Musée de la Vie Romantique is a must, tucked away at the foot of Montmartre and housed in a charming green-shuttered villa. With a secret garden, a tearoom, and an impressive collection of romantic works, it captures the artistic spirit of 19th-century Paris. As for wining and dining, Pink Mamma is famous for its truffle pasta and rooftop views, Le Bon Georges offers a quintessential bistro experience, and Monkey Pigalle is a go-to for high-energy cocktails. For something more upmarket, seek out Onyx, a contemporary neo-brasserie delivering elevated French fare infused with global influences.

Who’s behind the design?

Having welcomed everyone from Jagger to The Beatles, Téléphone and Dalí, Paris-based Studio KO was tasked with reviving not just a building but a slice of musical history. Having previously tackled London’s Chiltern Firehouse and the iconic Yves Saint Lauren museum in Marrakech, the studio’s founders, Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty, are accustomed to working on sites that possess a unique sense of place. With Le Bus, they sought to balance heritage with high-end hospitality, honouring the club's long and legendary history by preserving its sensual and hedonistic atmosphere.

Though the club previously topped out at just two storeys, the duo added five floors during their four-year renovation, offering the space a new city-gazing rooftop with views to Sacré-Cœur and the Palais Garnier. Inside, the duo employed cork walls, bare ceilings and Afghan-style carpets in a nod to 1960s recording studios. The project is also overseen by artistic director, model and producer Caroline de Maigret, who chose the hotel’s signature amber-noted scent, dressed the staff in chic denim and corduroy uniforms and curated playlists which play in each room.

What are the standout design elements?

Studio KO’s rock-n-roll homage manifests long before you’ve entered your room. The club’s original red neon sign lights up the building’s new façade, which bears the imprint of the old lower-slung building, rendered in a sandy concrete mixed on-site to harmonise with the surrounding Haussmann-era stone. Inside, spaces reverberate with a dissonance that recalls the club’s storied clientele, as Velvet Goldmine-esque glamour rubs up against brutalist touches. Metal grating ceilings you’d typically find on technical runways and thick concrete walls are punctuated by Lynchian red velvet curtains and kaleidoscopic carpets.

The restaurant is arranged around a striking terrarium filled with wild ferns, and tables are lit by geometric pendant lights. Spotlights cast a theatrical glow along the corridors, illuminating witty touches such as door handles fashioned from microphone stems and vintage-style ‘On-Air’ sliders that signal either a request for service or a red ne pas déranger. Rooms lean into a 1970s style, with tulip coffee tables, salmon-pink carpets, mustard cord drapes and Bauhaus ‘SF 28’ hemisphere table lamps.

The room to book

No two rooms are alike. Entrusted to L’Œil de KO (Studio KO’s art gallery) and antiques dealer Antoine Billore, each is curated with unique artworks and vintage curiosities. Soundproofed walls, glass-enclosed bathrooms, and raw concrete ceilings remain constant, while most also feature cork-clad walls and headboards – a nod to Paris’ convalescent prodigy, Marcel Proust (the writer lined his bedroom walls with cork, combatting noise and allergy-aggravating dust), but also to 1960s recording studios. Bathrooms pop with electric blue tiling and Hollywood-style mirrors, while minibars are stocked with cocktails to mix yourself, craft beers, and an artisan selection of spirits. Which room to book depends on your priorities: if a place to lay your head is all you need, the small Supérieure is fine, though the integrated banquette and central table in my Deluxe Suite made it perfectly functional as a workspace. Those looking for a bathtub should opt for the Prestige Room, while the Suite Terrasse is the choice for those seeking outdoor access.

The headline act, however, is the Dalí Suite. At 70 sq m, it is the hotel’s largest, overlooking the street and the iconic red neon sign from its private balcony. The decor is full-throttle retro-futurism, anchored by a tangerine circular rug and a cognac leather De Sede banquette sofa that curves along its perimeter. It is a fluid, Kubrick-esque space featuring a glass-encased black marble bathroom that floats like a spaceship in the corner of the room. A Murphy bed – which can be folded away to transform the suite into a green room for touring musicians – is flanked by mirrored walls and a leopard-print headboard, and the space is peppered with midcentury design icons, from the black leather ‘Apollo’ lounge chair by Illum Wikkelsø to the brass-topped Henge ‘Galaxy’ coffee table.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

The restaurant is helmed by young Marseillais chef Valentin Raffali, a Top Chef France alum who brings an ethical, zero-waste philosophy to the table, ditching imported salmon for Basque Country trout and smoking his own bacon on-site. His eclectic, seasonal cuisine feels right at home here with inventive pairings like smoked white asparagus with Mara des Bois strawberries, pooled in a savoury chicken sauce that masterfully counteracts the fruit's sweetness. For mains, flavour-packed Gallic classics like vol-au-vent sit beside langoustine slathered in a spicy XO sauce. My dessert was a nostalgic chocolate mousse served in a vintage silver coupe and crowned with a single, lipstick-red cherry – almost too pretty to eat.

For breakfast, guests can choose a continental spread or upgrade to the Palladium option. The latter is worth it for the hash browns alone – served like thick-cut fries with a dipping sauce of creamy Gwell Breton cheese – though the pastries are also a revelation: oversized, flaky, and butter-soft, baked to perfection by Stéphanie Le Quellec.

The sustainable ambition extends to the bar, where all tonics, syrups, and cordials are made in-house. There are six signature cocktails alongside all the classics and a particularly well-considered mocktail list. The Chaussan, named after a legendary host of the original Le Bus, who ensured the club’s night-owl suburbanites got home safely, is a particular highlight: subtle, elegant, bubblegum pink and made with olive oil syrup, lemon juice, tomato liquor and basil-infused vodka. Grab a seat and on Thursday through to Saturday, live DJs spin in the restaurant, where the soundtrack is dictated by a formidable vinyl collection – half belonging to Bus Palladium’s original founder James Arch, the other to Jean-Charles Dupuy, the reigning 'King' of Parisian nightlife. Grab a seat at the bar to soak it all in, accompanied perhaps by a silver tower of pre-gig pommes frites.

Where to switch off

One doesn’t come to Le Bus to switch off, but rather to switch on. Though the rooms themselves are peaceful, the lower ground floor cranks up the volume, placing the storied concert hall at the very heart of the experience. Lionel Bensemoun, known for iconic venues like Le Baron and La Mano, acts as the head of programming, overseeing a varied roster of live acts from cabaret to film screenings, music and dance. His ambition is to foster the same sense of inclusivity as Arch did when he first opened the club, a task he deems extra important given the area’s gentrification. The layout remains faithful to the original club, but KO has added a hint of theatrics with a Persian-style carpeting covering the walls, silver lamé curtains, a smoking room decked in stainless steel and a mammoth disco ball hanging over it all.

The verdict

The eyeliner-smudged glamour of bygone days gets a second chance at Bus Palladium, a place that seems at once out of time and firmly of the present thanks to clever, sensual interiors by Studio KO. The food is inventive, the rooms are sexy and the staff are bracingly cool and brimming with joie de vivre. Given how busy it was during its opening week, I’d say the locals agree.

Hôtel Bus Palladium is located at 6 Rue Pierre Fontaine, 75009 Paris, France

In our new monthly series, we highlight the products, places and experiences we’ve bookmarked – and that you won’t want to miss.

Spring in London is without equal. This May, our editors plan to make the most of it, plotting days around alfresco interludes on the city's reopened terraces. Yet spring also stirs a desire to roam: in Oxford, the Ashmolean Museum has launched an exhibition about florals, while a quick hop to Paris promises a Pedro Almodóvar extravaganza. For those with Europe in their sights, the Venice Biennale opens to the public on 9 May. Long haul, the USA is marking its 250th anniversary this year, with no shortage of pomp and pageantry to accompany it.

At home and abroad, here is what to know about and see this month.

The exhibition: ‘In Bloom’, Ashmolean Museum

Ellie Stathaki, architecture & environment director

I am heading to Oxford this month to visit ‘In Bloom’ at the Ashmolean Museum. It's a fitting theme for May. This show explores the beauty of flowers, yes, but also their influence in many other spheres – from global trade to science and world exploration. It is a fascinating subject, and it's also designed by an exciting London-based architect, DaeWha Kang. Kang crafted the show cleverly and sustainably, reusing, in collaboration with the museum, some 85 percent of showcases from a previous show. He and his team reduced waste where possible and worked with low-impact materials throughout the displays and in the space's cafe, too. It only reinforces the exhibition's nature exploration. If you think you know about flowers, you should visit this show – and you might learn something new.

The event: Venice Biennale

Hannah Silver, art, culture, watches & jewellery editor

This month I am looking forward to being in Venice for the opening of the Art Biennale. While it runs until November, the first week is always a buzzy, busy sprint across Europe's most magical city. Discovering the pavilions in the Giardini is a great way to while away a day, but I particularly enjoy the collateral events in beautiful palazzos. If you're planning a visit, make sure to keep an eye on our guide – and don't forget to stop for a spritz and some cichetti.

The restaurant: Honey & Co

Tianna Williams, staff writer

Usually a social recluse, I am breaking out of my introverted mould and diving into the deep end of social activities this month. One of the main things I am looking forward to is spending time with my closest friend, who has jetted over from Australia. To celebrate, we are looking forward to dining at the new Honey & Co outpost in Great Portland Street. I was scouting for a dining destination that felt cosy and fresh, with no waitlist, and a menu that looked delicious without the pretence (and without breaking the bank).

A fiend for Middle Eastern cuisine, I also can’t get enough of Iranian-Iraqi cafe Logma and Palestinian restaurant Akub (don’t sleep on their breakfast!). Honey & Co ticked the boxes. A fragrant bakery by day, turned restaurant at night, its interior is simple, pared back and intimate – taking on the form of a local establishment with Mediterranean design codes. I am looking forward to tucking into its house pickle plate, the seared pork belly and candied lemon, and the honey cheesecake. It is the perfect location to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine and catch up without a time zone.

