Fashion

We bring you all the latest from Paris Fashion Week. For Weinsanto, audacity is about finding a lightness, as embodied by the LGBTQ+ community. At Issey Miyake, it's about sensuality rooted in the Japanese concept of Ma, the space that bridges the gap between fabric and skin. It's a similar story at Yohji Yamamoto who, at 83, is still on the hunt for emotions.

Some couturiers get to modernise houses owned by luxury groups. Among them is Duran Lantink, who draws on Jean Paul Gaultier's ballet-costume era for his inspiration. Independent houses, by contrast, must create from scratch. Iris van Herpen turns to science. Rahul Mishra finds inspiration in the beauty of Hindu goddesses. Imane Ayissi pays tribute to his late mother. Finally, Kevin Germanier keeps celebrating the most desirable approach to recycling imaginable.

In the world of fashion, Haute Couture has a place all its own. Found nowhere else on earth, it is a distinctly French phenomenon. Both experimental and full of symbolism, Haute Couture sometimes looks unflinchingly at what is currently rattling the planet and puts our contemporary anxieties and fears on display. This edition features the Dutch duo Viktor & Rolf, Japan's Yuima Nakazato, the quintessentially Parisian Stéphane Rolland and the divine Adeline André.

As rising populism threatens freedom of expression, designers can no longer look away. Yohji Yamamoto rages, with clothes scorched by the sun. Issey Miyake celebrates the power of shadow. Jeanne Friot indicts the politicians. The Institut Français de la Mode urges its students to push beyond limits. KML, the Saudi-born label, dismantles Western dress codes. All of them are asking the same question: what does fashion propose for a livable future?

Is fashion still subversive? The answer is yes, with the extraordinarily named Matières Fécales label. At Yohji Yamamoto, it's yes, but more delicately. Satoshi Kondo for Issey Miyake, meanwhile, advocates for movement without constraints. Historian-performer Olivier Saillard elevates everyday clothing with his Living Fashion Museum. Lilia Litkovska, from Ukraine, draws inspiration from her war-torn country. And Ludovic Winterstan, for La Fabrique Nomade, believes it's high time we accepted each other, wherever our country of origin.

Wars, conflicts, the rise of populism, and the meteoric advance of artificial intelligence – in a world full of uncertainty, how and why can we continue to create new fashion collections? Students from the French Fashion Institute (IFM), along with emerging designers Weinsanto, Pressiat, Maitrepierre, and Alain Paul, share their perspectives. As Xavier Romatet, IFM’s Director General, says: fashion should show the world not as it is, but as we would like it to be.

Across the discipline, designers are breathing fresh perspectives into Haute Couture. Kevin Germanier repurposes Berluti outfits worn by the French Olympic team. Stéphane Rolland encourages model Farnoush Hamidian to talk out about her native Iran. Julien Fournié extols the virtues of diversity. Yuima Nakazato battles AI with dresses made of ceramics. Charlie le Mindu makes masterpieces from hair. Finally, Imane Ayissi expresses his African identity through an unveiling of the creative process. 

For some designers, fashion is less about clothes themselves, and more about what those clothes can convey. They see fashion as primarily a political endeavour, a means of challenging a status quo that too often seeks to erase the individual for the alleged benefit of the social order. They champion diversity, gender fluidity and disruption. Jeanne Friot, Walter van Beirendonck, Ahmed Hassan, Louis-Gabriel Nouchi, Yohji Yamamoto and Willy Chavarria are among the group's most outspoken voices. FRANCE 24 checks out their latest collections.

This special report zooms in on the smaller fashion houses that sparkled during Paris Fashion Week. Vincent Pressiat, like Victor Weinsanto, looked to the past, when the king's favourites ruled the roost. Alain Paul recalled his first auditions as a young dancer. Ukrainian Lilia Litkovska is still designing, despite the war. Last but not least, Afro-Caribbean designers were celebrated at the Paris edition of Togo's International Fashion Festival.

Raising awareness about the fragility of our oceans, our land and our Indigenous heritage is the challenge facing a new generation of couturiers. For autumn-winter 2025/26, Iris van Herpen has created a living dress, Imane Ayissi wants the Earth to regenerate naturally, Grace Lillian Lee is celebrating her Australian ancestors and Stéphane Rolland has opened up a dialogue with music. As for Clara Daguin, her motto is: if you want to save others, first save yourself.