Paris Couture Week Opens with Surrealism and Innovation

Paris (JN) – Paris Couture Week kicked off with a vibrant display of imagination and craftsmanship, led by American designer Daniel Roseberry’s latest Schiaparelli collection. Known for its eccentric, theatrical approach, the show featured a densely feathered jacket with foot-high wings rising from the collar, reflecting a couture philosophy that thrives on audacity and artistic indulgence.

Couture, the designers emphasized, is not mere escapism but an exploration of possibility, a space where beauty, identity, and creativity collide. Roseberry’s work, along with debut collections from Chanel, Dior, and Valentino, demonstrated a spectrum of interpretation—from delicate nostalgia to bold experimentation—highlighting how contemporary designers balance tradition with reinvention.

The week also marked significant transitions within the fashion houses. Chanel and Dior introduced their first couture collections under new creative leadership, while Armani Privé and Valentino commemorated their founders’ legacies with posthumous tributes. These events underscored a broader narrative: Paris Couture Week remains both a crucible for emerging creativity and a site of historical reflection.

Schiaparelli Pushes Boundaries of Form and Fantasy

Roseberry’s Schiaparelli offered a surreal, playful vision of couture. Horns, feathers, and neon accents challenged conventional aesthetics while inviting viewers to imagine alternate identities and scenarios. Couture’s inherent theatricality allows designers to probe questions of desire, expression, and beauty, crafting garments that evoke curiosity as much as admiration.

Chanel’s Lightness and Precision

At Chanel, Matthieu Blazy presented a collection emphasizing airy elegance. Transparent silk mousseline dresses floated like memories of earlier designs, complemented by feathered layers and reinterpretations of classic Chanel staples, including the skirt suit and flap bag. A series of minimalist wool suits with subtle jewelry embellishments highlighted Blazy’s focus on refinement and thoughtful simplicity, reflecting a careful calibration of tradition and modern sensibility.

Dior’s “Cabinet of Curiosities”

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior collection, described as a “Wunderkammer,” blended structured silhouettes with ornamental details such as floral jewelry and miniature portrait brooches. Anderson’s approach, following a divisive menswear show earlier in the month, reinforced his experimental ethos. While some garments abstracted the body to extreme proportions, the overall presentation showcased Dior’s commitment to theatricality and imaginative storytelling, appealing particularly to younger couture buyers.

Valentino’s Cinematic Reverie

Alessandro Michele’s Valentino collection drew inspiration from early 20th-century kaiser panoramas, staging shows in intimate circular settings. Ensembles evoked 1930s Hollywood glamour with feathered headdresses, batwing sleeves, and playful incongruities, creating a sense of costume-like escapism. Michele described the work as an intersection of fantasy and reality, aiming to transport viewers through tactile, dreamlike experiences that mirrored the emotional impact of cinema.

Bridging Heritage and Modernity

Across the week, designers grappled with the tension between historical reference and contemporary interpretation. Chanel and Dior balanced modern silhouettes with traditional craftsmanship, while Schiaparelli and Valentino emphasized spectacle and narrative. The result was a couture landscape that reaffirmed Paris as a hub for both technical mastery and conceptual daring, where heritage and innovation coexist in dialogue.

Paris Couture Week’s opening thus reflected a spectrum of approaches, from delicate reminiscence to avant-garde experimentation. Designers invited audiences to navigate between fantasy and reality, imagination and structure, reaffirming the city’s role as the global epicenter of haute couture.