Translated to ‘high sewing’ from French, Haute Couture is defined by its high-level craftsmanship and customisation. Each garment is handmade, using high-quality materials, expert artisans, and precise techniques, leading to one-of-a-kind pieces that are considered wearable art. Last month in Paris, couture maisons showed their Spring-Summer 2026 collections, including both Jonathan Anderson and Matthieu Blazy’s Couture debuts for Dior and Chanel.

Read on to check out the best of the best Haute Couture looks that excel in both their artistry and experimentation.

Schiaparelli

Inspired by a visit to the Sistine Chapel, Daniel Roseberry centred this collection on the contrasting states of “agony and ecstasy” embodied in Michelangelo’s pièce de résistance. The resulting looks feature winged motifs, marble-like fabrics, sculptural silhouettes and zoomorphic elements throughout.

The closing Birds of Flight look captures the spirit of the show particularly well, combining hand-made silk feathers, faux beaks and crystal-encrusted brooches — details that echo the hallmarks of Elsa Schiaparelli’s original designs. The ensemble feels as though it has stepped out of a storybook, embracing surreal and dreamlike imagery. Once again, Schiaparelli sets a high benchmark in the haute couture arena, seamlessly blending technical mastery with bold, avant-garde creativity.

Georges Hobeika

Reflecting the collection’s name L’AMOUR, the silhouettes at the George Hobeika show are undeniably romantic and ethereal. The show’s cathedral setting and focus on full length gowns conjures a certain regal and sacred facet, each look balances the line of elaborateness and elegance. A standout feature is the beadwork throughout the looks, the embroidery designs are perfectly mirrored, engineered in a way to contour the body.

My favourite look was this gown featuring a fan-shaped motif, reminiscent of the sunburst shapes from the Art Deco era. The heavy beadwork on the nude lining looks like it’s floating directly on the skin — creating this delicate visual richness.

Rahul Mishra

While many designers centred their collections around specific emotions, Rahul Mishra turned instead to the forces of nature. The collection unfolds as a narrative shaped by earth, fire, water and air, and by the subtle interactions between these elements.

Although the silhouettes vary dramatically, a clear and cohesive aesthetic runs throughout. Each look greatly differs structurally, ultimately showcasing the exceptional craftsmanship and technical range of the Rahul Mishra Maison.

Although I highly recommend viewing the collection as a whole story, I am choosing this water look for its impressive immersive detailing. The look compiles of a sculptural bubble mask, fine beaded droplets that mimic falling water, liquid-effect organza, and a dramatic three-dimensional splash structure. Plus, as a water sign (in both my Western and Chinese zodiac), I can’t help but feel a personal connection to it.

Chanel

With gigantic mushrooms and baby-pink trees framing the runway, Matthew Blazy brought a playful sense of whimsy to Chanel’s Spring-Summer Haute Couture collection. Across 54 looks, the show reworked the house’s signature codes through a fairytale lens, with sheer tweed suits, mushroom-heeled shoes, love-letter embroidery, bird plumage and woodland motifs. Despite the fantasy setting, the collection still felt unmistakably Chanel, with a light, romantic and dreamy mood throughout.

A standout look was the fuzzy cocoon silhouette paired with a long red skirt, creating a clear mushroom-like shape — easily one of the most whimsical moments of the show. The exaggerated volume and soft, feathery texture contrast nicely with the clean line of the skirt, perfectly capturing the collection’s storybook feel.

Phan Huy

At just 26 years old, Phan Huy made his debut with a collection titled The Golden Branch and Jade Leaf, referencing precious ornamental artworks from the Nguyen Dynasty. Drawing on Vietnamese imperial culture, the collection presents a dialogue between heritage and modernity, translating historical symbolism into a contemporary couture language.

The opening look was anchored by a butterfly-shaped parasol, known in Vietnamese as ‘Lọng bướm’, a form that dates to the nineteenth century. The gown featured radiating starburst beadwork and clover-shaped appliqués, recalling traditional Chinese clover knots — widely associated with good fortune across many Asian cultures. Set against a soft nude palette, the details were given a modern lightness, allowing the references to feel refined and current, and setting the tone for a collection that honours tradition while reimagining it for the present.

Christian Dior

Also drawing on the natural world, Jonathan Anderson’s first couture collection for Dior explored a Wunderkammer (wonder-room) of artefact and nature. Bold flower appliqués dominated the runway, most strikingly styled as oversized hydrangeas clipped to the models’ ears, while silhouettes largely experimented with volume mimicking much of the forms seen in nature.

The opening look immediately set this botanical tone. A black sculptural gown evoked the curved form of a bellflower, followed by looks adorned with lilac orchid motifs and a striking garment bag enveloped in swathes of grass-like fringe. This ‘garden’ theme pays homage to Monsieur Dior, a devoted gardener whose love of flowers was frequently woven into his designs — continuing one of the house’s most enduring and recognisable signatures.

Ashi Studio

If you can’t get enough of Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights press-tour looks, the couture collection by Ashi Studio offers the ultimate Gothic-Victorian fashion fix. With a slew of ‘Mourning Dresses’, the collection is defined by tightly cinched corsetry, death-moth motifs, alligator textures, porcelain-like fabrics and hand-painted love notes. Most strikingly, real hair is incorporated into the garments — a direct reference to the Victorian mourning tradition of hair jewellery and keepsakes.

A standout look features a hand-painted plaster corset, with painted hands wrapping around the bodice in the style of an eighteenth-century oil painting. The entire piece is sealed in latex, partially obscuring the artwork and creating an aged, wet surface effect, an unsettling yet beautiful finish that heightens the collection’s themes of loss, reinvention and memory.

Valentino

Arriving just days after the funeral of Valentino Garavani in Rome, Alessandro Michele’s collection reads as a tribute to the couturier’s love of cinema, especially 1940s Hollywood icons such as Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner. Guests viewed the looks through eye-level peepholes, an immersive staging that referenced the Kaiserpanorama, an early precursor to modern cinema and a way to frame the collection’s nostalgic lens.

The collection felt as though it had emerged from an Old Hollywood costume department, defined by sunburst crowns, dramatic neck ruffles, feathers and Art Deco embellishments. My standout look was a showgirl-inspired ensemble, complete with a coral plume backpiece, gold sequins, duck-egg blue ruffles and black velvet. Overall, it felt like a love letter to old Hollywood and the cinematic fantasy the show set out to celebrate.

Giorgio Armani Privé

Following the long-standing tradition of Armani couture collections built around a single colour or motif, Silvana Armani selected jade as the central theme of this season’s show, with the luminous green hue taking centre stage across most of the looks. As jade holds deep cultural significance in Chinese tradition, a range of oriental motifs — fans, lotus flowers, tassels and lanterns — appeared throughout the collection as embroidered and beaded embellishments.

In contrast to many other couture maisons, Armani continues to reposition couture as wearable, favouring relaxed tailoring, wide-leg trousers and sheer organza shirts that soften the formality typically associated with the category.

This look captures the spirit of the collection particularly well. The cascading strapless top is decorated with crystal fringe and delicate pink and green lantern motifs, while sheer fluid trousers contribute to the delicate silhouette.