The other restaurant: Bistro Sablé

Anna Solomon, digital staff writer

I spent three years renting next to the beautiful north London enclave of Canonbury before making the inevitable trade-down to buy. So when I heard that former neighbourhood favourite Smokehouse had reinvented itself as Bistro Sablé, I had to book a visit. The pivot feels entirely sensible: barbecue trends come and go; French bistro cooking is forever.

The space, tucked inside a red-brick pub, is dressed with white tablecloths, mismatched chairs, candles, blackboards, blue-and-white tiles and artwork sourced from Parisian flea markets. It genuinely nails that elusive balance of effortlessness without trying too hard to look effortless. The prices are just as breezy: most mains are under £26, wine starts at £6 a glass, £5 negronis.

The menu is full of winners done well: escargots in a Staub pan, a Comté and cheddar soufflé, moules marinière, beef bourguignon, crème brûlée, a whole tarte Tatin for the table. There’s no need for novelty with a concept this assured.

The screening: ‘Pedro Almodóvar. Attachments’, Paris

Gabriel Annouka, art editor

As an Almodóvar-obsesionado, and someone who has watched every single moving image Pedro Almodóvar has ever made, including the questionable and misunderstood ones, I am more than willing to travel to Paris for one reason only: the Almodóvar retrospective at MK2 Bibliothèque, organised in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou. The prospect of seeing his 80s and 90s films, such as The Flower of My Secret or Kika, which remain his true masterpieces in my opinion, projected on the big screen already feels like a small cinematic pilgrimage.

The retrospective runs until 25 May 2026.

The installation: 'Alfarero del Barrio’ by Roberto Lugo, New York

Anna Fixsen, US editor

In case you missed it, America is celebrating a big birthday this year – its 250th. There’s a lot of pomp accompanying the semiquincentennial (say that five times fast!), including time capsules, parades and fireworks.

Philadelphia-based potter and artist Roberto Lugo is contributing something different to the festivities via a monumental installation in New York’s Madison Square Park. ‘Alfarero del Barrio’, Spanish for ‘village potter’, is an all-out celebration of Puerto Rican culture and heritage via a gigantic, 20-foot-tall urn and a 15-foot-tall fire hydrant, decorated with vibrant images of Puerto Rican luminaries and graffiti. Visitors will be invited to step inside the gigantic vessel, hang out for a game of dominoes, or take a selfie in front of the gigantic fire hydrant. It promises to be a playful mix of past, present and – most importantly – people. ‘During the semiquincentennial, celebrate us, all of us,’ Lugo said in a statement.

The highly atmospheric paintings and drawings of acclaimed Swedish artist Karin Mamma Andersson at once pleasure the eye while keeping it on tenterhooks; they seem to almost will the viewer to clamber inside in an attempt to unravel their intrigues. Indeed, exactly what might transpire if you found yourself roaming around one of her vast, sometimes angsty landscapes or contemplative, curious interiors seems entirely the point. As Andersson once said: ‘I guess I want people to go into the painting and not be sure what they've gotten themselves into.’

If her work builds on tensions or uncanny combinations, it brims with recurring motifs; chairs, masks, deer, dolls, classical sculpture, domestic objects, skeletons, horses, items of clothing or shoes. There are often miniature paintings within her paintings. ‘In Mamma Andersson’s paintings the order of things is often disturbed, the connection between the various parts of reality is often broken, and I think the reason many of her paintings give rise to feelings of discomfort and unease is that the door to chaos stands ajar in them,’ observes writer Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose book jackets have featured the artist’s works.

A month before the opening of a new exhibition, ‘Œuvres sur papier’ at David Zwirner Paris, which will showcase a collection of original works on paper, including aquatint, etching, painted proofs, lithograph, and woodcut, Andersson - a fizzy, generous raconteur - is in her studio in Södermalm, Stockholm. She is standing amongst several large new works in progress, the beginnings of a new series for a show in Los Angeles in 2028. Two pairs of legs - one plaster white, one tar black emerge out of the left hand side of a canvas, which also features a bright cloud hovering over an unusual, brooding bay, while a tall figurative sculpture stands tall in the opposite corner.

Behind her the word VOODOO is taped to a wall above a black and white image of ‘Hangman’, a figurative work from 2014, an iteration of which is being shown in Paris. There is a photograph of Picasso dancing, of fictional Swedish icon Pippi Longstocking, there are masks, a dartboard, vintage images from Vogue, Van Gogh portraits, an image of radishes and a sculptural self portrait made by her ex-husband Jockum Nordström.

On a nearby table sit etchings Andersson created over a two year period with intaglio print studio Atelier Tazé-Lipreau-Arai in Paris, which are called ‘Porte cle’ and reference the 2023 exhibition ‘Adieu Maria Magdalena’. One depicts an classically elegant female figure in a period outfit, holding a mirror, inspired by a image Andersson found in a fashion history book. Another is of a mountainous landscape with a still life composition in its foreground, featuring a wooden anatomical hand that resembles one sitting on her studio windowsill and which imbues the work with a certain ponderous mystery. ‘Now, when I look at them, they’re a little bit like book illustrations,’ reflects Andersson. ‘Like Alice in Wonderland.’

During the printing process, certain tests might not emerge exactly as she imagined, but instead of abandoning them, Andersson paints on them. The ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ series, part inspired by the 70s Ingmar Bergman television show and a murder reconstruction photo - some of Andersson’s earlier works revolved around crime scene photography - is a case in point. The Paris show will also include vitrines featuring reference materials and books, including those by Knausgaard, which will sit alongside their original artworks.

For Andersson, ultimately, the most important thing is that her work continually surprises her; she doesn’t know where a body of work will go when she embarks on it. ‘I don't want to have an obvious answer. It's too boring,’ she says. ‘I want something to surprise myself with a combination of colours or materials. Thick or thin paint. Shiny or dry. Things which I haven't done before.’ It is also important to work on many things simultaneously to allow paintings to connect and talk each other. ‘You can feel very strongly that some paintings are very good for each other. They give each other energy. But others can destroy each other.’

Born in 1962, in Luleå, a small city bordering the Arctic Circle in Northern Sweden - a very particular landscape which has been frequently captured in her work - Andersson initially studied sculpture, before transferring to Fine Arts at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm where she graduated in 1993. Drawing was Andersson’s first language. ‘I had a huge problem with reading because I didn't know I had ADHD at that time,’ she says. ‘I would read a page of a book, and would have no idea what I had just read because my head was somewhere else. At school, I would just go to the toilet, and sit there drawing.’

At 6 years old she became obsessed with cutting out images from magazines, an interest that remains. ‘I find things and put them on my wall, like a memory or notes.’ She can also be found - she says, laughing - rescuing books from the recycling or garbage. But if previously she created a picture synopsis before embarking on new work, now she plans much less. ‘My process has changed a lot in the last 5-6 years. I have a feeling to be more free now. I don't have anything to prove.’

The notion of an obvious plot in her paintings has also lessened, giving way to work centred around feelings, situations, atmospheres. By way of explanation, she remarks: ‘If you look at photos from Chornobyl today, you can see for yourself that something has happened here; even if you don't know anything about the catastrophe, you can feel it from the abandoned houses, playgrounds, and swimming pools.’

‘Adieu Maria Magdalena’ was, reveals Andersson, very much about her divorce from Nordström, and finding herself alone for the first time at almost 60 years old. Painting was the only thing she could do. Empty rooms feature multiple opened doorways or corridors, a painting of a skull hangs on a deserted wall whilst ‘The Misunderstood’ hums with the ghosts of Hammershøi and Magritte; three decapitated hands appear at the bottom of a classical interior. In ‘Quel Bordel’ a hunched figure in knickerbockers is poised in a corner of the canvas in a setting that teeters wonderfully somewhere between a landscape and a theatre set.

‘Even if I was painting a lot about the separation. I don't think I understood that when I did it. But that is always the case. When I have a distance from what I have done, I can see very clearly what it's about,’ reflects Andersson.

The artist’s obsession with dolls she likens to a freedom that has allowed her to not paint faces - she felt she had done too many in her earlier work. ‘Sometimes I can long to be like Alice Neel. Some of her portraits are so good. Or Van Gogh. Otto Dix. Egon Schiele… In one way, I want to make good portraits or [paint] human beings, but I also have a longing to be more abstract sometimes, but I know I'm never going to be abstract.’ Why? ‘Because I talk too much [laughs]. I'm too obsessed with storytelling.’

In her excellent ‘The Lost Paradise’ paintings of 2020, women with their backs toward the viewer wear sleeveless batik print tops and knee-high flat boots, one of them smokes as she walks into blackness. Andersson says these paintings are about many different things: a homage to the 1970s (music, fashion, film), to her mother who made a lot of batik clothing - ‘though it didn’t look that’ - and the boots are a nod to ABBA. She smiles before getting serious. ‘This gesture, when she is walking away to nothing, it’s about what it is to be a human being. We just continue eating fish and animals. We poison the seas. We destroy everything around us. And now it’s war in different places. How can we risk this planet?’ She pauses. ‘Because we just walk around with a cigarette, listen to music and think everything is OK. It’s me, it's you; we keep going - the show must go on.’

‘Œuvres sur papier’ runs until June 27 at David Zwirner Paris, 108, rue Vieille du Temple, 75003 Paris

'Design behaves differently when it’s placed in a real environment,' reflected Gubi CEO, Marie Kristine Schmidt ahead of today's opening of Gubi House Paris (16 April 2026). Located in a historic Parisian apartment in the city's 8th arrondissement, Gubi's third showroom space offers a picture-perfect fantasy of Parisian life, with its high ceilings, tall French windows and preserved architectural details. 'In a traditional showroom, pieces are often understood individually. In an interior, they exist in relation to light, movement, and people,' Schmidt continued.

Here in Paris, Gubi's clean-lined pieces are layered against the patina of history, in what the brand describes as 'a distinctly French' interpretation of the Gubi universe.

'Paris has always been part of the cultural landscape that Gubi operates within, but opening here now reflects a shift from presence to permanence,' Schmidt told Wallpaper*. 'It’s a city where design is not isolated; it exists in a constant dialogue with architecture, fashion and art. For Gubi, that way of thinking feels very natural. We’ve reached a point where establishing a home in Paris allows us to engage more directly with a city that continually shapes what feels contemporary. It’s less about expansion, and more about entering into that conversation with intent.'

