At Paris Couture Week, Chanel celebrates 110 years by recreating its couture salon in a palace, Iris Van Herpen imagines clothing as both organism and artifact and Elie Saab blends 19th-century romance with red carpet style.
Here's a closer look at the Autumn/Winter 2025 haute couture collections.
Celebrating a milestone
Only Chanel would call its legendary Rue Cambon salon "too small” – then rebuild it, supersized, in a palace.
As the house marked 110 years of its haute couture – a century and more of Coco Chanel’s revolution in how women dress, it recreated its atelier inside the freshly restored Grand Palais, turning intimacy into spectacle for a nature-drenched show.
It was a flex only a handful of luxury giants could pull off – and perhaps, as one front-row guest suggested, a dazzling distraction as the fashion world counts down to the debut of Chanel's new designer Matthieu Blazy.
Penelope Cruz, Naomi Campbell and the house’s tightest VIP circle scaled gilded steps, sweating past marble and gold, to enter the reconstructed atelier.
The set by Willo Perron was classic Chanel: intimate yet monumental, old world yet futuristic.
"It just felt special,” Campbell said, "like stepping into a memory and something completely new. There’s warmth, intimacy, nostalgia. Chanel can recreate anything, and it works."
More drama unfolded on the runway. This was couture as nature fantasy, filtered through the Chanel prism.
Menswear tailoring added swing to sculpted jackets and coat dresses, while mohair suits in deep greens and plums channeled autumn’s hush. Boucle tweeds mimicked sheepskin; feathers and tweed created illusionary faux fur.
Gold-sprayed wheat ears – the house symbol of abundance – were everywhere: stitched into flounces, embroidered on necklines, set on every guest’s seat.
The theme may have been country, but make no mistake: This was as close as Chanel gets to "roughing it”.
Technique dazzled at every turn: jewel-buttons, embroidered florals and a finale of lame so luminous it mimicked sunlight on harvest fields.
The studio team, holding the fort after Virginie Viard’s abrupt and unceremonious exit last year, anchored the show in classic codes but played with wit and lightness.
That obsessive handwork matters – not just for tradition, but for business.
Chanel is fashion’s juggernaut: Privately held, the brand reported US$18.7bil (RM78.87bil) in revenue for 2024, cementing its status as one of the world’s most powerful luxury houses.
Couture may be the crown, but its influence drives global sales in fragrance, bags and jewelry, making it the envy of rivals.
Change is always looming at Chanel.
For more than 30 years, Karl Lagerfeld transformed the brand from Parisian legend to pop phenomenon, staging ever-grander spectacles at the Grand Palais.
After his death in 2019, Viard, his longtime deputy, guided Chanel into a softer, more discreet era.
Now the industry is holding its breath for Blazy, a Belgian talent with stints at Margiela, Celine and most recently Bottega Veneta, where he won fans for his blend of innovation and reverence for craft.
Campbell said of Blazy, whom she knows personally: "He’s focused, open-minded – he’ll bring something special.”
The show unfolded inside the Grand Palais' newly restored Salon D’Honneur, its gold and stone revealed after a €600mil (RM2.98bil), multi-year restoration co-funded by Chanel. It’s more than a venue; it’s an advertisement to the house’s power and commitment to Parisian heritage.
Read more: Still calling the shots: Giorgio Armani proves he is very much in control at 91
Reimagining a new era
The collection, "Sympoiesis”, felt like the culmination of her restless experimentation: A show that dared to imagine clothing as both organism and artifact.
In a shadowy Paris venue, Van Herpen sent out a series of gossamer gowns spun from alternative fibers so fine and insubstantial that they seemed conjured from air itself.
At the collection’s heart, a luminous "living dress”, animated by millions of bioluminescent algae, quietly stole the scene.
The algae, thriving within a custom-molded nutrient matrix, glimmered in electric blue as if stitched from the deep sea – offering an eerie, captivating spectacle that went beyond mere artifice.
Elsewhere, Van Herpen introduced wedding gowns crafted from lab-grown bio-protein, a futuristic Japanese fibre that’s biodegradable and endlessly recyclable – a glimpse of a fashion industry reimagined for a new era.
If the show dazzled, it also underscored a rare feat in modern couture: independence.
In a world where most designers rely on billion-dollar groups to bankroll their dreams, Van Herpen stands nearly alone, thriving outside the grip of giants like LVMH and Kering.
Her creations have become magnets for pop royalty and rule-breakers: Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Bjork, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman have all worn her sculptural gowns on the world’s biggest stages.
At the Met Gala, Hailee Steinfeld stunned in a Van Herpen dress made from ocean plastic. Dove Cameron shimmered in her work in 2022.
Star power helps sustain the atelier, but it’s invention that defines her legacy.
While many independents have vanished from the couture calendar, Van Herpen survives by never playing it safe. Every season, she proves that true originality is not only possible, but essential – in Paris.
By harnessing living organisms and boundary-pushing textiles, Van Herpen’s latest collection doubled down on her signature ethos: couture not just as spectacle or skill, but as an open question – what might fashion, and nature, become next?
In a world obsessed with spectacle, Van Herpen continues to ask not only what we wear, but how we care for the world that makes it possible.
Read more: From Balenciaga and onward to Gucci: Demna’s final show was his legacy letter
All about romance
In Paris, fashion insiders gathered among marble columns as models descended a gilded stone staircase to the strains of harpsichord music, setting the tone for a collection steeped in historical romance.
Saab leaned into his signature codes: sumptuous velvets, gowns gathered at the back, and pearl and jewel-adorned chokers.
Floral appliques – another hallmark – blossomed, anchoring the collection in the femininity that has defined the house for decades.
This was a particularly thoughtful collection, evoking romantic silhouettes from the turn of the 19th century in Europe.
The soft draping and historical references gave the show a sense of emotional depth beyond its surface opulence.
Macaron hues – nude, rose pink, water blue, and mint - punctuated by imperial black and gold, set off bold blooms across brocade and print, infusing the collection with romantic vibrancy.
Among the standout pieces were gowns with cascading trains and bejeweled details, encasing the body in a kind of luxurious cage.
Elie Saab said the collection – dubbed "The New Court” – was "a sumptuous playground for the modern queen – one who plays by her own rules”.
Though luxury and opulence may be Saab’s well-trodden path, he showed that consistency remains its own form of artistry.
Saab’s couture is less about surprise and more about control – control of silhouette, embellishment, and fantasy.
Where other houses have veered into avant-garde or gender-fluid territory this season, Saab stayed rooted in his vision of archetypal femininity, shaped by heritage and craftsmanship.
If the show felt familiar at times, it was also undeniably polished – a standout collection that reminded audiences why Saab’s world of embellished escapism continues to resonate.
It’s a formula that keeps Hollywood coming back.
Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, Emmanuelle Beart, Sophie Marceau, Beyonce, Maggie Cheung and Diane Kruger have all stepped onto the world’s biggest stages in Saab’s gowns – a testament to a house where fantasy and glamour are always in season. – AP
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