Paris Fashion Week Proposes An Airy, Performance-Driven Closet

Global warming has entered the high fashion chat like never before. While international luxury houses may have made tall claims about lessening their carbon footprints and embracing eco-conscious production practices in the past but now the discourse has also entered the ateliers and is being reflected in designer's mood boards and fabric development too.

One look at Spring Summer 2027 collections showcased at Paris Fashion Week and it's hard to overlook an overarching proposal of breathable, sensible and summer-appropriate clothing.

This season saw designers figuring out ways to make pieces weightless, modular and almost vaporous. A litany of sheer, wispy and tactile skirts which fluttered at the Chanel show attests to that. Moreover, the Chanel atelier's latest incarnation of the classic lunch suit in the new ‘smocked tweed’ imparts stretch thereby asserting itself as a performance garment. A thoughtful nod to the founder Coco's design philosophy which freed women from the constraints of the Edwardian-era corsetry.

Also worth mentioning is Nadège Vanhee, women's artistic director Hermès who explored the shape of air envisioning a sky in motion. Picturing silhouettes floating by, light as feathers carried on a breeze and air slipping between her skin and the fabric, she extrapolated gauzy openwork knits, innovative leather craftsmanship creating a graphic lattice of fine leather strips embroidered onto mesh, cut with the finesse of a Japanese stencil. Evoking instant covetability were the modular dresses held together with zippers that dissected the legs as models walked past. Moreover, one could zip or unzip them and create multiple looks - it could take the shape of a miniskirt and also a midi-length version.

All in all, a sense of lightness along with utility came into play in most collections — from Chanel, Dior and to Chloe, Hermès and Lanvin.

Sheer & Lightweight Dressing

Gabrielle Chanel had once famously said, "If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing." Informed by the symbolism of the bird's freedom and movement, artistic director Matthieu Blazy proposed nimble and lightweight dressing which was achieved by layering different weights of printed silk transparencies and billowing cuts.

Chanel atelier's inventive fabric development, both woven and knitted, offered an homage to the free-spirited, non-restrictive dressing through movement and lightness. Continuing his exploration of ultra-light tailoring seen earlier in his menswear, Dior's Jonathan Anderson focused on chiffon as a key fabric in his women's collection which was an artistic commentary on asymmetry and movement.

The opening looks saw a panoply of super supple, almost transparent double-breasted jackets worn with fluttery skirts — ideal for a stroll in Jardin des Tuileries on a sweltering sunny day. While honouring Dior's Holy Grail — the New Look silhouette, the practical thinking designer ditched the heavy tweeds, whale boning and corsetry for partially sheer printed shifts, weighted at the edges with concealed beads. His pleated asymmetric dresses created an illusion of dancing around the body offering enough mobility and freedom. This fragility and freewheeling weightlessness were also seen at Lanvin in the brand's’30s chiffon and lingerie lace dresses.

At Hermès, modular looks played upon the air to convey ease and the freedom of summer, both versatile and functional, with cords and belts adjusting volume. A column skirt in

Brise de Charme print silk unzipped into sculptural draping, while wide trousers were fitted with side zips that opened for ventilation, freeing the leg. Coats and jackets, crafted in ultra-fine calfskin, settled on shoulders with the crisp texture of paper. One of the striking looks was a silk pongee parka which billowed like a parachute.

Craft-Led Details

Matthieu Blazy at Chanel traced the founder's vast and revolutionary body of work. Diving deep into Gabrielle's construction to deconstruction, her revelatory exploration of masculine tailoring, Blazy proposed gilets offset with trousers and superlight pencil-skirt suits.

At Balenciaga, Pierpaolo Piccioli opened the show with his signature white shirt which was elevated this season with a peplum effect crafted by rows and rows of stitching. Moreover, a white T-shirt was treated to the same effect.

Piccioli reinforced his own point of view by slicing a pair of blue jeans with a bias-cut - a radical departure from the founder Cristóbal's archive. Isabel Marant reimagined her signature capri pants which came trimmed with macramé fringe. She ushered in new shapes like the soft, rounded shoulders seen in a white eyelet bomber.

At Loewe, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez transformed the humble grey sweatshirt into a collectible by treating it to seed-bead embroidery. Moreover, intricate beading appeared throughout the collection, from dimensional caviar bead florals to glass bead pieces worked with Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025 finalist Cécile Feilchenfeldt.

Couture Informed Everyday Wear

Schiaparelli's ready to wear show was informed by some superlative techniques showcased in the brand's couture showcase in July. Artistic Director Daniel Roseberry experimented with inset breastplates on a striped body-con dress and other pieces.

At Chloe, Chemena Kamali extrapolated 3D flower-encrusted guipure lace to create baby-doll trapeze dresses in monochromes. A cutaway late 1960s-style white-petaled couture-informed bathing suit was the pièce de résistance.

At Issey Miyake, especially noteworthy were the bodices created with Wacoal, the Japanese intimate-apparel company, using a proprietary technology originally developed to mold bra cups. Here it was reimagined to create torso-like forms that protected the impression of textile draped around a silhouette.

Also worth mentioning is an array of sculpturally fluid ensembles in black or blue Miyake pleated textile that swished around the body. At Givenchy, Sarah Burton sent out a pair of evening dresses crafted in fine jersey draped from wing-like arabesques of brass wire.

Boudoir Codes At Play

Synonymous with the 90s soft grunge, slip dresses were aplenty this season. Innerwear worn as outerwear has been a recurring theme across fashion weeks and the Paris edition was no different. For example, at the Elie Saab show, slip dresses came smothered in beads; encrusted with lace and layered with a buttery leather jacket.

Other silky dresses which stood out were cut on the bias. This mood of déshabillé panache was also felt at Balmain seen across slackened-girdle miniskirts, corset-built tops and ruched numbers. Designers across the board explored the theme of being caught somewhere between being dressed and undressed. Think diced satin bombers layered over visible bras, low-rise trousers and soft-shouldered tailoring.

The Miu Miu show featured a section devoted to layering sparkly bras under sporty bombers. Even Valentino had a series of opening looks comprising seamed-cup jewel tone satin bustiers.

Artisanal Accessories

It's been a season of unexpected accessories and footwear which inspire instant attention. At Dior, snapshots of blooms were printed onto square-toe block heels, and a new iteration of the Dior Bow Sandal was unveiled.

Another interesting addition was the Dior Cigale shoe with a petal-shaped sole. Moreover, new versions of the Dior Double and Dior Initial Hobo were joined by compact shapes in supple leather. One of the highpoints was a new, biker-inspired bag with zipped pocket flaps, cannage stitching and metal D-I-O-R hardware.

Hermès show featured a noteworthy strappy thong sandal and a flat boot with the whipstitched details of a moccasin.

At Saint Laurent, artistic director Anthony Vaccarello rooted for statement earrings and super high stilettos, introduced a style that featured a pair of visually arresting S-shaped snakes for heels.

Dries Van Noten's artistic director Julian Klausner employed belts and brooches to nip waists. At Loewe, discreet logos were peppered on the toe box of new scuba-style moccasins and a range of branded leather caps looked like swimming caps.