Each room across two floors has been designed to reveal a distinct facet of contemporary living – from a more social, hotel-like living area to quieter zones for dining, working and rest, with each setting shaped by shifts in light, material and atmosphere. In the main living space, Pierre Paulin’s sculptural seating anchors a loose, conversational layout, while elsewhere pieces such as the ‘Epic’ dining table and Greta M Grossman’s ‘62 Desk’ introduce moments of gathering and focus, the collection settling into the architecture as part of an inhabited interior rather than a staged display.

The ‘showroom-as-apartment’ concept is something the brand first explored in 2024 with the opening of Gubi House London set within a Georgian townhouse on Charterhouse Square – its first dedicated location outside its hometown of Copenhagen (where the brand is housed in a sprawling waterfront industrial space). With each house, the brand seeks to interpret the collection through its local architecture and culture.

'In Paris, the apartment introduces a different intimacy, where design is inseparable from daily life and cultural rhythm,' says Schmidt. 'By working this way, we can present the collection as part of everyday living, showing how it supports social gatherings, relaxation, and work. It allows us to move beyond display and instead create an atmosphere people can step into – something closer to a lived experience than a commercial setting.'

Gubi House Paris, 1st floor, 81 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris, France
Open by appointment only.

The beauty of a spa, beyond your leaving feeling reborn, lies in its ability to offer an escape from the noise of the world – and Hôtel Costes’ new spa does exactly that. Located in Paris’ 1st arrondissement, just steps from the vibrant Rue Saint-Honoré, the Parisian hotel’s subterranean spa has unveiled a new look defined by ambient lighting, gentle geometry, and a soothing colour palette.

Hôtel Costes unveils its new spa

The project was spearheaded by interior architecture and design studio Liaigre, which worked in close partnership with the hotel’s founder, Jean-Louis Costes. Upon entering the reinvigorated space, visitors will find a 1,000 sq m spa, featuring a 20m swimming pool, eight treatment rooms, and a fitness area.

Much like the spa’s holistic ethos – developed alongside the team from skincare specialist Augustinus Bader – the interior materiality is honest and noble, comprising a mix of travertine, smoked oak, lacquer, and liquidambar. While these materials were selected to reflect the hotel as a whole, they also unite soothing elegance and functionality in a refined balance.

The architectural framework centres on light and touch. From its entrance, set at the base of a bifurcated staircase, a marble reception desk greets visitors, while a Dolby Atmos sound system channels a calming, immersive audio landscape.

The heated swimming pool acts as an inviting lagoon – whether for laps or simply to drift in its oxygen-enriched waters. Wood daybeds and cocooned relaxation areas deepen the sense of retreat. The eight treatment rooms are designed to accommodate therapies tailored by Augustinus Bader’s specialists, set along hushed corridors to ensure privacy.

The spa is the latest chapter in a wider project initiated in 2015, when Jean-Louis Costes commissioned Christian Liaigre to redesign Hôtel Lotti and unify it with Hôtel Costes and a third property, Le Costes. Drawing on the spirit of Parisian private mansions, the design firm has sought to create an airy, loft-like environment for Hôtel Costes.

Says Christophe Caillaud, president of Liaigre: ‘We approached the redesign of the spa with the same discipline that defines Liaigre – careful attention to proportion, light, and material – ensuring the space feels calm, coherent, and true to our enduring design language.’

Hôtel Costes is located at 7 Rue de Castiglione, 75001 Paris, France

It's not every day a brand new gallery shows up at an art fair with a Jackson Pollock and a Cy Twombly for sale. But Samantha McCoy, who recently founded the Paris and New York-based gallery Argo Fine Arts, is no newcomer to the art world: Jackson Pollock was her great-uncle and her father, Jason McCoy, owned a gallery on 57th Street for more than 40 years.

'There was never a difference between work and home,' she says. 'There were always gallery dinners at at the house. There were always artists over. There were always critics. I didn't know anything else.'

This week, Argo marks its debut exhibition at the 28th edition of Art Paris, an international modern and contemporary fair set in the glorious Grand Palais.

It's been a long journey. At first, McCoy tried to carve out a different career from her family's, so studied industrial labor relations along with art history at Cornell. After university, she moved to Paris, and returned to New York two years later to work in fashion. When her father's gallery needed an extra hand, she joined him for nearly five years, until Magnum Photos hired her, which led her back to Paris. But, McCoy says, 'There was always this feeling deep down that I wanted to try working for myself.'

In the autumn of 2025 she took the leap. She named her gallery Argo after the ship upon which Jason sails in Greek mythology. For the logo, she used calligraphy designed in 1949 by another family artist, her great uncle Charles Pollock.

Declining outside investment, she opted for an 'ephemeral' gallery model. 'I tried to be realistic about what my life was and what the art world looked like, with all of these really important galleries closing,' McCoy recalls. 'I thought, I need to be true to myself; I'm between New York and Paris, and I can't afford to open a space in two places right now. Rather than real estate, I'm going to prioritise my artists and clients and collectors. I'll find a way to make that work.'

At Art Paris, McCoy is mounting a solo presentation of German artist Christiane Löhr, with a second space showcasing other artists. 'Art Paris doesn't hesitate to promote new talents long before they're recognised, or to help advance the new generation of Paris gallerists,' says the fair's director, Guillaume Piens. 'The decision of Argo Fine Arts to devote a solo show to an important figure of the German scene, who is not well known in France, won the overwhelming approval of our selection committee.'

Löhr has earned international recognition for delicate minimalist sculptures made from natural materials such as grass stalks and dandelion seeds, and organic black-and-white line drawings. One of the first pieces McCoy ever purchased was a Löhr drawing, when her father represented the artist years ago. At Art Paris, she is showing a mix of Löhr's sculptures and drawings, in dialogue with a series of Cy Twombly prints of Latin poets' names. 'Twombly has created his own visual language,' she explains, 'hearkening back to the line.'

Linear markings also characterise several works by Charles Pollock, displayed in the second space, near camera obscura photographs by the British artist Richard Learoyd (who, like Löhr, is little-known in France). A rare, early figurative landscape by Jackson Pollock comes from a private collection with 'impeccable provenance.'

Opening an art gallery is not easy, no matter who you are. It took McCoy years before finally accepting it's the right path for her. 'It's an important part of my heritage,' she says. 'I spent a lot of my youth trying to turn away from it, and proving I was worthy. The reality is, I am who I am because of my background. And I think I've built my career to a point where I don't have anything to prove anymore.'

Art Paris runs 9-12 April at the Grand Palais

The ritual of a café au lait sipped from a Haussmannian-style terrace is so ingrained within Parisian daily life that it’s taken a few years for the French capital to open up to a new crop of artisanal roasters. Refreshingly, an adventurous wave of new-gen designers hasn’t been shy to offer their take on the spatial side of what constitutes this sacred tradition. From Crosby Studios’ brutalist poetry at Café Nuances in the Marais to Uchronia’s vibrant take on traditional Korean hanok houses at Café Shin near Palais-Royal. Now it’s local architect and designer Sophie Dries to shine (quite literally) with her gleaming Quartz Café.

Inside Quartz café, Paris

Dries’ first speciality coffee shop is first and foremost an ode to the 7th arrondissement, where her studio has been based for the past six years and where, before this, she had honed her skills, including a stint at Christian Liaigre’s studio on rue de Grenelle. Like Café de Flore was once a meeting point for intellectuals, artists, and writers of the 20th century, Dries hopes Quartz Café will be that for the present-day design world, inspiring conversation and collaboration.

As its name suggests, the bijou spot reflects Dries’ affinity with the mineral world, which, alongside natural wonders, frequently informs her aesthetic and material vocabulary: pyrite used for andirons, selenite for a fragrance diffuser created with D’Orsay, gypsum candleholders... This fascination extends to the cafe’s technical side, integrating a highly advanced water filtration and remineralisation system that uses dolomite containing quartz, which releases magnesium and calcium at the end of the process.

From the outside, windows dressed in pleated café-style curtains treated with a bleach tie-dye process conceal an intimate cove-like venue defined by natural light and soft tones. Inside, a Corten steel floor perfectly complements a counter referencing the contemporary boudoir-like Octa bar, which the architect and designer presented at the Mobilier National last autumn (2025). Dries’ Styx mirror also makes a comeback, this time revisited with passementerie details. While there is no seating inside, a sleek red plywood bench awaits outside.

Spot skilled baristas wearing aprons by L/Uniform preparing drinks using utensils that continue the café’s metallic themes: cupping spoons, milk pitchers, trays, and Italian-style napkin dispensers (or portatovagliolo). Service here is accompanied by silver and Baccarat crystal accessories alongside soothing tunes transmitted from a custom sound system by Matéo Garcia.

The almost alchemistic attention to detail extends to the suppliers selected for the project. Brews are concocted using beans from local speciality coffee roaster Partisan, while matcha originates from Kyoto, via Komā. Dries also tapped catering duo Toutia to conceive pastries defined by telluric textures and mineral oxidations: cocoa sablés, date fondant, yuzu mochi, and black sesame biscuit.

Quartz Café is located at 36 Rue de Bellechasse, 75007 Paris, France

Matter and Shape 2026 returned to the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris for its third edition (6-9 March), gathering more than 70 exhibitors across furniture, objects and decorative arts. This year’s theme – scale – invited designers to consider the relationships between objects, bodies and spaces, from the monumental to the minute.

While collectible furniture and architectural lighting often dominate the fair, a number of designers turned their attention to much smaller propositions. At this scale, design thinking becomes unusually concentrated; materials, ergonomics and fabrication must resolve themselves within a few centimetres of space, sharpening every decision. Across the salon, the most intriguing works were sometimes those designed for the hand, where the smallest gestures carried the greatest precision.

