Although the season’s shows in New York, London, and Milan have already concluded, Paris Fashion Week may be the last stop on the fashion circuit’s global tour. However, the event’s extensive nine-day schedule, which includes some of the industry’s most renowned names, suggests that there will be plenty more to come before Louis Vuitton wraps up shop on October 1.
Most significantly, after leaving Gucci in November 2022 after a highly regarded and financially successful run, Italian designer Alessandro Michele will stage his eagerly awaited debut runway show for Valentino. It remains to be seen if he will bring the eclectic, maximalist flair that characterized his Gucci collections to the Roman house, but there will undoubtedly be a lot of romance and spectacle (be sure to watch the front row; he was well-known for his group of starlets at Gucci, which included Lana Del Rey and Harry Styles). The performance is scheduled on September 29 in the afternoon.
Eyes were on Dries Van Noten on Wednesday, as the brand held its first show since the departure of its namesake designer. Later in the week, attention will shift to Chanel, where the appointment of a creative director is still pending (Givenchy is not on the schedule; Sarah Burton will debut there next year). A number of other well-known brands are showcasing alongside them, including as Loewe, where Jonathan Anderson performed a “radical act of reduction” on Friday morning. However, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, and Balenciaga have not yet made their debuts.
Here, fashion features editor Jack Moss of Wallpaper* selects the best of Paris Fashion Week S/S 2025 live from Paris.
The best of Paris Fashion Week S/S 2025
McQueen
The second McQueen show by Seán McGirr was held at the École des Beaux-Arts. The set looked like the conventional tiled floor had been cut away to reveal a runway made of steel that ran down the middle. As the show started, the runway lit up and filled with smoke, which was a part of an installation that Tom Scutt had commissioned. The collection, which McGirr claimed started with stories of the screeching banshee he had learned from his mother while growing up in Ireland, was set against a backdrop of runway theatrics, an homage to the kind that have long been a feature of British houses. It had also served as an influence for Lee McQueen, who used it as a spring/summer 1994 collection for his darkly romantic “Banshee” show at London’s Café de Paris.The designer declared, “The banshee has its roots in McQueen’s history.” “She now symbolizes something real and powerful for me: the idea of someone who is open and sensitive and who can be viewed as a guiding force.”
The first detail was the tailoring, which was gathered and crumpled at the front as though the wearer had gripped it close to keep out the weather. Meanwhile, other coats were cut open to display tulle that had been roughly collected. A more ceremonial flourish, such as large collars and military-style jackets, offered a regal backdrop to the rough-cut tulle that was used throughout, including more ethereal skirts that appeared to have been hacked along the edges. Although McQueen acknowledged after the show that he didn’t have a full season to prepare for (his debut came after just 10 weeks of labor), a number of gowns, particularly the dramatic closing look, which was constructed entirely of metal chains and crystals, showed that the atelier was used more this season.The prolonged preparation paid off: this was the designer’s more refined, commercially astute collection, full of intriguing and enticing pieces. The more raw strength of Lee McQueen’s work, an acceptance of the extreme that keeps his archive so powerful, was, however, something it missed somewhat.
Hermès
A sequence of panelled panels that resembled blank canvases before paint has been applied by an artist served as the exhibition setting for Hermès’ most recent womenswear collection. According to Nadège Vanhée, the concept of process was central to this season’s designs, an attempt to convey the unique allure of the atelier—the setting where envisioned or sketched clothing is brought to life. In the comments that went with the painting, she explained, “Where canvas meets brushstroke, where paper meets pencil, where raw material meets the tool wrought and refined over generations.” The result was a collection of lightness, a methodical assembling of sensual layers: cropped jackets and pleated trousers came in the lightest of leather, semi-sheer knits exposed almost sporty undergarments underneath, and skirts and jumpsuits had zips running the full length of the side seam.Later pieces evoked the atmosphere of an artist at work: rich pink flushes, silk shirts with graphic prints that twisted (she described the design as “between stamping and etching”), and a series of elaborate dresses that gave the impression that hundreds of leather and bead pieces had been stitched into knitwear. Vanhée’s greatest talent was summed up in the notes as “The paradox of lightness through craftsmanship,” which explained that even though each item requires hundreds of hours of work, the finished product is always effortless.
Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood
Following his quest for “beauty and joy” and concentrating only on womenswear for this season’s show, Andreas Kronthaler explored femininity, albeit with a twist in the eccentric style of the designer. “Ultra feminine and elegant in the most traditional sense,” he said. The neckline is most important. Sexiness with a brain! Models walked seductively through the corridors of seating, posing coyly on white pillars, a play on department store shows from the 1980s. The scene was set in a former store on Paris’ Place de la République (the collection notes referenced its history of revolution, a founding principle of Vivienne Westwood’s own approach to fashion).The selection this season had a lightness to it: dainty knits cut on the bias hung loosely on the body, and light tulle dresses in Westwood’s characteristic bombshell design were softly sprinkled with crystals. White poplin dresses were surprisingly simple, while crinoline skirts appeared in a buttery yellow that Kronthaler referred to as “washed out.” Though the designer’s outing was surprisingly restrained after last season’s yodelling spectacular (which included a staff-wielding Sam Smith), the die-hard fans, who gathered in the venue and on the street outside, will be pleased with the bold headwear, which includes enormous shocks of tulle and straw hats covered in crystals.
Junya Watanabe
The dazzling disco tones of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love served as an early morning wake-up call, making for an exuberant start to the day at Junya Watanabe. It set the tone for a brief but charming display of futuristic, cyborg glamour, in which silhouettes reminiscent of mid-century couture—Cristián Balenciaga’s envelope dress, for example, appeared to be referenced—as well as gowns with flared waists and opera coats that clung to the body were reinvented in nylon backpacks, motorcycle apparel, or materials reminiscent of parachutes. Watanabe referred to these unexpected embellishments as “modern recycled materials,” and they included shimmering reflective stripes, clip fastenings, technical straps, and even the padding used to soundproof a recording studio.Additional clothing items, such as short dresses and jackets with broad shoulders, were made from sewed fabric strips that looped around the body to create a futuristic appearance. As it came to a close, model Irina Shayk was seen tearing up the runway in an off-the-shoulder gown fashioned from protective motorcycle apparel in the vein of Junya Watanabe techno-couture.
Victoria Beckham
For Victoria Beckham, it was back into the woods as she decided to host her most recent presentation at Château de Bagatelle, a royal misstep located in the expansive forested park of Bois de Boulogne, on the eastern edge of Paris. The scene was set for drama: an enormous curved-roof tent had been set up in the château grounds, and guests had wandered up to the showspace through a series of candlelit paths in the evening darkness. The air was even filled with the scent of her most recent fragrance, 21:50 Rêverie, a heady reminder of an evening spent on the Indonesian island of Java. According to Beckham, the collection was evocative and explored the routine of dressing and undressing. Models emerged from the entryway of the château and onto the runway. ‘[Believing] that the closet serves as both a place for dressing and undressing… The collection notes detailed observing the physical interaction between skin and clothes.Later in the collection, the tailoring was cut away and disassembled to reveal the body underneath. The opening looks included cloth thrown over the skin as though doused with water. Another interesting idea was a line of semi-sheer dresses with architectural looping wires beneath the surface; based on the star-studded guest list for the evening, these gowns will definitely have some red carpet moments. With sales up 52% last year and a Netflix documentary in the works, it’s encouraging to see Beckham stick with his label experimentation. It’s a risk that appears to be paying off so far. Without a doubt, this runway display will take center stage.
Loewe
Jonathan Anderson referred to his most recent Loewe collection, which was displayed in a specially built white box on the grounds of the famed Château de Vincennes, as an act of “radical reduction.” Violin sonata sheet music was used to embellish its eaves, and inside, a little miniature bird acted as a totem by standing in the center of the circular area. According to the notes, the piece was created in 2017 by British artist Tracey Emin, who asked viewers to “imagine the bird’s imminent flight, and ultimately its freedom.” Regarding the musical allusions, which include sheet music, birdsong, and rock star-style merchandise with Bach, Mozart, and Chopin’s faces later in the collection, Anderson expressed his curiosity in the question: “Is it possible to fill an empty white room, commanding attention, without shouting for space?”
Anderson has minimal issue establishing command over a space. This was yet another collection full of ideas: shimmering structured jackets were adorned with shards of shell, reminiscent of the exteriors of lacquered boxes, while featherweight dresses were built over undulating cages that bounced and bobbed down the runway in perpetual movement (the inspiration was “some very strange pre-war American sets” which he found in a vintage store, here made far lighter in construction). He claimed that feathers were a tribute to haute couture techniques, which had become a focus in recent collections, and that the trousers’ twisted draping created an exaggerated, louche form. “Historically, tailoring was something Loewe wasn’t good at for a long time, but I think we’ve been able to do it right, and come up with a kind of signature,” the designer added of the latter, which he had been working on for several seasons.
