By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)
Some couture seasons leave you admiring the craftsmanship. Others leave you replaying certain moments in your head days later. Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 2026 gave us plenty of beautiful clothes, but these five moments refused to stay on the runway.
1. Jonathan Anderson Made A Coat Feel Alive
Watching a couture coat breathe wasn’t on my Paris Haute Couture bingo card. Yet that’s exactly what Jonathan Anderson pulled off at Dior.
It didn’t rely on heavy crinolines or hidden structures to create drama. Instead, hundreds of perfectly engineered pleats gave it volume that shifted with every step, making the entire silhouette feel almost alive.
That quiet confidence ran through the rest of Anderson’s second couture collection for Dior. Inspired by sculptor Lynda Benglis, fabrics twisted, folded and draped themselves into shapes that looked less like garments and more like sculptures caught in motion. Even the iconic Bar jacket felt lighter, softer and freer than expected.
For decades, couture has often been about preserving perfection. Anderson offered something different. Clothes that could change, soften and move with the person wearing them.
For a debut couture season, that’s quite the statement.
2. Schiaparelli Made Fish Scales Feel Like Couture
Leave it to Schiaparelli to convince us that fish scales, silicone and preserved flowers belong in the same couture collection.
And somehow, it all worked.
Daniel Roseberry has never approached couture the conventional way, and The Call of the Void may be his boldest leap yet. Dresses glowed from within. Latex behaved like silk. Corsets blurred the line between fashion and the human body, while flowers preserved in sugar water became intricate embellishments instead of fleeting decoration.
Every exit made you wonder what you were looking at.
Not because the collection chased shock value, but because Roseberry keeps finding new ways to challenge what couture can actually be. By the end of the show, you stopped thinking about fabrics altogether. You simply accepted that in Schiaparelli’s world, almost anything can become couture.
3. Iris van Herpen Put Actual Plasma Inside A Dress
Just when you think Iris van Herpen can’t possibly surprise us anymore, she puts plasma inside a couture dress.
Not inspired by plasma.
Actual plasma.
Her Sonic Starquakes collection looked beyond our planet, drawing from stellar explosions, galaxies and electromagnetic energy to create one of the week’s most mesmerising presentations. The Helix Nebula dress, featuring a glowing plasma tube that responded to the wearer’s body, instantly became one of those fashion moments people will still be talking about years from now.
It would have been easy for the technology to steal the spotlight.
Instead, the craftsmanship quietly reminded us why Iris van Herpen remains in a league of her own. She doesn’t use innovation to impress. She uses it to make us feel like we’ve just witnessed something that shouldn’t even be possible.
4. Balenciaga Remembered That Couture Should Make You Dream
Sometimes, all it takes is colour to change the mood.
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s first couture collection for Balenciaga arrived carrying plenty of expectation, but instead of trying to outdo the House’s past, he reminded everyone why people fell in love with his work in the first place.
The silhouettes were unmistakably Balenciaga. Strong shoulders. Sculptural volumes. Precision in every cut.
But then came the colour.
Brilliant pinks. Electric blues. Clouds of feathers. Gowns that looked like they belonged inside a painting rather than on a runway.
Fashion has spent the past few years celebrating restraint. Piccioli reminded us that there’s still room for wonder. Judging by the applause at the end of the show, plenty of people had been waiting for exactly that.
5. Robert Wun Told The Week’s Most Beautiful Story
The first model walked out carrying a stuffed toy.
Before anyone had time to admire the tailoring or the embroidery, Robert Wun had already told us this wasn’t going to be just another couture show.
His collection unfolded like growing up in fast forward.
Childhood drawings became intricate couture embellishments. Fairy tales slowly turned darker. Tailored jackets became armour. Even horns made an appearance on the runway, inspired by Maleficent, my favourite Disney character. Familiar characters appeared, but not quite as we remembered them.
Every look felt like another chapter.
By the time the finale arrived, with colourful balloons floating above a dramatic black silhouette, it was difficult not to think about your own childhood for just a second.
That’s what Robert Wun does so brilliantly.
He doesn’t just create spectacular clothes. He creates feelings. And sometimes, that’s even harder.
Paris Haute Couture Week Autumn/Winter 2026 gave us no shortage of extraordinary craftsmanship. But weeks from now, most people won’t remember every look from every collection.
They’ll remember the coat that seemed to breathe. The fish scales that somehow became couture. The dress powered by plasma. The burst of colour that made Balenciaga feel emotional again. And the stuffed toy that quietly opened one of the week’s most unforgettable shows.
Because that’s the thing about great couture. It isn’t always the biggest gown or the most intricate embroidery that stays with you.
Sometimes, it’s just one moment.
And this season gave us five we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
