Paris Haute Couture Week highlights: Ashi Studio and Armani Prive shine on day two

The National

6 days ago

While Paris woke up to a grey and overcast start on day two of Haute Couture Week, the mood on the runways was anything but muted.
While Chanel showed a pared back and meditative collection, other standout moments from the autumn/winter 2025-2026 collections came from Ashi Studio and the much-anticipated Giorgio Armani Prive show.
Day two
Ashi Studio
Over the past few seasons, Saudi-born couturier Mohammed Ashi has steadily carved out a place for himself as one of haute couture's most compelling contemporary voices. With his sculptural compositions and architectural precision, he has captivated a global clientele including the likes of Beyonce, Zendaya and Queen Rania of Jordan – each drawn to the poetic drama of his designs. This season, with Cardi B seated front row, Ashi unveiled a collection that seamlessly fused artistic vision with technical precision.
Though the designer reportedly described the beginning of his creative process as disorienting, that sense of unease evolved into something profoundly captivating. His modern approach to couture once again came alive with striking cohesion, as sculptural silhouettes gave way to moments of fluidity and drapery, narrating a dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary expression.
While still unsure of the theme, Ashi began wandering around Parisian flea markets in search of inspiration. He unearthed fragments of history – time-worn textiles, porcelain charms and chinoiserie details, which were later reimagined into garments that nodded to the Chateau de Chantilly and Victorian London. The collection, deliberately unnamed, unfolded like a personal journal.
Corsetry anchored many of the looks, at times visibly structured, at others concealed beneath layers of expertly draped fabric. These silhouettes lent a distinctly feminine edge to the otherwise architectural forms.
Ashi's eye for construction also delivered sharply tailored jackets, an embroidered coatdress adorned with baroque embellishment, and an asymmetric trouser suit edged with spiralling fringe, each piece reinforcing his command of proportion, volume and balance.
Without the need for a title, the collection told a compelling story, inviting the audience into Ashi's creative journey. It was a vivid reminder that couture, in his hands, is not only rooted in tradition, but constantly reimagined for the modern world.
Giorgio Armani Prive
Giorgio Armani Prive's autumn/winter 2025-2026 couture collection, Noir Seduisant (Seductive Black), is an ode to black, not as a singular colour, but as an entire spectrum of tones. For Armani, black represents clarity, structure and timeless sophistication. It's a shade that conveys emotion with subtlety and strength.
While the famous 91-year-old designer was absent from Tuesday night's show on doctor's orders (his first time missing Paris Haute Couture Week in five decades, in addition to skipping his men's wear show on June 21), his creative signature could be seen through every look as a sense of timelessness and understated elegance shone through.
The show began with delicate gowns accented by embroidered inserts, gradually giving way to a confident series of reimagined tuxedo jackets worn against bare skin, as well as sharply tailored blazers paired with crisp white shirts and slim trousers. Eveningwear took on a new dimension through long, flowing dresses punctuated by oversized bows, sheer plastrons and bracelet-like cuffs.
In many looks, black appeared in varying textures, from lacquered silk to deep velvet, each material offering its own depth and tone. Sequins, pavé crystals and glimmers of gold lent a soft luminosity, while other ensembles used black as a backdrop to showcase bursts of blue, magenta and metallic accents. Brief flashes of white, seen at collars and cuffs, sharpened the contrast.
There was a sense of structure to the looks, moving forward from the fluidity we have seen in the designer's recent collections. Military-inspired jackets met velvet trousers, while sculpted gowns evoked statuary grace. Accessories – including berets, bow ties and tailored shirting – brought a masculine energy, continuing Armani's ongoing exploration of gender-fluid tailoring.
With the designer recuperating, only days away from his 91st birthday, models closed the show alone in a poignant gesture that underscored the lasting power of his vision. Noir Seduisant is a reminder that Armani remains the master of understated elegance.
Day one
Iris van Herpen
Dutch couturier Iris van Herpen, known for her experimental use of materials, opened her show with a look made from 250 million living algae bacteria. The result? An otherworldly glow with a bio-luminescent blue tint took over the runway.
It wasn't the only look that was wild and entrancing in equal measure; other cutting-edge fabrics included a metallic cloth so light it hung in the air like wisps of smoke around the model.
At a time fuelled by AI acceleration, the collection seems to theorise how our clothes might be on the verge of achieving sentience.
Schiaparelli
Under the helm of designer Daniel Roseberry, Schiaparelli's Back To The Future show examined how Parisian fashion reached new heights in the 1940s, just as the city fell to the Nazi occupation. The period forced designers, including Elsa Schiaparelli herself, to flee.
This was expressed as impeccable, two-piece tweedy suits, dresses cut and carved into the waist, or lavished with hundreds of embroidered eyes, as well as exquisite bull-fighter-style bolero jackets and cropped trousers.
Amid elegant coats trimmed with velvet and fur, and capes smothered in silver starburst embroidery, the collection's star appeared as a vivid, blood-red dress made entirely back-to-front.
Anatomically correct, the female form now ran down the model's spine and topped with a three-dimensional, beaded heart at the base of her neck. Thanks to some backstage mastery, said heart appeared to beat, pulsing hypnotically. Despite being surrounded by such handcrafted marvels, the effect brought us sharply back to, well, the heart of the story; the visceral terror of war.
Georges Hobeika
Lebanese couture house Georges Hobeika presented a show called The New Order, which unfolded in genteel elegance. Opening with a moulded corset over frilled bloomers, this was followed by another sculptural torso that was exaggerated around the hips, before slowly unfurling to the gossamer, flowing looks that Hobeika made his name on, scattered with beading and paillets.
Shades shifted from bone white to nude, mocha and eventually to red, and finally to black. Designs ranged from flapper dresses, sheer bodice gowns and sharply pleated skirts to graceful off-the-shoulder looks scattered with fabric petals. Necklines were also a keen focus throughout, from square cuts to high and tight.
The closing bridal look was a silver beaded confection, so tightly worked that it looked as though the model's hips were covered in hammered silver. It served as an apt finale to a show that outlined precisely why Hobeika, and his son Jad, have been a constant presence at Paris Haute Couture Week since January 2017. Catering to women who desire a wardrobe of ravishingly beautiful cocktail dresses and gowns, spun from chiffon and featuring hundreds of hours of handwork, the looks brought to life by this father and son team are the stuff of dreams.
Rahul Mishra
Becoming Love was the title of Rahul Mishra 's show held inside a vaulted cathedral space in Paris. The collection explored Sufism and the notion of the seven stages of love, echoing attraction, infatuation, surrender, reverence, devotion, obsession and even death. In Mishra's hand, these became ephemeral constructions, such as the opening look that surrounded the model in golden curves.
Another look featured a sheer sheath, covered in delicate lotus flowers, while nods to artist Gustav Klimt appeared as swirls that adorned dresses and a billowing cape. With such a skilled atelier at his fingertips, Mishra is able to breathe life into the most lofty concepts, transforming each into a delicate, marvellous creation.