Paris Fashion Week: Timeless clothes but twisted

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The recent autumn-winter 2025-26 ready-to-wear showcases in Paris reflected designers' sharp focus on creating wearable modern clothes that had ample historical references. Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri, for instance, trained her focus on the classic white shirt, a gender-neutral garment.

It came accented with a removable collar that can be worn or not depending on one's mood. The collar also nodded in favour of the Orlando ruff, inspired by the eponymous character of Virginia Woolf’s novel. The showcase also saw the return of the J’adore Dior T-shirt signed by John Galliano.

What's more, Grazia Chiuri peppered the ensembles with dematerialised crinolines, black velvet ribbons, attached with baroque pearls, bringing texture to skirts and dresses. Another highpoint this season was Dries Van Noten collection by the newly appointed Julian Klausner, which included upturned lapels on jackets and a silk trouser suit worn with the crystal embroidered pants. Sarah Burton's first showcase at Givenchy, too, offered some interesting looks, like an hourglass-shaped jacket with an exaggerated waist and curvaceous hips.

Burton introduced a new logo, Givenchy Paris 1952, which was splashed across a mesh catsuit and on the strap of a Mary Jane shoe. Haider Ackermann's first showing at Tom Ford was also full of past-meets-present moments. The designer superimposed his whimsical style with Ford's characteristic sensuality, serving lots of leather pieces in black and white, followed by sharp tailoring with a twist and a range of fluid fringed dresses.