Van Gogh’s paintings, which included Sunflowers and Irises, two of his most well-known pieces, were included in other pieces. According to Anderson, they are so commonplace that he constantly notices them on tea towels and canvases on the stalls that border the Seine while traveling to work. “We burn out the image because we become so accustomed to them that they become a kind of high-low culture,” he remarked. From this stance, they evolved into a fresh idea, laboriously redoing the feathers. He then on, “But even so, we are always drawn to them in a magnetic way.” Even though we don’t comprehend it, there’s something that we want to be a part of. Similar charm can be found in Anderson’s work at Loewe; it’s always alluring, even in its weird moments. Following the performance, he explained that he was trying to convey the sensation of entering a pitch-black space before your eyes acclimate: “It’s the idea of the eye going into focus.” The crowd, who rose to a rare standing ovation at the close of the show, recognized that this was a vision for Loewe that was crisper than ever.
Issey Miyake
In his most recent endeavor for Issey Miyake, designer Satoshi Kondo, who was born in Kyoto, turned his attention to the age-old art of crafting washi paper, a traditional Japanese paper created from hemp or wood bark that is used for garments, decorations, and origami due to its relative durability. With a floor gently creased to mimic washi paper and stools made from rolls of paper leftover from the heat-pressing of the brand’s signature knife pleats (which are usually sent straight to recycling, but for the showspace they were sliced to size for guests to sit on), Kondo and his team created an all-white scene in a glass-box-like space situated in a lush green garden in eastern Paris. After months of trial and error, Kondo and his team collaborated with craftsmen at the Awagami Factory in Tokushima Prefecture, southwest Japan, to create clothing in hemp washi paper for the collection. One such item is a softly crinkled coat that, with deft pattern cutting, folds into a perfectly flat rectangle.
In other places, washi yarn was deftly woven with other materials, and jackets and dresses were finished with elaborate origami-like details thanks to paper folding and manipulation techniques. In the meantime, the collection’s knitwear—one pair of pants had “double legholes,” suggesting that two people might wear them at once—and its paper-bag-style handbags, which were filled with flowers and baguettes for the show, embodied a playful spirit. Water served as another inspiration, according to Kondo, as washi paper requires a lot of water to create. This resulted in the creation of flowing, draped silhouettes, some of which looped over the head like veils.
Rick Owens
Visitors were advised that the Rick Owens performance, which was taking place on the open-air forecourt of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, would happen rain or shine. The warning followed two days of nonstop rain that, miraculously, stopped right before the event was about to start. For a brief while, the sun even broke through the clouds. Cleverly named Hollywood (like to the menswear show that took place earlier this summer), it was an attempt to find camaraderie and hope in the midst of what Owens referred to as the “peak intolerance we are experiencing in the world right now.” Similar to the menswear show, he assembled a group of nearby art students to represent the collection. He claimed this was a reaction to the closeness of his previous womenswear event, which took place in his Paris residence. He also included underground luminaries like Alannah Starr and Kristina Nagel, alluding to the “weirdos and freaks” he encountered in Hollywood, having fled his small-town of Porterville, California, for Los Angeles when he was a young man. “This time around, I wanted to welcome everyone because I felt bad about making attendance so restricted after showing in the house last season,” he stated.
His diverse ensemble was dressed in classic Owensian styles, ranging from operatic cloaks and monastic draped dresses (some of which scrunched sculpturally about the body) to rugged zip-covered jackets and dramatic frilled capes that he jokingly dubbed “megafrilled donut shrugs.” At the conclusion, figures dressed in black cloth released white confetti from the top of the Palais de Tokyo, symbolizing the celebration of what Owens referred to as “unity and reliance on one and more.”
Chloé
The lighthearted, bohemian style that the German designer characterized as having “natural beauty, [a] sense of freedom and undone-ness… the glow, the radiance and the energy” was carried over into Chemena Kamali’s second collection for Chloé. It’s a tone that works well for summer, with Kamali evoking a carefree picture of warm-weather attire in sheer bodysuits and puff-sleeve tops, billowing gowns with frills, and negligee skirts fastened at the shoulder with bows. A more sinuous line was struck in bodysuits reminiscent of Henley underwear or shaping swimwear finished with the obligatory Chloé ruffle, while romantic cuffs were collected to create a floating volume. This season’s colors felt brighter than previous ones; there were more vibrant flushes of raspberry and blue in addition to tones of white, beige, and apricot. “This very intimate, sensual, and personal way of dressing is guided by feelings and intuition, and that’s what matters to me,” Kamali said. “By starting with the essence of Chloé’s roots, I wanted to create new foundations and capture that fantasy moment of the summer months when you reconnect with yourself. I wanted to capture that longing for summer and the way summer makes you feel.”
