The Chicest Shows From Paris Fashion Week

The Balenciaga Fall 2025 show was set in a maze, which was supposed to be a metaphor for the creative process, and the collection itself was a study of "standard dress codes" while giving them a capital "F" fashion twist. Officewear was shown in standard fits, including one that was wrinkled and another that looked like it was eaten by moths; a hoodie took the shape of Balenciaga’s 1967 wedding dress, t-shirts have roughly chopped off sleeves, shearling parkas resemble the brand's 1951 Semi-Fitted line and a collaboration with PUMA was introduced in a sort of 2000s tech bro way.

Photos courtesy of Balenciaga

Newly appointed creative director of Dries Van Noten, Julian Klausner, presented his first collection since Van Noten himself stepped down from his eponymous label last March. Shown at the Palais Garnier, the venue itself served as the inspiration.

Klausner said he first fell in love with clothes as a kid rummaging through his family's costume box, throwing outfits together to create characters and letting his imagination run wild. In that same spirit, he imagined women walking through the opera, playing with fabrics and objects and experimenting with them to make them personal.

"That raw, tactile discovery remains at the core of how I see fashion today," Klausner said in the show notes. "This collection is a celebration of that instinct: of transformation, of personal ritual, of the quiet yet powerful dialogue between past and future, which is at the heart of Dries Van Noten."

Photos courtesy of Dries Van Noten

For her anticipated debut collection, Sarah Burton looked to the roots of Givenchy, and its historic atelier — specifically, a recently discovered trove of calico patterns by Hubert de Givenchy, from his first 1952 debut collection, which he showed at his atelier. Burton identified with the findings with her own way of working, deciding to show her first collection, that merged tailoring and masculinity with femininity, for Givenchy as artistic director through the maison at 3, Avenue George V, which has been the address of Givenchy since 1955.

"It’s my natural instinct to go back to pattern-cutting, to craftsmanship," she said in the show notes. "To cut, shape and proportion. It’s what I feel, how I work, and want to do. I want to address everything about modern women. Strength, vulnerability, emotional intelligence, feeling powerful or very sexy. All of it."

Photos courtesy of Givenchy

Like its sister brand Prada's show, the Fall 2025 Miu Miu collection by Miuccia Prada evaluated the feminine and how clothes can define what that means. But while Prada sought to make femininity shapeless, Miu Miu looked to the silhouette of a curve to shape and manipulate the clothes. The casting was also particularly exciting, as rapper Cortisa Star made her runway debut and was joined by Gigi Hadid, Sarah Paulson and Laura Harrier

Photos courtesy of Miu Miu

Stella McCartney's Fall 2025 collection, called "Laptop to Lap Dance," was all about day-to-night, office-to-club wardrobe for the working woman at any stage of life. Models walked between "STELLA CORP" desks in 96% conscious, 100% cruelty-free materials that modernized '80s silhouettes and aesthetics.

"This season’s Stella woman is educated, an entrepreneur, the boss," the show notes read. "She is a mother, a sister, a lover. She fights the good fight – for women, for animals, for everyone. She does it all; enjoying every aspect of her working day whilst having fun and being herself at night. Winter 2025 brings the two together, allowing her to express herself through what she wears. A reminder that sexuality and sensuality, kindness and vulnerability are forms of strength and beauty."

Photos courtesy of Stella McCartney

To creative director Haider Ackermann, if Tom Ford is the nightlife, he is the morning after. For his debut show, the audience sat in a gray room on plush benches with steamy mirrors to echo the feeling of a night before. Building on the sensuality that Tom Ford established himself for his namesake brand, Ackermann channeled androgyny, clean lines and pops of color.

Photos courtesy of Tom Ford

After moving to Paris last summer, Vaquera looked to its past in New York to usher in its new era. "At a time when it feels that we have little jurisdiction over so many aspects of our lives, this collection is an exercise in control," the show notes read.

For cofounders Bryn Taubensee and Patric DiCaprio, the American Dream has always a throughline for the brand. This season, they looked to the ‘20s and the ‘80s, showing a collection full of strong shoulders, pale pink and leopard print, oversized corsages and pearl necklaces and chunky knits.

Photos courtesy of Vaquera