Comb and mirror by Christian + Jade, presented by Aarticles

Among the smallest works at the fair were a comb and compact mirror by the Copenhagen duo Christian + Jade, presented by Aarticles. Made from silver-plated metal and polished stainless steel, the pieces have the clarity of small instruments. The comb measures 9cm × 7cm × 1cm and the mirror slightly more, at 10.5cm × 5cm × 1.5cm, dimensions that draw attention to proportion and balance across their reflective surfaces. Up close, their appeal lies in the way they reward handling and inspection, objects composed for the hand as much as for the eye.

Fred Aartun of Aarticles, the Copenhagen-based design archive and marketplace he co-founded with Kasia Sznajder, notes that the hand remains the primary point of calibration. 'The hands are not only a tool for making the objects, but also for measuring the functionality and tactility of the objects,' he says, describing the way handling determines whether an object feels resolved or slightly off.

Christian + Jade approach the scale as a form of compression. 'For us, what makes a design exciting and unique always lies in the details,' they explain. 'No matter how small or subtle, it is what gives the piece layers of complexity and characteristics. When scaling down, the objects do become a more condensed and concentrated study where we have to renegotiate and explore what detailing looks like. At this scale, the context shifts as well, from how a design piece occupies a space to how it exists in relation to the body, in a hand or a pocket.'

christianandjade.com

‘PWML3’ frame by Peter Wiesmann for Cassetta

Peter Wiesmann’s ‘PWML3’ frame, produced by Copenhagen-based brand Cassetta, is carved from boxwood and suspended on a silk cord so the small hinged case can be worn on the body or placed on display. Inside sits a photograph by Matthieu Lavanchy. The format brings the framed image away from the wall and into close proximity with the person who carries it.

For Wiesmann, this scale follows the body directly. 'The scale of the objects I design relates directly to the scale of my body,' he says. 'Being able to hold something in your hand allows you to comprehend it not only theoretically but also in a haptic and intuitive way.' Smaller objects remain mobile. They can be touched or carried, changing their environment and relation to other objects. This mobility also means they can be stored away when not in use, giving the object what he describes as 'a certain lightness and charm'.

Cecilie Nellemann of Cassetta reflects on designing at this scale; while many objects support aspects of the good life around socialising or functionality, she suggests that smaller objects also allow 'a poetic freedom'. Linked to touch and movement, these interactions can trigger what she calls 'plenitudes of perception'. 'Touch is personal and fulfilling,' she says, noting how even the small sounds of placing and turning can become part of the experience. In arrangements of smaller objects, their aesthetics and meanings can also shift in unexpected ways.

cassetta.dk

‘UFO acorn’ lamp by Simon Dupety

The French designer Simon Dupety began his ‘UFO acorn’ lamp with a single acorn shell fitted with an LED. The larger lamp is built from repeated lighting units, each a small luminous capsule set along a slender aluminium structure. At Matter and Shape, the individual element could also be handled on its own, demonstrating how the larger structure grows from a single tiny component.

Dupety describes the thinking in terms of systems. 'I feel that the smaller an object is, the more it becomes a functional system: like a paperclip, a screw, or a shirt button,' he says. Objects of that scale often contain ingenuity and play because their function must be resolved within very limited dimensions.

The project developed from this idea. The shell harvested from oak trees became the housing for the LED, bringing together what Dupety sees as two forms of serial production: one generated by nature, the other by industry. 'The very nature of a system is that it can be multiplied,' he explains. Starting with this single lighting element allowed him to construct a larger architecture of light.

'Working on the details allows to infuse poetry, especially when they are functional,' Dupety says, describing how an entire structure can depend on a small element that carries both ornament and purpose.

simondupety.com

‘Lama’ letter opener by Delfina Delettrez

Delfina Delettrez’s ‘Lama 925’ letter opener, shown as part of her ‘Objets De Vie’ collection, is made in engraved sterling silver and conceived for the hand. The form follows the gesture of opening an envelope, translating the scale and precision of jewellery into a domestic tool.

For Delettrez, designing at this scale centres the relationship between object and body. 'There is a great focus on the relationship between the object and the body, especially the hand and the gesture,' she says. With ‘Lama’, the design is not only about cutting paper but about how the object sits when it is used. Small variations in thickness or curvature can change the movement required to open a letter.

That sensitivity comes directly from her background in jewellery. 'Working at a smaller scale definitely sharpens the design process because every detail matters,' she explains. Designing ‘Lama’ meant working slightly larger than the pieces she usually makes, while maintaining the same attention to proportion and movement.

delfinadelettrez.com

‘Squeeze’ vase by Wendy Andreu

Wendy Andreu’s ‘Squeeze’ vase is a small glass vessel whose form appears compressed by hand. The piece was produced at CIRVA Marseille (International Centre for Research on Glass and Plastic Arts), where Andreu developed the object as part of her ongoing ‘Jardin mécanique’ series. In photographs by Vanni Bassetti, the vase reads as a compact volume of glass drawn inward at its centre, as if the material had briefly yielded to pressure.

For Andreu, scale shifts the design process itself. ‘While designing, scale is very important,’ she says. Materials behave differently depending on whether the object becomes jewellery, furniture or architecture; reducing the size of the piece removes many structural constraints, allowing ideas to be projected more freely.

In ‘Squeeze’, that freedom appears in the way the glass holds a moment of deformation. The form suggests a gesture applied directly to the material, preserving the impression of pressure within the finished vessel.

‘Orphée’ liqueur glass by Justine Ménard’s

Justine Ménard’s ‘Orphée’ liqueur glass approaches scale through the sensual language of the table. Hand-blown in borosilicate glass, the piece rises from a dense base into a slender bowl that seems almost weightless above it, a form that balances delicacy with a surprising sense of gravity.

The proportions draw on the codes of the digestif glass, where size compresses flavour and atmosphere; a liqueur glass holds only a small measure, yet its presence carries a particular charge at the end of a meal. Ménard frames the design through the figure of Orpheus, evoking what she describes as a poetic duality and 'the sound of the feminine'. The reference lends the glass a faintly mythological register; held lightly between the fingers, it brings ceremony to a modest quantity of liquid.

Placed alongside the other miniature works at Matter and Shape, ‘Orphée’ demonstrates how even the most modest vessel can carry an atmosphere of hospitality. Within a few centimetres of glass it holds not only a drink, but the small theatre of its serving.

justinemenard.com

See our full highlights from Matter and Shape 2026

A right turn from Rue de Sèvres onto Avenue de Saxe reveals classic Haussmann Paris: pale stone façades, wrought-iron balconies and the Eiffel Tower hovering in the distance. At the far end of the street, however, number 55 shifts the mood. A 1900 façade, sculpted with caryatids and Republican emblems, glows in a theatrical wash of red. It’s Hôtel Sax Paris – a flash of high-octane energy that’s hard to resist. The guest experience begins in The Galerie, lined with 200 mirrors and Baccarat chandeliers, before guests check into what is the debut of Hilton’s LXR Hotels & Resorts brand in France.

Wallpaper* checks in at Sax Paris, LXR Hotels & Resorts

What’s on your doorstep?

Staying in the 7th arrondissement, culture is around every corner. Fancy a cinematic stroll? The lawns of the Champ de Mars await. In search of a masterpiece? The Musée Rodin – home to The Kiss (1882) and The Thinker (1904) – and the Bourdelle Museum are both close by. Shopping? Head for Le Bon Marché, where high fashion sits alongside gourmet delicacies. And for a perfectly acceptable cliché, order a café au lait at one of the city’s most storied coffeehouses, Café de Flore.

Who is behind the design?

Owned and developed by Compagnie de Phalsbourg, Sax Paris was conceived in-house under the vision of Karine Journo. Inside the restored 1899 Neo-Gothic building, once the Ségur telephone exchange, Journo layered electric hues and whimsical gestures over a base of noble materials: Panda White marble, oak timber, Baccarat crystal and velvet.

‘Our intention was to restore a sense of majesty and revive the splendour of French architecture while fully modernising the experience,’ Journo tells Wallpaper*. Beyond the audacious interiors, a French-style garden by Studio Ravn adds a romantic counterpoint to the hotel’s château-like drama.

The room to book

Varying in shape and size, the hotel’s 118 rooms are a reflective wonderland, sporting custom-made oak furniture, cast-bronze handles, rough-hewn marble tabletops, and graphical carpeting. Mirrors were strategically fitted to some windows to capture views of the Eiffel Tower, while others overlook the inner courtyard, known as the Sax Garden. Rotating minibar monoliths, finished with a hand-chiselled texture, are stocked with favourites from Le Bon Marché’s La Grande Épicerie de Paris. Three signature suites – The Studio, The Winter Garden Suite and The Signature Suite – include bar stations equipped for mixing your own cocktails, along with complimentary chauffeur services.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

An outpost of the hard-to-book Kinugawa brand sits at the top of the hotel, where dinner is served against the backdrop of a shimmering Eiffel Tower. The plush setting – upholstered in tones of golden brown, salmon and muted orange – has quickly become one of the city’s buzziest tables. Executive chef David Maroleau dishes up Franco-Japanese creations, from gratinated clams with white miso, yuzukosho cream and panko to beef fillet with shiso Béarnaise.

Downstairs, flashy and glitzy, Sax Restaurant and Bar features a ceiling mural by street artist Sto, referencing the building’s historic République Française insignia. Order the cordon bleu with a glass of bubbles and share it beneath the twinkle of an otherworldly chandelier by Italian artist Christian Pellizzari, hand-blown in Murano.

Where to switch off

The subterranean Sax Le Club Fitness & Spa pairs Technogym equipment with a sauna, hammam and treatment rooms for massages and facials. Beyond the spa, the concierge can arrange Rive Gauche experiences – such as a private pontoon cruise on the Seine – alongside designer bicycles and personalised pet-friendly services. During warmer days, you can soak in Le Jardin’s heated outdoor pool and Jacuzzi.

The verdict

There’s no denying Sax Paris has personality. Its aesthetic may diverge from the traditional codes of Parisian five-star hospitality, but the service is every bit as polished and attentive.

Sax Paris, LXR Hotels & Resorts is located at 55 Av. de Saxe, 75007 Paris, France

'We’ve laid our foundations and there’s the idea that we’re here to stay,' Matter and Shape artistic director Dan Thawley said about the fair’s just-concluded third edition (6-9 March), whose theme was 'scale'. 'In design today,' Thawley said, 'we are always discussing collectible design and it all becomes a bit nebulous, so I wanted to think about it in a humorous way.'