Acne Studios
Jonathan Lyndon Chase, a Philadelphia-based artist, arranged an assortment of objects for Acne Studios’ most recent exhibition. The objects included recycled sofas, cabinets, and armchairs from LeBonCoin, adorned with the artist’s dynamic and innocent motifs. The artist told Wallpaper* that the “messy, complicated” domestic scene was an attempt to explore “emotions and the body, and how they affect the space around you.” The twisted household scenery served as the inspiration for this collection. “I questioned if traditional home norms could truly be incorporated into fashion,” said Jonny Johansson, creative director of Acne Studios.
The collection itself riffed on household materials like tablecloths, curtains, and upholstery and reimagined them in the brand’s distinctively contemporary style. Pieces like the enormous bows on draped dresses and the tacky floral motifs on peep-toe boots were examples of how the collection promised a surreal “glimpse between closed doors and curtains” that was both “domestic and alien.” The proportions of the collection were also intriguing: some pieces had holes or reduced in size, suggesting they had been used and laundered for years, while the tailoring seemed as though it had been inflated. In the meantime, gowns made from stacks of various textiles, like to abandoned apparel, evoked an odd allure.
Rabanne
Julien Dossena stated in an interview with Wallpaper* last year that his collections start with the materials, giving his staff the assignment to experiment with texture, fabric, and adornment before even the first garment is designed or manufactured. As founder Paco Rabanne put it in 1966, “I defied anyone to design a hat, coat, or dress that hasn’t been done before… the only new frontier left in fashion is the finding of new materials,” Dossena stated this captures the essence of the brand. The staples of an everyday wardrobe, such as striped cotton shirts, cable-knit sweaters, bomber jackets, and lace-trimmed slip dresses, were reimagined in Dossena’s latest collection, which was shown on a gloomy Parisian afternoon. For instance, the gleaming cable-knit was “frosted” across its surface, and the guipere lace was “foiled” to otherworldly effect. With the title “Material Girls,” it encapsulated “an interplay of casual and decadent,” according to Dossena.
Three different iterations of Paco Rabanne’s chainmail 1969 handbag, which was initially inspired by the traditional steel aprons worn by French butchers, were on display towards the end of the presentation. Dossena undertook his own metamorphosis at the same time that the couturier—who was partially influenced by Marcel Duchamp’s readymades—had turned the commonplace into an object of desire. These were about as precious as they got: one was made by Venini, a Venice-based glassblower; another was made by Astier de Villatte, a ceramics manufacturer; and the last one was made by Maison Arthus Bertrand, a manufacturer of medals. Made of gold and requiring more than 300 hours of labor, it was labeled the “world’s most expensive bag.” Dossena attributed this to Paco Rabanne’s 1968 creation of the “world’s most expensive dress,” which was encrusted in diamonds and gold, and was made for house muse Françoise Hardy.
Dries Van Noten
The Antwerp-based design team’s first collection since Dries Van Noten’s eponymous business closure in June of this year was a respectful debut that echoed the designer’s signature process of “assessing, admiring, and reinterpreting,” as the collection’s notes explained. Thus, there were moments of romantic embellishment, diaphanous silk skirts and dresses, lush, sequinned overcoats, and louche, mannish tailoring. An opulent palette, inspired by an archive S/S 1997 collection, featured clashing prints, ranging from rich florals to those reminiscent of animal skins, along with an earthy brown color scheme and vivid shots of orange, lime green, and turquoise. Though this pleasing collection was described by the brand as “the freedom of wandering for a brief time,” it couldn’t help but raise questions about what the Belgian label will do next and whether a new designer is already in the works.
