Woman

Innocence. Chloé Pre-Fall 2026

| Design & Culture by Ed

There’s just something about Chemena Kamali’s Chloé girl that never grows tiresome. Yes, she has a fixation on the past – but it’s a charming one. For pre-fall 2026 – shot by Mark Kean, who has an incredible way of capturing blown-out hair and a certain innocence in his subjects – Kamali proposes a strikingly chic formula: a basic henley elevated by a draped pencil skirt and a leather basque belt. Easy, flirty, fun. Elsewhere, a ruffled blouse – modeled after the Chloé dress Karl Lagerfeld designed for Paloma Picasso’s wedding – is dressed down with stretch-velvet stirrup pants, creating a look that feels Parisian in a postcard way, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Kamali is only approaching her third year at Chloé, yet it feels as though she’s been thriving there for an era (she did, after all, work at the house under Phoebe Philo’s helm in the early 2000s, so this tracks). She has rebuilt the brand into a sanctuary of unpretentious, witty femininity, with each collection reading as a natural continuation of the last. Kamali herself notes, “what I get as feedback is that you can mix the collections quite well – pieces from the first show with last season’s pre-collection, say.” This isn’t a PR line; it’s a fact easily observed on the streets of Paris.

ED’s SELECTION:


Chloé Tiered Organic Silk-mousseline Maxi Skirt



Chloé Eve Suede Over-the-knee Boots



Chloé Embellished Cotton-velvet Jacket



Chloé Gathered Tie-detailed Lace-trimmed Silk-satin Mini Dress



Chloé Wool-crepe Straight-leg Pants



Chloé Jeanette Studded Platform Clogs

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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La Grande Bellezza. Valentino SS26 Couture

| Design & Culture by Ed

Alessandro Michele’s second haute couture collection for Valentino is galaxies away from what he showed last year. Out with the heavy; in with the elevating. It’s purely Michele, yet it finally feels like Valentino – meaning la grande bellezza. It was clear the designer felt an added duty to deliver, and to make Garavani smile from fashion heaven. Viewed through the peepholes – or glory holes! – of circular Kaiserpanoramas, the collection became a voyeur’s dream. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

ED’s SELECTION:


Valentino Garavani Bow-embellished Shearling-trimmed Leopard-print Wool Coat



Valentino Garavani Belted Ruffled Embellished Silk-georgette Gown



Valentino Garavani Rockoco Embellished Taffeta-trimmed Suede Pumps



Valentino Garavani Bow-detailed Ruched Wool-crepe Wrap Jacket



Valentino Garavani Velvet-trimmed Satin-crepe Maxi Skirt



Valentino Garavani Fringed Beaded Satin Shoulder Bag

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Lightness. Chanel SS26 Couture

| Design & Culture by Ed

Matthieu Blazy’s debut Chanel couture collection was yet another triumph of beauty during these utterly mind-blowing days in Paris. The sense of haute lightness he managed to carry into this line-up – something one so often longed for during Virginie Viard’s tenure, and even at times during Karl Lagerfeld’s – is nothing short of unbelievable. Near-transparent organza trousers played trompe-l’œil with denim. Flapper dresses were so airy they seemed like mist. “Ghost” 2.55 bags floated like medusas suspended in air.

Blazy did not lean heavily on Coco Chanel’s biography; instead, he returned to her attitude toward “clothes for women to go to work, to go to a play, the cinema, whatever,” as he put it. The oversized mushroom setting at the Grand Palais? I loved Tilda Swinton’s interpretation: symbols of ideas that magically grow after the rain. And you could see just how deeply obsessed she was with the collection – her eyes truly went starry at the sight of the dégradé velvet pyjama in shades of royal blue.

Can we also take a moment to appreciate the black suits, finished with quartz buttons and striking brooches? Just incredible. So Chanel, 100%. This was an elaborate take on contemporary couture – one that makes you daydream.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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All Is Full Of Love. Dior SS26 Couture

| Design & Culture by Ed

This haute couture season isn’t legendary only because of two debut collections at two major maisons. It will be remembered as the fashion week when couture finally leaped into a new era. It is relevant again.

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior collection had been in the making for over six months, and it shows in every single detail. Everything is imbued with passionate love for craft, art, and… FASHION. John Galliano not only blessed the project, but in a way initiated its birth with a cyclamen bouquet he gifted Anderson at the very beginning of his tenure at the house. The fragile purple flowers – symbols of lasting feelings, sincere affection, and tender love – were not only present in the show’s scenography, but were eternalized by Jean-Pierre Ollier’s atelier, which created thousands of handmade, hand-painted silk flowers. These blooms adorned the collection’s hero accessories: oversized brooches, bomb-shaped earrings, and more.

Above all, this was a couture show that exercised surrealism in the most extraordinary way, turning to the beauty of Mother Nature for inspiration. Dresses were airy like dandelions; skirts could easily be mistaken for hydrangea bushes; 18th-century-inspired portrait brooches were framed with orchids. One silk skirt in a subtle chinoiserie print appeared to explode with tiny green cones. The opening look’s bag referenced a couture hanger, yet it was entirely covered in hand-dyed, extra-long grass.

In the hands of another designer with the same haute couture possibilities, such effects might have veered into saccharine sweetness, or worse, princess-y costume. In Anderson’s, however, the collection struck with delightful eccentricity – and, above all, modernity. This was conveyed effortlessly through cool pink bangs (Sandy Hullett’s work), cocoon-like coats, and astonishing knitted dresses that quite literally flowed down the body. Jonathan Anderson has insisted that, for him, haute couture is something you collect. This enchanting, breathtaking collection could easily stand as the sole subject of a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition. Yet it also feels confident enough for a beautiful, bold life beyond the museum walls.

Yes – this is exactly what haute couture should be in 2026.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Pragmatic. Lemaire AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

On the stage of the Opéra Bastille, the Lemaire troupe emerged in small configurations, each representing different themes and attitudes across the collection. One model moved a chair; another wandered into the audience; and then there was dancer Julie Anne Stanzak, who gleefully leapt and twirled in a floaty yellow dress while clutching her pumps. Theatrics aside, this was a quintessentially Lemaire collection, defined by “a very pragmatic approach to clothes,” as Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran stated. It is grounded in the everyday – somewhere between the utilitarian and the functional – yet at the same time unmistakably chic. Whether a quilted skirt that converts into a cape, a sculpted bag shaped like buttocks, or the dramatic insertion of impressionistic colour layered into earthy tones, Lemaire’s pieces are designed to be worn, loved, and lived in.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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