Fashion Weeks SS26 - 8 Things we loved
This fashion month, marking the presentation of the Spring/Summer 2026 collections, was definitely a season of changes. As new creative directors took the helm at some of the world’s most influential houses, the industry seemed to hold its collective breath. Demna for Gucci – would Piccioli step into his footsteps at Balenciaga? – J.W. Anderson bringing as high hopes for Dior as Matthieu Blazy for a new Chanel. Loewe, Marni, Margiela, Bottega Veneta. There was not only one highly expected and then equally discussed new collection, there were as many as we hadn’t seen in a good while. So how to even pick favorites? Whether one participated in the reigniting dialogue about where fashion is heading or simply enjoyed the ride of surprises – the good and the bad ones – it was hard to know where to look first.
Transition also happened on a personal level for me. A little dream came true and for the first time I actually spent fashion week in Paris, my new chosen home.
So I can’t but start this very personal list of things I loved with these two favorites: the changes and the general vibe.
If you don’t know me, I am Luise Oliviya – marketing specialist, fashion enthusiast and art director. During my almost 10 years as a creative whirlwind on agency side, I also freelanced as model, photographer, personal stylist and producer in Europe and South America.
The vibe
If you hear fashion week, you maybe think of front row at the shows, fancy PR dinners and brand sponsorships – all while being followed around by your personal photographer.
While this is reality for some and absolutely legit to keep on our goals board, there is also some FW fun for us little enthusiast but not top-level connected ones :)
Spontaneously met friends to groove to Peggy Gou live tunes at The French Bastard’s bakery – free pastries included.
From pop up stores, over brunch DJ sets, open atelier days and public watch shows to just enjoying the general vibe and the dressing up game the cities submerge into: Being around during the chicest weeks of the year is an experience on its own!
I by the way made an Instagram post sharing some of the side events I attended and how my day looked like. A little extra challenge in my case was that I did so after just having found my apartment – hence in a basically empty flat and with that one suitcase I have been living out of for the last six months. But they say limits raise your creativity…
2. All the changes
Okay, we got it. Fashion week is fun on its own already. But what did actually happen on the runways and with the big houses? A lot. And I said it above: mainly a lot of change. And while context and specifics of this season’s exceptionally dance-willing chairs can be found all over fashion outlets and beyond, I want to focus on two small Hows that could be noticed.
Most popular one is probably the Dior logo update. Picture central Paris Tuileries gardens (this season’s secret not so secret show location) suddenly showing a huge banner with D-i-o-r – minor letters!!! – when building up the venue that was to host the hand selected number of celebrities, house friends and buyers. No major previous PR announcements, just a soft launch of a back to the roots move, introduced during the show itself.
On the right: A very much crowded Dior show venue on October 1st
Gucci, for its turn, welcoming Demna, deleted their whole Instagram archive, leaving only the few recent posts related to the new creative direction. Burning its ships with the (recent?) past indeed.
3. Fashion in Bloom
It is one of my favorite fashion trends of the last times. Woven into my visual identity ever since, I could only hope they were here to stay. Flowers in all forms: printed, embroidered, applied. And I wasn’t disappointed!
While I usually don’t consider Gucci as a core part of my references, lilies are. And props to who decided to match them to black tie. Well, probably it was Demna himself or his stylist following his creative guidelines – I should research this better before talking about it. And a big yes to having them grow on oversized snake skin jackets (the leather only fake please). This one is actually a Gucci item that did make it to my wishlist.
Can we ever get enough of these?
Below the floral details shown at Chanel SS26 by Matthieu Blazy (images from Chanel website).
4. Iced Blue and Sauge
Now it happens from time to time, I’d say about once a season, that a trend surfaces that we all feel we’ve predicted. I do have my own theory as of why so – and it goes beyond famous movie press tours but works on the same line as reading the Zeitgeist and continuing to spin the story – but this season most of us would agree for it to be iced blue. Or ice melt, ether and dutch canal as Pantone officially calls them.
