montblanc ss26 | the new leather collection

Nobody was expecting it, and that is exactly why everyone was talking about it. Anthony Vaccarello slipped a surprise Saint Laurent show into the Paris Couture Week schedule, turning what had been a subdued moment in the fashion calendar into an instant appointment to watch. Guests were greeted with an unusual first impression: furry wallets handed out as invitations, hinting at the textural surprises waiting inside.

Front-row chatter lived up to the buzz. While this season was billed around menswear, the crowd felt delightfully cross-genre. Faces ranged from the cast of ‘Heated Rivalry,’ including Connor Storrie, François Arnaud and Robbie Graham-Kuntz, alongside house legend Kate Moss, who all gathered to see how the designer would translate the emotional texture of transition into a wearable wardrobe.

Vaccarello built Autumn/Winter 2026 around a surprisingly intimate idea: the emotional texture of transition. The collection pulled from James Baldwin’s 1956 novel ‘Giovanni’s Room,’ an exploration of self-discovery and vulnerability that sits well with Saint Laurent’s history of dressing identity and desire.

This was a wardrobe cast between private dusk and public dawn, featuring silhouettes that spoke with intent through long, lean lines that felt almost ritualised. Vaccarello chose to avoid unnecessary flourishes, instead focusing on a discipline of cut and proportion where the tailoring appeared to land on the body with a sense of inevitability. He describes the Saint Laurent ideal as a simplicity of silhouette, as though it were created with only a few pencil strokes.

Sharp shoulders were used to cloak the wearer’s uncertainty, while the signature smoking tuxedo was cut with such precision it felt like a protective shield against the world. One of the most daring pieces was a transparent, glossy trench coat that plays with the house trope of the morning after the night before, acting as a snapshot of human complexity by highlighting how we reveal and conceal ourselves.

Low-neckline knits peeked beneath tailored jackets, introducing a hint of softness against what might otherwise have felt like rigid structure. There were pinstripe patterns tucked into ensembles, appearing on shirts, suits and layered looks that felt both classic and modern at once. Furs appeared as considered accents, adorning collars trimmed with soft pelts or jackets backed with subtle hair.

Every look was anchored by high boots and a heavy commitment to black, which Vaccarello chose for its combination of classicism and rebellion, while also serving as a staple in Alexander Skarsgård’s wardrobe.

Black remained the heart colour of the Maison, chosen not for anonymity but for resonance. Pieces in deep chocolate and navy surfaced as well, but it was the classic noir undertone that gave the show its taut, focused feeling. This was a collection built on moments of truth, offering a thoughtful and sharply alive perspective on the ritual of dressing.

Discover the collection here.

photography. courtesy of Saint Laurent
words. Gennaro Costanzo

To look closely at nature is to understand that nothing ever truly stands still. Jonathan Anderson understands that the same goes for haute couture. It is an arena for experimentation, where craft is exercised rather than preserved. Anderson’s vision for Dior begins precisely here, with nature becoming the beating heart of Dior’s Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 collection. As his first couture offering for the house, the collection frames couture as a dialogue between past and present, memory and use.

Drawn to objects that carry both time and memory – meteorites, fossils, 18th-century textiles, and portrait miniatures – Anderson treats history as material to be handled, altered, and put back into circulation. The show notes describe the collection as a Wunderkammer (or Cabinet of Curiosities), “a place where museum-quality pieces and natural wonders are gathered and recontextualised.” The result is a constellation of references, each translated into couture with precision.

Nature appears not just as a metaphorical reference, but as an undeniable physical presence within the collection. Flora hung from the ceiling, models’ ears were decorated with oversized spherical florals in lacquered brass and sculpted silk; hand-painted orchids draped over their shoulders, and silk petals perched on the toes of their heels. Cyclamens – a pink bloom native to Europe and the Mediterranean Basin – run as a throughline throughout the collection, nodding to the bunches gifted to Anderson by John Galliano, one of the house’s former creative directors. 

Blue and silver wildflower embroideries adorn a sablé double georgette asymmetrical long dress; white floral motifs taken from a screen print by Magdalene Odundo are printed on a black silk velvet one-shoulder dress; and a sleeveless Art Deco-esque dress is embroidered with floral microbeads reminiscent of a 1957 Christian Dior motif. A long ecru dress with white and red nasturtiums embroidered in chiffon and beads takes the theme even further, with the model carrying a tropical leaf over her head as if it were an umbrella. 

The collection is a study in micro and macro – and how the two can be transformed into one another. Shredded chiffon and organza materialise as feathers; a flared horsehair peplum skirt resembles black tweed thanks to five types of net overlaid; a spherical bustier dress is shaped by an invisible tulle structure; and chunky cuffs and rings are crafted from meteorite fragments. Paired alongside these intricate designs are bright orange cable-knit jumpers, chunky chain stitch cowl-neck knit tops, and grey asymmetrical knitted capes.