But 'scale' isn’t just about the size of works, it’s also about size of production: industrial companies were showing at the fair, as well as independent designers who have a hand in every one of their pieces’ production. Storied design house Georg Jensen showed 11 reissued jewellery works by midcentury Danish and Swedish female artist-makers; Herzog and de Meuron showed their ‘Hong Kong’ stool (inspired by the benches made for Hong Kong’s M+ museum: pieces are slotted together and held in place by one wooden spike) in a special walnut and ash wood mix just for the fair; and up-and-coming French designer Sophie Taillet had her spinning-top mirrors on display at the entrance to one of the two pavilions in the Tuileries Gardens.

Verre d’Onge, a Montreal-based glassblowing business, has shown at Matter and Shape since the first edition (there are very few exhibitors who return year after year). 'The fair suits our personal tastes,' co-founder Jérémie St-Onge said. 'The clientele is the difference,' co-founder Flor Taillefer-Pérez added, citing that the fair attracts a lot of professionals (Thawley confirmed that it is mainly B2B-focused) and those who work in the creative industries. The fair’s owner, WSN, also owns fashion fair Premiere Classe, which runs during Paris Fashion Week, with tents abutting those of Matter and Shape. This year, Verre d’Onge showed glass bottles in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. 'They’re very spontaneous forms,' St-Onge said; he let the pieces dictate their own endpoint.

There were some major changes to the fair for 2026, such as a dedicated scent section, which included Ecdysis Studio’s first artist edition of its Cave 0 perfume, created with the use of cave waters, cicada nymph skins and microbial moonmilk deposits.

Matter and Shape architecture by JA Projects

Another change for Matter and Shape was in its architecture, which this year was entrusted to JA Projects. Thawley had met the practice’s founding director Jayden Ali at Frieze Masters, and had also admired his work at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2023, as well as at the Royal Academy of Arts’ exhibition ‘Entangled Pasts’ the year after.

'I wanted to root [the fair’s revamped design] in the context of these gardens,' Ali said, referring to the Tuileries backdrop. He was drawn to the gardens' mix of botany, commerce and civicness, and especially intrigued by the addition of mulberry trees for silk production under King Henri IV – who revised the gardens in the late 16th century. This led JA Projects to the idea of using moiré – a finish often associated with silk – and, along with Studio Hugo Blanzat, the team referenced it throughout (see top), including in a public bench between the fair’s pavilions that was regularly occupied on opening day.

'It’s about new forms of gathering,' said Ali, who also arranged the auditorium’s seating in a way to represent an arena – a nod to the riding school that used to be in that part of the gardens. Following the fair, a lot of the materials used in the pavilions’ construction will be given to an architecture school to, said Ali, 'nudge the dial towards sustainability'.

Miu Miu closed the final day of Paris Fashion Week with a star-studded cast of models for its A/W 2026 collection, which included Chloë Sevigny and Gillian Anderson.

The collection, titled ‘Mindful Intimacy’, evoked the 1990s in minimal tailoring and close-fitting bootcut pants, worn with zig-zag headbands and block heels – so it was no wonder Miu Miu tapped two icons of 90s style for the show.

Meet Miu Miu’s all-star cast for A/W 2026

Sevigny has been an official US brand ambassador for Miu Miu’s beauty line since 2025, and an unofficial muse for its ready-to-wear division for much longer. She opened the S/S 1996 show in a dusty blue pant-and-shirt set, hair closely cropped and jawline already the envy of the world. For its Resort 2019 collection – which riffed on the idea of ‘spontaneous’ dressing – Sevigny stepped out in another two piece, this time a leather peplum top and microshorts, styled insouciantly with a granny-ish floral blouse layered over her shoulders. Today, she was dressed in a three-button blazer over a mini-dress, both in fabric that graduated from black leather to brown shearling.

Sevigny’s past runway appearances include walking for Proenza Schouler and Mugler, and she has starred in numerous campaigns, from Saint Laurent to Ecco. However it is her eclectic personal style which has solidified her status as one of the world’s most enduring cool-girls, with its effortless mix of casual grunge and precisely chosen luxury.

Nor is Gillian Anderson a stranger to great style – known equally for daring red-carpet looks (such as the low-cut dress by Eduardo Lucero with thong exposed, for the 2001 Academy Awards), and her off-duty Y2K sunglasses and boyish baseball caps, she made her runway debut just last year, for Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris.

The casting of Anderson, 57, who closed the show in cream, appliqued shift dress, is part of a growing trend for luxury houses showing clothes on a more mature generation of stars. Miu Miu itself has featured the likes of Willem Dafoe, 70, and Richard E Grant, 68, in recent collections, and Burberry, SS Daley, Prada and Simone Rocha have found virality by sending out respected film and TV talent including Lesley Manville, 69, Jeff Goldblum, 73, Kyle MacLachlan, 67, Ian McKellen, 86, and Fiona Shaw, 67.

Other famous faces who walked the show were singer-songwriter Lauren Auder, multi-media artist Charlie Osborne, Anderson’s Sex Education co-star Lily Newmark, and models Kristen McMenamy and Gemma Ward.

Catch up on our live Paris Fashion Week coverage here

miumiu.com

When Nina Christen imagined the dream location for her eponymous label’s flagship store in Paris, she hoped for somewhere like Rue de la Paix. The Swiss designer, who launched Christen in 2024, describes the historic part of the city as somewhat ‘mythical’. It was an easy decision, then, when 1 Rue de la Paix became available. ‘Everything is a sign, and it’s a beautiful, significant address in itself,’ she says.

The newly opened Christen store is probably unlike anything that storied Parisian street has seen before. Its deceptively simple design favours materials like concrete and chrome, with adaptable elements that can evolve as the brand does: currently Christen’s primary offering is a collection of covetable shoes and a leather bag, with more accessories, ready-to-wear and fine jewellery planned for the not-too-distant future.

Christen opens its first Paris store

Before stepping into the spotlight with her own label in 2024, Christen honed her craft designing footwear for fashion houses like Loewe and Bottega Veneta – and continues to do so, currently holding the position of design director of shoes at Dior, working with Jonathan Anderson. (We speak the day after Dior’s A/W26 show, where she was behind the lily-pad stilettos, polka-dot pumps and other much-documented styles.)

It is under her name, though, that Christen is able to execute her own meticulous vision. This encapsulates her compellingly off-kilter shoes – think heeled sandals lined with goat shearling, or knee-high tabi boots in skin-tight leather – and everything that surrounds them, from highly considered packaging to campaigns and now physical retail. ‘I'm obsessed with concept-building around the product,’ she explains. ‘When I was imagining the whole brand, a space was always part of it. A space can valorise a product in a different way.’ The architectural plans of 1 Rue de la Paix revealed original arches that had been covered by new walls. ‘For me, it’s not about embellishing. We were able to take these walls away, so this classical arched structure would resurface, which I find extremely beautiful. It was about respecting the space rather than transforming it into something that it is not.’

For Christen, who collaborated with multi-disciplinary artist Azadeh Shladovsky on the interior architecture, the result ‘creates a dialogue between the product and the space’. ‘The collection is extremely refined, but because it is 100 per cent made by hand at every stage, there are always imperfections – to me, that is the definition of luxury. I want to show the natural beauty – that the leather is a living material that evolves with time, and it can have imperfections.’ Within the restrained, stripped-back store, Christen’s shoes exist in a sculptural yet adaptable environment. ‘To me it was important to blur the lines between furniture and the space itself. I like when things are multi-use – when something can be a bench, a table, a podium.’ Looking ahead, clothing will slot seamlessly, if unexpectedly, in too. Rather than separate changing rooms, ‘an area can be transformed into a dressing room’ with a swathe of curtains. ‘You really do feel like the whole space is yours.’

The store is an expression of Christen the brand – both now and in the future. It’s a perfect fit for the woman Christen, the designer, described to Wallpaper* in the January 2026 issue as ‘versatile and strong, embodying a classic elegance with an edge’. This flagship space only continues in that vein. ‘I love the impact of a raw space, I find it very moving. Leaving 1 Rue de la Paix completely raw, it's a radical and daring gesture. This is really what I would like the brand to be – sort of disruptive.’

christen.com

Take the contrast therapy plunge in Paris this spring, where Sant Roch, home to the largest sauna in France, has just opened its doors as the capital’s hottest (and coldest, if you follow through with the plunge pool aspect) new wellness destination. Located in the chic 1st arrondissement, just opposite the Tuileries Gardens, it is designed as an immersive, sensory haven.

Step inside Sant Roch, France's largest sauna

Sant Roch was founded by Jules and Chloé Bouscatel, a Paris-based couple in design and life, who are also behind Monday Sports Club, a fitness group that operates more than 20 boutique studios in the French capital (under the brands Punch Boxing, Dynamo and Riise).

The space, by Toronto-based Futurstudio, draws on ancient rituals and the Roman baths of Lutetia for inspiration. Spanning a generous 400 sq m across two levels (the sauna alone occupies 60 sq m), it’s characterised by contemporary luxury and grounded in materiality, with timber featuring prominently.

Artful lighting compositions, immersive playlists and aromatherapy set an atmospheric stage, and help define the transitions through the space. In addition to the areas for deep heat, for instance, are five cold plunge pools, set at a somewhat breathtaking 3°C to 8°C.

These transitions between hot and cold are at the heart of contrast therapy, a practice gaining in popularity (Wallpaper* tried out London’s first contrast therapy centre last year). The abrupt shifts in temperature are intended to trigger the widening and narrowing of blood vessels, helping to flush out metabolic waste and ease pain. It’s often used to boost circulation, reduce inflammation, and help speed up muscle recovery. Sant Roch’s makers describe the facility as ‘a place dedicated to experience, where heat and cold become tools for regeneration, grounding and deep physical release’.

Clients can opt for a self-guided or guided experience, the latter led by practitioners trained in the Sant Roch method, which combines breathwork, sound immersion, meditation and embodied movement. Collectively, the mix of treatments and techniques is intended to enable a physical and mental reset, and deep relaxation.