I mean, it was meant to happen. We all needed a contrasting color to match the all shades of brown era we are collectively refusing to quit. Not too warm, not too strong since we’re still not living enthusiastic times – such wouldn’t show through analogue filtered instagram feeds anyhow – but one that matches both futuristic minimalism, elf and cyberpunk core variants and their influences on fashion, the pilates outfits and most of our skin undertones.
And as a retro romance girly with art nouveau at its heart, soft shades of cool blues can be found in my velvet curtains, the pastel hues of antique glass vases on my Catawiki wishlist, the skies in the oil paintings of my favorite Parisian bar and the silk upholsteries at Saint Ouen vintage markets.
Last but not least we all know we aren’t yet ready to let go of early 00s references and what else to craft our straight semi-sheer dresses from or to match our meticulously painted but effortlessly worn dark-red-mocha-degradé lips?
Or is it only me looking for an excuse to bring Courrèges onto this list? Although their shade of turquoise blue does fall among the more saturated and warmer ones.
Ok, here’s the proof it’s not me, it’s not only Courrèges.
T’will definitely be yet another cool girls summer, at least from a color palette perspective. And with 30 degrees in Paris we’re down for it (show reference, go watch the Courrèges show! No, read until the end, then go watch it lol lol).
And then there’s Sauge who’s been here before and, luckily so, continues around, replacing, as it seems, bit by bit the darker and stronger moss and grass greens, traditionally attached to the colder seasons but with a surprising center role last spring. Maybe it is for the same reasons as the faded blues, maybe it is one of these appearances that just start somewhere and then it’s hard to pinpoint the whys – true is: make it slightly pastel and it’s even more on trend. Personally, with all my set of references and as a cool and muted toned season, I couldn’t welcome it more!
Whatever shade of green you choose – neither our beloved flower prints, nor the dreamy boho vibes à la Chloé live without it.
5. Brazilian Brands
We all don’t really know when and how it started, but Rio’s beaches, Havaianas inspired sandals and Byredo’s Alto Astral scent somehow seemed to have flooded every It-Girl’s moodboard lately.
Let’s be honest: Brazil’s lifestyle has conquered TikTok, our playlists and even Paris urban beaches this summer.
So why not add some local clothing brands to it? With long-time Latina favorites such as PatBo and Catarina Mina debuting at Europe’s fashion week programms, Elle Brasil hosting its gala nowhere less than the Ritz Paris and Farm, Granado and Kenner already being well-known shopping destinations from The Marais to Soho, it’s about time to atualizar our list of wardrobe faves!
Hands down, how could we not?!
6. The Negligé Dress
More romantic than the plain sheer dress, less heavy than broderie anglaise and endlessly versatile. Be it elaborately layered or seemingly effortlessly kept on from soft mornings at home – streetstyle’s got a new favorite: the negligé dress.
And once again, we didn’t need runways to convince us, we knew it way before. But we love some additional inspirations and the legitimization of telling even the doubtful conservative coworker that yes, Calvin Klein reassured us this was a valid option of a dress. Not that we needed his approval (neither the coworker’s, nor the designer’s!), but we love the Clueless moment à la Alicia Silverstone.
Ladies and obviously also the fashion-conscious gentlemen, if you haven’t tried it yet, I welcome you to indulge yourselves into this whole new universe of options by matching, layering and reinventing a sheer, lace-decorated piece of nothing as if it was the new forgot-my-pants-shorts. Which by the way are also still running very strong.
„It’s 2025, if it’s in your wardrobe, it doesn’t need a specific moment of the day to be worn!“
7. The New Chanel’s fabrics
Oh what would style be without texture?
And what would texture be without inspiration from nature? And also very important: without true and innovative craftmanship?
While no one is obliged to like everything just because it is new or because it was presented by one of the major houses or even by a promising designer, let’s take a minute to honor real savoir-faire and a great example of reinvention: the relecture of Chanel Tweed by Creative Director Matthieu Blazy.
8. Atelier Collabs
That’s why lastly, I want to dedicate a paragraph to the many….l
Innovation doesn’t always happen in-house.
Yes, an ode to the creative directors who include collabs with small tech and design ateliers. But let’s also be honest: do the latter actually get the recognition they deserve?