Nods to the house’s history take shape in many forms – something Anderson has been doing since his inaugural collection as creative director. A strapless corolla dress embroidered with silk cyclamen bouquets parallels the Miss Dior Spring/Summer 1949 dress. A fan-shaped skirt takes inspiration from the Cyclone dress, which debuted in Autumn/Winter 1948. The house’s famed Bar Jacket features a draped and twisted silk collar. Upturned square-toe shoes are inspired by an archival Roger Vivier design. And 18th-century oval miniatures by artists like Rosalba Carriera and John Smart are worn as brooches.

Nothing is left untouched, especially the handbags, which have been reinterpreted as true couture creations. Many are made from 18th-century French fabrics, adorned with embroideries and patchworks to add further visual interest. Their silhouettes are soft and pillowy, emerging as envelope clutches and oversized totes. Minaudières sit at the other end of the spectrum, their structured forms designed to resemble bumblebees and ladybirds. Referencing nature even further, one tote appears as if it is growing grass. The Lady Dior, too, receives a sculptural makeover. 

Anderson’s couture debut is a refined amalgamation of design sensibility, nature as art, and nods to the House’s storied past. Once again, he redefines what Dior can be – not by diminishing its history, but by illuminating both its enduring icons and those softened by time. Above all, it does exactly what couture should: experiment and inspire. As noted in the release, “To wear couture is to collect it, and to carry forward – with empathy – the mindset that created it.”

Discover the collection here.

photography. Courtesy of Adrien Dirand and Dior
words. Amber Louise

Matthieu Blazy’s debut for Chanel Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026 was the trippy, wonderful dream Alice surely would have chosen to experience. For anyone who has felt the urge to tumble down a rabbit hole only to land in a monochrome forest of giant fungi, this was the runway to match – a scene that felt like walking through the ink-sketched pages of a surreal storybook.

Blazy explains that “Haute Couture is the very soul of Chanel – it is the foundation and the full expression of the House,” and his opening gambit was to strip the legendary Chanel suit down to its most essential, skeletal dimensions. Expectations were understandably sky-high following his spectacular Spring 2026 and Métiers d’Art showings, but the designer certainly did not disappoint.

Constructed from layers of transparent silk mousseline in fragile shades, the garments appeared as delicate as a fading memory. These pieces represented what he calls “emotional artefacts,” decorated with embroidered love letters and tiny tokens like bottles of N°5, colourful mushrooms or red lipsticks stitched into hidden pockets. For Blazy, these details provide the wearer with “a canvas to tell their own story,” ensuring the dialogue between the maker and the woman is one of profound emotional resonance.

Amidst towering mushrooms sprouting from an enchanted willow wood, brand ambassadors Nicole Kidman, Dua Lipa and Gracie Abrams watched this peculiar metamorphosis from the front row. Alongside campaign stars A$AP Rocky and Margaret Qualley, they witnessed Blazy’s attempt to bare the soul of the house through an anonymous three-line haiku about a bird.

As the presentation shifted, the women at the heart of the woods began a strange transformation into a multiplicity of birds. The artisans at Le19M utilised their supreme cutting skills and intricate pleating to conjure the texture of plumage, yet they curiously avoided using actual feathers for the majority of the work. Every avian form was represented, from a conspiracy of ravens in sharp black wool to a flamboyant pink spoonbill and a crested cockatoo brought to life through complex embroidery. It was a host of birds ranging from the domestic grey pigeon to the linear heron, all realised through the rituals of the flou and tailleur ateliers.

Blazy did not miss the opportunity to reimagine a recurring staple of his repertoire: a translucent take on the classic tank top and jeans combination. The bridal finale, worn by Blazy’s current muse, Bhavita Mandava, served as the ultimate metamorphosis – a shimmering white figure merging Chanel archetypes with the crested elegance of a cockatoo.

The footwear followed this avian fantasy, featuring heels that resembled delicate bird claws or were carved like the sturdy, organic stems of the towering mushrooms. Some shoes were wrapped in the same translucent silk as the suits, creating an ethereal line that made the models appear to be floating just above the forest floor.

Blazy treats these birds as ultimate symbols of freedom, grounded by the archetypes of the brand but liberated by his vivid imagination. Just like the bird in the haiku that inspired the show, the moment offered a brief poetic pause before it was gone, flown away into the history of the house.

Discover the collection and rewatch the show here.

photography. courtesy of Pierre Mouton for Chanel
words. Gennaro Costanzo