Neither a spa nor a conventional wellness space, Sant Roch is certainly a unique environment in which to seek ‘regeneration, grounding and deep physical release’, as the company puts it.

santroch.com

When architecture firm Maxwell and Tuke was commissioned to build The Blackpool Tower in the late 1800s, its brief from the Lancashire seaside town’s mayor was to create a near replica of the Eiffel Tower, then recently erected in Paris. Appropriately dubbed ‘The Eiffel Tower of the North’, the steel and cast-iron structure was home to a menagerie and aquarium, a ballroom and a circus, the glitz, glamour and grandeur paying homage to Parisian spectacle through British eyes. Artist David Hoyle, who grew up in Blackpool during the 1960s and 1970s, recalls regular visits to the attraction, where he would watch the likes of resident clowning duo Charlie Cairoli and Paul Freedman perform. ‘The circus was a huge influence on me,’ he says over a phone call. ‘Towards the end of the show, it would fill up with water. The clowns, Charlie in particular, used to frighten some children because of their make-up. But to me it was just amazing and out of this world.’

In 2026, another Paris-Blackpool connection has materialised for Hoyle, who now stars in a series of short videos for Mugler. The French haute couture and ready-to-wear label was founded by late iconoclast Manfred Thierry Mugler in 1974, with a debut collection titled ‘Café de Paris’. The avant-garde fashion house, which the designer and artist built to escape a reality in which he never felt he belonged, similarly became an escapist beacon for those pushing against the status quo. Among them was Hoyle, whose queer adolescence collided with the rise of Thatcherism. ‘Thierry Mugler made a big impression on me,’ he says. ‘The theatricality of the garments… You learn what a costume can do; it can change you. I mean, in your private life, you know, you might be on your knees. But put a costume on, and you’re liberated.’

Hoyle developed his signature form of satirical cabaret in the gay clubs of Manchester and London through ‘anti-drag’ character The Divine David. ‘I suppose I called myself that because I do have a belief that all of us contain some form of divinity,’ says Hoyle, also noting the influence of Bette Midler’s stage persona The Divine Miss M. ‘But it was tongue-in-cheek, really.’ Gaining a cult following, Hoyle was tapped by Channel 4 to host his own shows, The Divine David Presents (1998) and The Divine David Heals (2000), which saw him sport signature Divine David garb – appearing as though Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street had a nasty in run in with a Blackpool circus clown – and deliver surrealist social commentary against the backdrop of a psychedelic greenscreen. (Hoyle would later ‘kill off’ The Divine David at Streatham Ice Rink, in a funerary spectacle called ‘The Divine David on Ice’).

Miguel Castro Freitas, appointed Mugler’s creative director in 2025, after the departure of Casey Cadwaller, is a huge admirer of Hoyle, for ‘his wit, disruptive spirit, and glamour’. ‘[They are] aspects that are all essential to Mugler, as well,’ the Portuguese designer says in a press release for the new video series, which brings The Divine David back to life on film. ‘It was such a lovely surprise hearing from Miguel,’ Hoyle says. ‘We connected via my manager, Tim, over a Zoom call. He explained how he’d followed my work for years and vowed to collaborate with me one day, and his new role at Mugler was the perfect opportunity to make it happen.’ Hoyle was ‘given free creative rein’ over the direction of the videos, which were shot by his long-time creative partner Lee Baxter, with Manchester-based drag artist Liquorice Black responsible for ‘styling and coiffure’. ‘We were a really great local creative team,’ adds Hoyle, explaining that everything was shot in the UK’s North West. ‘I was very grateful to Mugler for allowing me to make the films there; there’s no reason why high-quality work can’t be produced outside of London,’ says Hoyle.

The final three films of the nine-part digital series drop in increments this week (23-28 February 2026). In each one, The Divine David explains ‘how to’ wear Mugler’s ‘The Wardrobe of Identities’, the brand’s pre-S/S 2026 collection, for a variety of scenarios, ranging from the commonplace to the absurd. For example, embarking on a cruise or travelling to Pluto. ‘Getting to wear those clothes… I have to say, it was incredible,’ says Hoyle, calling out the ‘butter satin’ gown featured in ‘Episode VI’ as a standout piece. ‘The script was written around the pieces in the collection, and the idea of wearing something so beautiful and exquisite to go foraging for mushrooms or to take a bus.

‘The times that we’re living in, you couldn’t make them up,’ says Hoyle. ‘I’m old enough to remember going on marches in the 1980s. And entering the 1990s, you really felt that you were going towards a more progressive future. But at the moment, we seem to have hit some sort of brick wall.’ Hoyle’s perspective on the role fashion plays during times of sociopolitical unrest is largely optimistic, however. ‘To me, fashion is a sort of antidote to evil,’ he muses. ‘I think it’s always served that purpose. It has its problems, as everything does. But I think that the fantasy of it, the escapism, the ability to play around and have a laugh, is so important. And, as with the series we’ve made with Mugler and Miguel, I find the fashion world very encouraging of creativity, allowing space to be idiosyncratic and a bit off the wall.’

Mugler A/W 2026, Freitas’ second runway collection for the house, will take place on 6 March during Paris Fashion Week. Will Hoyle be making an appearance on the FROW? ‘Oh, we need to discuss that, Nicky, but we’ll see!’ he says to Mugler’s global comms director, also on the call. ‘But it would be nice if possible, as I love Paris. There’s nothing better than sitting at a café on a boulevard somewhere, or in Montmartre. I’ve been a few times with Lee [Baxter]. We just sit together in silence and just watch all the beautiful, eccentric people go by.’

mugler.com

Across French film director Éric Rohmer’s oeuvre, the Parisian pied-à-terre emerges as a leitmotif: a vehicle for independence, mischief, and fleeting urban life. Yet the concept long predates Rohmer. In the 18th century, wealthy Europeans began maintaining modest apartments in major capitals as bases for business and social engagements.

The appeal of a home away from home endures. When Jess Levy and brothers Eric and Michael Dayan founded Highstay in 2020, they posed a simple proposition: what if five-star hotel service could be delivered within a private residence in one of Paris’s most desirable neighbourhoods?

Available for short- and long-term bookings, properties in the Highstay portfolio are dreamt up by a team of interior designers and architects and serviced by a dedicated in-house staff of house managers. Additionally, through the ‘Curated by’ collection, the group also acts as custodian of architecturally and culturally significant addresses.

This range currently comprises seven residences, from a light-filled apartment overlooking the Champs de Mars to a 650-square-metre private mansion near the Trocadéro. The most recent addition is the former Paris office of Karl Lagerfeld, the late polymath who left an indelible mark on global visual culture and even guest-edited an issue of Wallpaper* in 2009 (W*127).

Highstay unveils Saint-Germain I in Paris

Located in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the three-storey space occupies an early 19th-century building. After its sale to a private owner in 2024, the office was transformed into an intimate, multi-level residence by French interior architect Pauline Leprince and is now open for bookings. It sits just steps from Serge Gainsbourg’s former home on Rue de Verneuil.

Throughout, minimalist and Space Age sensibilities are expressed through a restrained palette of steel and ivory. At its centre stands a dramatic curved staircase, anchored by an intricately sculpted steel bannister designed by Lagerfeld in collaboration with Australian industrial designer Marc Newson. Nearby, a Dos à Dos armchair from Leprince’s 05-FP-23 collection completes the composition.

In the living room, soaring ceilings and twin steel bookcases – also designed by Leprince – serve as sculptural focal points while referencing Lagerfeld’s well-known bibliophilia; he notoriously founded the Parisian bookshop and library 7L. Meanwhile, two fully-equipped kitchens and an intimate bar are accented with warm wood tones.

Upstairs, the master bedroom sees a bed encased within a steel capsule with integrated shelving, whilst a second, independent bedroom with its own bathroom completes the sleeping quarters. On the lower level, a wellness area with sauna and hammam awaits. Key artworks in the residence include Head in the Clouds XL by French sculptor Laurence Perratzi, Whisper Dinner Tonight by London-based Ukrainian artist Lizii Chan, and a geometric composition by French painter Jacques Daibehesse.

As part of the 'Curated by Highstay' collection, Saint-Germain I guests can opt for a bespoke ‘Karl Itinerary,’ conceived by Highstay’s dedicated concierge, tracing the couturier’s favourite Left Bank addresses, from Café de Flore to Maison du Caviar.

For bookings, visit highstay.com. The Saint-Germain I apartment is located at Rue de Verneuil, 75007 Paris, France

Perched on the upper floors of a building in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, near Père Lachaise Cemetery, this 65-square-metre apartment is a perfect example of when architecture and design converge. Recently renovated by Cyrus Ardalan, the apartment bears a distinctly architectural imprint: block-like volumes with an industrial edge are tempered by modernist influences, expressed through an open, functional layout bathed in natural light from its west-facing exposure. It is now on the market with Architecture de Collection for €840,000.

The layout is structured yet fluid, with each zone clearly defined without interrupting the overall openness. The entrance opens onto a living area that seamlessly unites lounge, dining space and office, while the kitchen is delineated by a glass-paste frame – a feature echoed in the custom-designed island and dining table, creating a cohesive visual thread.

A corridor leads to two peaceful, courtyard-facing bedrooms, followed by a shower room and separate toilet. Bespoke built-in storage is integrated throughout, preserving the apartment’s clean lines and meticulous sense of order. Even a basement cellar is included – a practical bonus in Paris.

In keeping with the modernist spirit, material exploration is another defining aspect of the project. Plywood, a signature of Ardalan’s work, plays a central role. Its warm tone – inspired by the original window frames – creates continuity from the living area through the hallway to the bedrooms.

Ardalan’s custom furniture reads as a natural extension of the architecture. In the main space, a large plywood bookshelf becomes a defining gesture, extending into a sideboard and integrated workspace. Cleverly, a 180-degree pivot door allows this unit to either open the office fully to the living area or conceal it entirely when not in use, enabling the space to adapt.

