The school holidays had barely begun and I was already sweating through my third outfit change of the day. Between ferrying the children to various activities and trying to look halfway presentable for meetings, the news that Paris was in the grip of a heatwave felt like a personal insult. Yet there, in the middle of it all, the city's haute couture week carried on with the sort of quiet dignity that makes you pause.
From 6 to 9 July, the Fall/Winter 2026/2027 collections unfolded. Schiaparelli and Christian Dior showed on the first day, Chanel followed, then Balenciaga. Other houses including Standing Ground, Manish Malhotra, Robert Wun, Iris van Herpen and Georges Hobeika brought their own perspectives. The official schedule felt like a quiet assertion that some traditions refuse to bend.
What struck me most was the simple fact that these are custom, handmade designs. Hundreds of hours of work go into a single piece. In an age where fast fashion churns out trends by the hour, this feels almost defiant. You cannot 3D-print the kind of precision these artisans bring. It is slow. It is expensive. And it is rooted in skills passed down through generations of European craftsmanship.
The heat did not help. Temperatures soared while models and guests moved between venues. Yet the shows went ahead. There is something rather British about that stiff-upper-lip determination, even if it is happening in France. We all recognise the value of doing things properly, even when conditions are less than ideal.
New hands at the helm
Several big houses marked new chapters. Pierpaolo Piccioli presented his first couture collection for Balenciaga. Jonathan Anderson made his couture debut for Dior. Matthieu Blazy did the same for Chanel. Duran Lantink showed for Jean Paul Gaultier. Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli described his collection as
a total surrender to an unknown creative process. That phrase stayed with me. There is humility in admitting that true creation sometimes feels beyond our control.
Celebrities turned up, of course. Cardi B appeared at the Robert Wun and Rahul Mishra presentations, adding her own larger-than-life energy to the front row. Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter and others joined the crowd. Their presence reminds us that even the most rarefied fashion still speaks to a wider world.