Courrèges
Thousands of small balls flowed back and forth over a giant tilting disk at Nicolas Di Felice’s most recent Courrèges show; in the early morning slot, it had a meditative effect. The concept of the “infinite loop,” which was alluded to in the show’s invitation—a metal Möbius band—piqued the designer’s interest this season, he said. The Belgian designer articulated the mantra “repetition, revolution, renewal,” which was personified in the first look of the show—a hooded neoprene cocoon coat that enclosed the model’s hands. Di Felice drew inspiration from a 1962 haute couture cape by Andre Courrèges for her collection, which featured pieces that could be worn as a single item yet looked like two (a bandeau bra top and halterneck dress, for instance). In other places, the designer refined his sleek, sensual vision for Courrèges through the use of split denim, bonded tailoring, and rectangular bra tops that appeared to levitate magically over the models’ chests. Di Felice referred to this as an act of sartorial “architecture,” which persisted throughout the collection’s final looks.
Saint Laurent
Anthony Vaccarello chose to present his most recent collection at Saint Laurent’s Rue de Bellechasse headquarters on Paris’ Left Bank, the same venue where he held the house’s inaugural show eight years earlier. This was a full circle moment and a relative lifetime spent in the fashion industry as a designer at major houses. The runway was circular as well—a massive golden circle that hovered above a vibrant blue runway and was exposed to the elements as Paris raindrops poured through during the performance. According to Vaccarello, he choose the color to resemble the blue of the gardens of Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, the founder of the house’s adopted hometown.
It prepared the audience for Vaccarello’s most direct homage to Yves Saint Laurent to date. The collection featured a trail of gender-swapped Saint Laurent doppelgängers, including Bella Hadid, who made her highly anticipated runway comeback after a two-year break. The suit was a wide-cut, fluid tailored suit, typically worn double-breasted and with a tie. The other half of the collection, on the other hand, aimed to recall the wealthy Saint Laurent woman in all her guises. It featured rich, sensual tones, a boho ruffled dress hung with wooden beads, lavish jacquard jackets, and flourishes of lace. After eight years, it produced one of Vaccarello’s most sought-after collections to date: a tailleur and flou exercise that reinterpreted the house’s history in the unique and sensuous style of the Belgian designer.
“Saint Laurent, with its ideal woman more complex than the seductive perfection of classic muses, is the house most associated with a quintessential female archetype,” Vaccarello stated in the collection notes. It’s possible that Yves Saint Laurent once declared, “I am the Saint Laurent woman.”
Dior
The inspiration for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s most recent Dior ready-to-wear collection came from her A/W 2024 couture show, which took place earlier this summer on the grounds of the Musée Rodin in Paris (the show was staged there today afternoon instead of its customary setting in the Tuileries). At the time, Paris was on the verge of an Olympic summer. Chiuri was inspired by the ‘peplos,’ an ancient Greek garment created from a single piece of cloth that was folded at the waist, and he was paying homage to the classical origins of the games. Her S/S 2025 ready-to-wear collection was teased with a video showing the designer touring the Roman Antiquities gallery at the Louvre. She summoned the mythological Amazons, a group of female warriors who appeared in epic poems ranging from the Iliad to the Argonautica, a tribe of women who were forbidden from living among men and whose sons were returned to their fathers. Christian Dior’s 1951–1952 autumn–winter Amazone outfit, which was inspired by a group of French female horseriders (the word “Amazone” comes from the Gallic word for “side saddle”), served as the connection to the historic mansion. The outfit represents “a strength of spirit, a reference point for the notion of an autonomous, courageous femininity,” according to Chiuri.
The theme was a good fit for Chiuri’s vision for the Parisian company, which is all about designing clothes for and inspired by strong, independent women while including romantic and mythological elements. Sofia Ginevra Giannì, also known as Sagg Napoli, is a multidisciplinary Italian artist and archer. She opened the show by walking the runway with a bow slung over her shoulder and dressed in a look reminiscent of a gladiator’s uniform. She then set up in a Perspex corridor and fired shots at an eye-shaped target (the artist also designed the show’s set). The subsequent looks maintained the sleek, sporty vibe: elongated mesh dresses, crisscrossing asymmetric bodysuits and dresses that evoked swimwear, lace-up boxing boots and sneakers, racing grid motifs, go-faster stripes, and utility nylon shirts that later in the show evoked professional shooters and archers. Meanwhile, layers of translucent organza and tulle, plissé skirts, shimmering tassels, and nipped-waist tailoring—which was primarily off the shoulder to mirror the collection’s asymmetrical line—brought the necessary romantic vibe that is still important to the Dior company. The outcome, according to Chiuri, was an investigation into the relationship between the body, movement, and clothing. In doing so, it established a connection to her very first house collection, which she created in 2016 and was inspired by the uniforms of female fencers, almost ten years earlier.