Glass paste forms another element of the apartment’s identity, introducing texture and depth while highlighting volumes and integrating drawer fronts almost invisibly. Applied to the kitchen island, dining table and shower, it contributes to the apartment’s unified, sculptural quality.

Ardalan, who established his practice in 2020, approaches architecture as a total work of art. Drawing on vernacular construction methods, minimalist modernism – particularly the work of Jean Prouvé – and mechanical systems, he is undoubtedly one to watch.

What is design’s relationship with architecture, if not a constant dialogue across eras? French interior designer Pierre‑Yves Rochon’s long-standing relationship with the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris wholeheartedly exemplifies this notion.

Their dialogue began ahead of the Parisian hotel’s opening in 1999 – within a landmark 1928 building – when Rochon was commissioned to conceive its palatial interiors. From the outset, his approach resisted overt modernisation, instead allowing contemporary nuance to sit within the building’s classical framework. The result was an art deco-inflected palace calibrated for modern luxury.

Yet, Rochon is not a creative who easily considers a project fully complete. Instead, his work is defined by return, revision, and long-term stewardship, a singular method evident in his work at Hôtel Ritz Paris and Hôtel de Crillon. At the George V, this approach has unfolded across decades. Its latest chapter marks the completion of a three-year renovation of all 243 rooms and suites, carried out while the hotel remained fully operational.

Tour the refreshed Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris

The ambition was precise: to shift the experience from hotel accommodation to Parisian residence. Rooms are conceived as apartments rather than suites, framed through a Haussmannian sensibility. Vestibules replace corridors; circulation is intuitive; dressing rooms borrow from couture ateliers; libraries and dining areas reinforce the domestic. Louis XVI furniture, 19th-century artworks, and contemporary pieces are layered with restraint.

‘Through this renovation, we wanted to achieve a place to inhabit, to embrace, and to cherish as a home away from home. Today, luxury is not about ostentation; it lies in the quiet quality of volumes, light, and materials,’ explains Rochon. ‘To design an interior is to tell a story; at the George V, that story is of a cultivated and timeless Paris that continues to reinvent itself.’

Rochon’s redesign was guided by four principles: domestic life structuring the plan; light treated as a material, drawn deep inside through new sightlines and French windows; technology discreetly embedded via a bespoke system developed with Henri; and craft as the constant: patinated oak Versailles parquet, Carrara marble, Baccarat crystal, textiles by Charles Burger and Dedar, Houlès trimmings, and hand-tufted rugs.

Three signature suites articulate the project most clearly. Remarkably, the renovation reduced the hotel’s key count by just one, following the creation of the Parisian Eiffel Tower Suite: a move the hotel’s general manager, Thibaut Dreg, attributes to ‘the house’s enduring impulse to reinvent itself’. Two former technical rooms with Eiffel Tower views were reimagined as a duplex suite.

At the summit, the Penthouse Suite has become the hotel’s most coveted address, with the Eiffel Tower framed across three private terraces. Its vocabulary is romantic yet controlled: a green chenille silk sofa by J Robert Scott, an ivory-lacquered circular bookcase with pearlescent floral detailing, softly patinated gold-leaf ceilings, and a boudoir-style dressing room lit by Baccarat sconces. Sculptural marble basins are offset by floral compositions by Jeff Leatham.

The Eiffel Parisian Suite adopts a more architectural, family-oriented register. A primary suite connects to two additional bedrooms, unified by a pale blue and off-white palette. Villari ceramics, Artemest vases and restored porcelain light fittings sit alongside a Calacatta Oro marble fireplace, while reception rooms open onto two enclosed, landscaped terraces furnished with black wrought-iron pieces by Hervé Baume.

By contrast, the Parisian Suite is intimate and light-driven. Classical proportions are preserved, anchored by an emerald-green lacquered bar. Works by Gérard Redoulès, antique lithographs and ceramic objects are set against a palette of sea green, ivory and light taupe, punctuated with restrained gilding.

For Rochon, the renovation fundamentally reframes the hotel as a residential address. As he puts it: ‘It’s a place to live, to make your own, to love as one would a Parisian home. It’s where classic and contemporary aesthetics converge, all while continually pushing the boundaries of modern hospitality.’

Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris is located at 31 Av. George V, 75008 Paris, France

Tadashi Kawamata grew up in Hokkaido, Japan, where his father worked mining coal. This year, the celebrated artist is creating a permanent installation in Reims, France, where underground caverns contain champagne.

Conceived for Ruinart's 'Conversations with Nature' series, the installation comprises three artworks. One is an observatory, a wooden tower six metres high and shaped like an inverted champagne bottle, mirroring the cathedral-like chalk cellars where the company ages its wines. 'The cellar is a huge space that people can't see from the ground, so I really wanted to connect with a totally empty space, or a big kind of hole, on top,' Kawamata says. 'The people go up to the sky.'

Elsewhere, one of the artist's wood nests will cling to a corner of Ruinart's historical building, while a signature tree hut perches in the branches of a nearby tree.

Fabien Vallérian, Ruinart’s International Director of Arts & Culture, says he has had Kawamata on his wish list for years. 'For the Conversations with Nature, we look for an artist that is accessible to a large audience, but also very specific to us.'

Ruinart and Kawamata are launching the collaboration this month with an installation at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, including a tornado-shaped overhead structure inspired by the weather and the spider webs the artist noticed in the vineyards. At the same time, collectors can buy one of 20 three-litre Ruinart bottles in a wooden box Kawamata redesigned, with one corner sawed off and reconstructed from bits of wood.

Born in 1953, Kawamata did not come from a cultural milieu. He still prefers to hang out in cafés rather than museums. But he has always worked with his hands. As a child, he obsessively built little plastic fighter planes – the store-bought kits were meant to make one aeroplane, but he would find a way to build two. He wasn't scholarly, and painting seemed easy, so after high school, he applied and was accepted to the Tokyo University of Fine Arts. Tokyo impressed him with its speed and constant change, destruction and rebuilding.

At university, he discovered he was allergic to oil paint, both physically and artistically. 'I really wanted a different way to express my work, without a canvas or painting,' he says. One day after class, when he was alone, he took his easel and blank canvas and the other students' painted ones, and arranged them in the room – his first installation. The next time, he removed the canvas, leaving only the wood, his material of choice ever since.

This was the late 1970s, and few professors took any interest in what he was doing. But one did, along with some students, who pitched in to help. Kawamata started showing his work in apartments and galleries, eventually moving one installation out the window and onto the building's facade. By 1982, he was selected to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale.

Two years later, while finishing his doctorate in Tokyo, he accidentally sawed off the tips of three fingers on his left hand. He used the insurance settlement to live for a while in New York, where he exhibited at PS1, created imitation homeless shelters, hung out at CBGB and rubbed shoulders with Basquiat and Haring. 'I got so much inspiration from graffiti and street art,' he recalls.

In those early days, Kawamata built temporary, in-situ projects that he would then demolish, carting the materials elsewhere to make something new – 'like a circus.' He gravitated to wood because it was handy and inexpensive, often using scrap or vegetable crates. He was an early recycler, simply because it was practical. 'When I was working in the 1980s, nobody was talking about recycling. I was just working. Now people always say to me: 'Oh, you are like an ecologist.''

He travelled constantly, often for projects in Europe. In the early 2000s, someone offered him an apartment and atelier in Paris; tired of hotel rooms, he took it. He brought his wife over from Japan, and soon after was given a position teaching at the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He has maintained studios in Paris and Tokyo ever since.

Unlike most artists of his standing, Kawamata has very few permanent assistants, and works on every piece himself. He often invites others – students, patients, local inhabitants – to collaborate in building them. A former student of his, Guillaume Sokoloff, is his right-hand man, driving him around, arranging for building permits, operating the crane when Kawamata is up a tree.

After visiting each site, the artist makes sketches and models of his ideas, though in the end his process includes a great deal of spontaneity. The results may seem haphazard, but every stick of wood is positioned precisely. His creations are both precarious-looking and invasive, exploring the tensions between construction and destruction, built and empty space, architectural grandeur and humble shelter.

He has filled in the remains of a bombed-out church in Kassel, Germany, with scaffolding; installed wooden 'favelas' in Houston; erected a tower of wooden chairs in the chapel of a Paris hospital; created a carpet of floating debris to honour the victims of the Fukushima tsunami. Visitors can walk on his footbridges, climb up his towers, take refuge in his hideaways. However, he has no pretensions of being an architect, and frequently calls upon engineers to ensure his artworks won't fall down.

Some of his themes are recurrent, such as tree huts, of which he's built more than 200 (all different), or nests, which he says represent a safe place in Japanese mythology.

Whereas Kawamata's creations were once ephemerous, now many are built to endure. He describes them as 'semi-permanent.' The wood will turn grey from the elements. Pigeons may roost in the nests. Some huts will come crashing down if and when their host trees fall. 'Everything changes,' Kawamata says. 'We cannot believe anything is permanent. We just stay together with nature.'

ruinart.com

Elegantly perched on 100 Rue du Bac in Paris is the new Kretz Real Estate physical agency in the capital. The name might sound familiar to those in the property world, or avid Netflix watchers for that matter, as the agency is at the heart of The Parisian Agency, a reality series featuring the Kretz family and the firm based in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Take a tour of Kretz Real Estate’s new office

The luxury firm reached out to interior architect and creative director Sophie Darriere of Label Experience, who designed the agency with one core principle: to create a flagship that acts as a lived-in space and reflects family life.

'Like a storybook unfolding page by page, the flagship brings to life the Kretz family’s remarkable journey in luxury real estate,' says Darriere. 'We designed a warm and inviting space, divided into multiple areas, reflecting the individual tastes and character of each family member.'

The façade is inspired by the Art Deco flair of the Kretz family’s private mansion on the outskirts of the capital. Entering through the doors, detailed with gilded brass, clients will be welcomed in the reception room, nodding to a classic Parisian café, which adjourns to the winter garden.

Darriere worked closely with Sandrine and Olivier Kretz and their four sons, Martin, Raphaël, Louis and Valentin, to make sure that each room was bespoke to them, reflecting on their own personal travels. The entrance, and small private salon for example, is an ode to the bistros that Martin Kretz adores for their vibrant energy.

