Paris Fashion Week shimmered under golden lights, with a river of metallic looks, A-list front rows and theatrical stages drawing eyes even as the industry assesses shifting fortunes.
Saint Laurent set the tone with a glossy black outdoor runway washed in gold from towering chandeliers, the Eiffel Tower glowing beyond. Catherine Deneuve, Kate Moss, Hailey Bieber and Rami Malek watched as gold dominated the narrative. Elsewhere, Jennifer Lopez braved the rain at Stella McCartney’s garden show, and Rihanna supported boundary-pushing Matières Fécales.
Despite financial jitters, Paris showed it can still marshal spectacle. Midway through the spring-summer 2027 calendar, three threads emerged: big-screen glamour, a revealing rethink of dressing, and couture-level craft applied to everyday pieces, as labels ask who they are designing for.
Recent market moves underscored that tension. L’Oréal last month surpassed LVMH as France’s most valuable listed company, the first non-luxury leader on the Paris exchange since 2017. Kering, parent to Saint Laurent, returned to growth after a rough spell, though Balenciaga remains under pressure and Gucci continues to wrestle with sliding sales.
Paris Fashion Week turns liquid gold at Saint Laurent
At Saint Laurent, gold took countless forms, from brittle and translucent to lacquered and dense. Safari jackets and trenches appeared in crinkled metallic cotton, cocktail dresses sparkled with lace, and cropped brocade jackets caught the light. Stilettos balanced on serpent-like heels.
A late pivot to a black finale, led by Polish model Anja Rubik, nodded to Yves Saint Laurent’s 1991 all-gold close by reversing it. Charlotte Gainsbourg’s live vocals added intimacy to the monumental scene. Marking a decade at the house, Anthony Vaccarello skipped interviews, letting the retrospective mood of the collection speak, while offering no announcement of any departure.
Two days later at Chloé, Chemena Kamali explored abundance through texture. She layered broderie anglaise with lace, pearls and tassels, punctuated by vivid rainwear and long-brimmed fishermen’s hats. Ruffled sleeves argued for volume, and the bright outerwear cut through the sweetness.
The open question was how much embellishment Chloé’s signature ease can support. Stella McCartney rewarded a soaked audience with relaxed tailoring, coral-like knits and airbrushed dolphins on denim.
Sculptural hems and peplums floated with underwater buoyancy, while the voice of naturalist David Attenborough carried an ocean-conservation message. The peplum quietly recurred across the week, surfacing here and, in sculpted form, in shirting at Balenciaga. McCartney’s strongest entries connected those shapes to her sporty comfort: loose suiting, drawstrings and motion-friendly silhouettes.
Paris Fashion Week explores the great undressing
Intimates took center stage on many runways. At Tom Ford, Haider Ackermann played with sharp suiting alongside bare chests, fishnet, stripped-down swimwear and silk robes, with black swimsuits reduced to geometric lines.
One male model paired a sweater with a pale pink thong, carrying a vicuña coat draped over a weekend bag. Ackermann extended the house’s confident sensuality to all genders, using razor-precise tailoring to frame the exposure.
Balmain’s Antonin Tron delivered a stronger second outing inspired by midcentury backstage imagery, riffing on the allure of half-dress: corset bodices, miniskirts with swinging garters, bras beneath cropped satin bombers, eel skin and animal-pattern jacquards. References ranged from Jim Morrison to Michel Foucault’s California LSD experiments, as simulated rain battered the covered windows of Karl Lagerfeld’s former mansion.
Dense printing, embroidery and sequins built surface depth, though at times they vied with Tron’s fluid draping. Even Rick Owens flirted with the boudoir, in his own language.
On a ramp spanning the Palais de Tokyo’s reflecting pool, he presented stone-hued column gowns, spiked tulle, crystal-heavy footwear and head-to-toe constructions of tulle and elastic.
Paris Fashion Week leans on craft in a downturn
With consumers cautious, designers turned to technique as justification for luxury. At Balenciaga, Pierpaolo Piccioli sculpted a white shirt into a fitted waist and flared peplum through dense rows of stitching, treated a T-shirt similarly, and cut jeans on the bias to alter their drape.
Shown in daylight at the Tennis Club de Paris, the collection made a persuasive argument for deploying couture know-how on casual staples. Designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran took over Place de la République for a show titled “The 99 Percent,” blending sari-inspired draping, shredded denim and silhouettes echoing masked protesters.
The finale sent out a woman in a gold lamé gown carrying two slumped dummies of white men in suits. Public access was the point, although the irony was clear: the vast majority cannot afford Matières Fécales pieces.
Paris proved it can command attention. Now, as labels hope, it will be the clothes that convince shoppers to open their wallets, even as the beauty and luxury industry takes note of shifting consumer priorities.
Gucci, Balenciaga and Saint Laurent are among the labels navigating that landscape under the umbrella of Kering, which has struggled to balance heritage with new demand patterns.