Padel is another, unlikely source of inspiration. A sport loved by Raphaël Kretz, the private lounge is an elegant take on the game. Walls are in terracotta red, while the Plec steel coffee table by RS Barcelona adds texture. A Bauhaus-inspired touch is injected into the space through rounded forms and geometric lines via the Sesann leather sofa by Tacchini and the Evelina Kroon rug for Layered.

Next, journey to Barcelona, the adopted city of Louis Kretz, who delights in its carefree spirit and creativity. This is encapsulated by the sky blue ceiling and design forward furniture pieces and graphic rug by Layered.

Valentin Kretz also wanted the office to represent New York. Inside the ambience reflects the façade, with understated art deco touches. The linen-beige walls are accented by Stilnovo’s 1950s Megafono wall lights, while touches of chrome and metal furniture are placed throughout such as the USM steel storage unit in a timeless black.

The blustering seas of Normandy, where Olivier Kretz kite surfs, are referenced in the grand library lounge. With an underlying nautical theme, there are ocean blue stripes , natural lighting and an off-white bubble pendant which captures a classy seaside spirit.

Perhaps the most tranquil area of the home is the winter garden, which is nestled under a glass roof. Inspired by Sandrine Kretz’s favourite holiday destination, Brazil, there are layers of green coupled with rattan furniture, and lattice panels which feel grounded and organic.

It is in the small details that make the space feel like a home. From the custom designed bookshelf which displays novels, drawings and other trinkets and keepsakes, to the large Stanley sofa by Red Edition, which allows people to sit back and lounge, Label Experience has managed to capture each family member’s personality into an interior form which is playful, chic, and sophisticated, highlighting the family’s Parisian agency.

kretzrealestate.com
labelexperience.com

A fitting finale

Bill Prince, editor-in-chief

A rare standing ovation greeted the conclusion of Véronique Nichanian’s autumn-winter 2026/27 menswear show at Hermès last weekend – a fitting tribute to her 38 years leading the house’s men’s offer. The moment was capped by a showreel of her work over the years and a performance by one of her favourite artists, Paul Weller. It was a privilege to be present and witness the passing of the baton to Grace Wales Bonner, who shows next year. In the meantime, we bathed in a final walk defined, as ever, by the designer’s precision and elegance – a tutorial in contemporary tailoring that came with more than a flash of Véronique’s rock ’n’ roll spirit, with its inclusion of blush shearlings and high-shine crocodile suiting.

Modernism on the move

Ellie Stathaki, architecture & environment director

This week involved a bit of travel at the architecture desk. First, I visited Villa Beer, the newly reopened Viennese modernist classic by Joseph Frank and Oskar Wlach. What a treat it was to explore this rare 20th-century gem (as well as pay a visit to Hermann Czech’s beautiful miniature icon, the Kleines Café in central Vienna, where I bumped into none other than Mr Czech himself).

On Wednesday, meanwhile, I hopped on a preview tour of the upcoming Kanal-Centre Pompidou in Brussels. The Belgian capital has seen nothing like it – until November 2026, that is – when this significant (40,000 sq m) cultural destination will open, complete with an architecture centre, art galleries, public plazas, hospitality offerings and a playground by Assemble. Set in a former Citroën factory and showroom from the early 20th century, the building has been reimagined by a trio of collaborators: EM2N, noAarchitecten and Sergison Bates architects.

The project is nothing if not ambitious, and its authors are passionate about becoming an active and inclusive presence in the city’s urban realm. 'We are creating a museum where the centre of gravity won’t be the exhibitions,' said its managing director, Yves Goldstein, at a press conference held within the structure’s advanced building site. 'It will be the public space. We want to create a public space.'

A blues-beating ritual

Tianna Williams, staff writer

After what seems to be the longest January in history, I am grateful that we are inching closer to spring. Though the cold, wet months are not for the faint of heart, I have recently been trying to shift my perspective and embrace 'the cosy'. This includes journaling, sipping warm drinks and eating pastries in weather that can only be described as grim.

Central to this is a good candle (I have been thoroughly enjoying Ashley & Co’s Tui & Kahili scented candle, as well as their Coffee Date lip balm), your favourite mug (I love Nkuku), and blank pages on which to jot down your thoughts.

A world of craft

Anna Solomon, digital staff writer

A trip to Paris Design Week a couple of weeks ago yielded many beautiful destinations, but one stop has lingered: Astier de Villatte. Located on the Rue Saint-Honoré, just behind the Jardin des Tuileries, the boutique is an enchanting space devoted to ceramics, perfume and books. Astier de Villatte feels suspended in time, its old-world interior a higgledy-piggledy assemblage of objects that wouldn’t feel out of place on Diagon Alley.

The brand’s world also encompasses a letterpress printing atelier in l’Haÿ-les-Roses – one of the last in the world still printing books using lead – a publishing house and a perfume workshop. Founders Benoît Astier de Villatte and Ivan Pericoli have built its reputation almost entirely through word of mouth – relying on people who, like me, are so charmed by this shrine to craft and tradition that they can’t help but pass the story on.

A Portobello pit stop

Jamilah Rose-Roberts, social media editor

Last week, while wandering through Portobello in search of secondhand books and old cameras, the need to eat crept in slowly. Portobello has a way of doing that through all the walking and browsing. What I was craving was breakfast that felt solid and well made – somewhere I could sit, eat properly and carry on with the day.

Almost by accident, I stumbled upon Cleanse Juice Bar and Kitchen, a health café tucked neatly on the vibrant street, offering everything I was craving. The space is light-filled and unfussy, and the food leans into organic, fresh, carefully prepared ingredients.

Breakfast here feels super restorative. Vibrant bowls layered with seasonal fruit, grains and seeds arrive looking alive, with flavours that are clean and well balanced. The juices taste purposeful rather than sweetened – each one clearly built with care for the body. There is a sense that ingredients matter, that provenance is part of the pleasure. I recommend their Moroccan tea, which is delicious.

In a neighbourhood overflowing with choice, Cleanse Juice Bar and Kitchen feels dependable and consistent. If you are nearby and want a good breakfast, coffee, or buildable bowl, stop in – it is well worth it.

While the fortunes of the conventional auto show wax and wane – but mostly wane – the rearward-facing focus of Paris’ Rétromobile Show has never been in greater demand. 2026 marked the 50th anniversary of this classic car extravaganza, held at the city’s Expo Porte de Versailles (28 January – 1 February).

As well as the usual cluster of specialist restorers, high-end auction houses, memorabilia and spare-part stores, and longstanding enthusiasts’ organisations, the show featured a number of contemporary manufacturers.

The reason? Having a heritage is an important differentiator in a global car market dominated by brand-new names. The massed nameplates of China are making a substantial dent in the European car market.

Faced with bold design, new technology and unassailable prices, the old guard is fighting back by keeping one foot in the past. Peugeot was on hand to showcase the history of its soon-to-be-revived GTI nameplate, whereas Stellantis stablemate Citroën took a different tack.

Citroën’s display focused on the creativity of concept cars, highlighting the pipeline from design dreams to production reality. With eight key cars on display, dating all the way back to the 1939 Traction Avant 15-6 Cabriolet and including the recently released ELO Concept Car – making its French debut – Citroën is on a mission to reclaim its crown as both leftfield innovator and king of the mass market.

Admittedly, the pipeline analogy becomes a little more stretched in the modern era, where design and prototyping techniques allow for flights of fancy and fantasy that often go way beyond production realities.

To Citroën’s credit, some of the cars here, resplendent in their polychromatic 1980s and 1990s liveries, went on to influence key production models, although the rough and ready prototype of the 2CV, the 1939 2CV A, was more about engineering proof of concept than a statement of futuristic form.

The Traction Avant Cabriolet is one of only three prototypes, and is returning to the show after being exhibited at the very first Rétromobile in 1976. It’s joined by its 2CV A sibling, the pair making a remarkable statement about Citroën’s diversity of style in the late 1930s. Just four examples of this first series of 2CV survive.

With the ELO representing the modern day, the marque’s other concepts include the 1956 C 10, an exploration of aerodynamics in a teardrop-shaped form that wouldn’t look out of place in a Jacques Tati film.

The C 10 is starkly contrasted with Trevor Fiore's Citroën Karin, revealed at the 1980 Paris Motor Show. This brown wedge, with its three-abreast seating and pyramidal form, is perhaps the ultimate expression of 1970s-era design. Inside, the driver sits in the middle of a plushly carpeted cabin, with a multi-functional steering wheel and binnacle housing all the controls.

A few years later, Citroën was attempting to capitalise on its reputation for suspension innovation – the hydropneumatics system introduced in the legendary DS went on to define the company’s large cars for decades.

The 1988 Citroën Activa 1 marked the debut of ‘Hydractive’ suspension, which paired the original system with electronic control systems and went on to feature in the XM and Xantia models. The prototype was built by Bertone, a long-time collaborator, and was followed by 1990’s Activa 2.

The jazzy pastel hues and patterns of the Xanae mark it out as peak 1990s design. This lozenge-shaped minivan had a multifunctional interior and went on to influence the form and functionality of the original Citroën Xsara Picasso, launched in 1999.

The 2007 C-Cactus brings us practically to the modern era. The Cactus name made it to production as the C4 Cactus in 2014, sharing some of the concept’s stance and absence of conventional grille. The concept was a showcase for recycled materials, amongst other innovations, just as this decade’s Oli and ELO concepts have pointed to new manufacturing, material and layout arrangements.

‘For nearly 107 years, Citroën has continuously reinvented itself while remaining faithful to its fundamentals: meeting individual mobility needs, cultivating closeness with people, and offering comfort and design that are uniquely ours,’ Citroën’s CEO, Xavier Chardon, said before the show.

As well as bringing these models back into the public eye, the company also used Rétromobile to promote L’Aventure Citroën, a non-profit dedicated to company heritage. It’s where one goes to pick up spare parts, a Citroën toy and other merchandise, as well as engage knowledgeable restoration advice.

Citroën.com, @Citroën, Boutique-Laventure-Association.com, @CitroënHeritage, Retromobile.com

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