Chanel Fall/Winter 2025/26 at Paris Fashion Week: A House in Poetic Transition
House of Chanel - Paris Fashion Week 2025
There are seasons when Chanel feels untouchable — sealed in its own mythology of tweed, camellias, and pearls. And then there are seasons like Fall/Winter 2025/26 at Paris Fashion Week, where the house doesn’t abandon its codes, but softens them, stretches them, and lets them drift somewhere dreamlike.
Staged beneath the soaring glass dome of the Grand Palais, the show unfolded like a meditation on proportion and memory. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t aggressively modern. Instead, it felt suspended — as if Chanel was pausing to exhale before its next major evolution.
Tweed, But Make It Fluid
Tweed remains the heartbeat of Chanel, but this season it moved differently. Jackets were slightly elongated or cropped to new proportions. Micro skirts were paired with dramatically long, fluid trousers. Bouclé suits appeared layered under sheer capes, softening their usual precision.
There was a quiet subversion at play: tailoring wasn’t dismantled — it was blurred. Structure gave way to transparency. Heaviness met air.
The result? A Chanel woman who feels less armoured and more atmospheric.
The Exaggeration of House Codes
If you love Chanel for its symbolism, this collection delivered — but with a twist.
Bows were oversized and unapologetic, cascading down shoulders and backs. Pearls weren’t just necklaces; they appeared enlarged, stylized, sometimes integrated into belts and accessories. Camellia motifs surfaced subtly, never kitschy, always controlled.
It was as though the atelier took every iconic emblem and asked: What happens if we turn the volume up slightly — but keep the elegance intact?
The answer was playful without being ironic. Romantic without being saccharine.
Sheer Layers for a Winter That Isn’t Heavy
One of the most interesting tensions in the collection was seasonal. For Fall/Winter, there was an unexpected lightness: chiffon veils, translucent sleeves, and tulle overlays softened coats and suits. It created a trompe l’oeil effect — garments that looked structured from afar but dissolved into delicacy up close.
Rather than leaning into cold-weather heaviness, Chanel proposed winter as something ethereal. A mood rather than a climate.
A Brand Between Eras
There was an undeniable sense that this show marked a transitional moment. It felt reverent — deeply respectful of Gabrielle Chanel’s design language — yet searching for subtle expansion. Nothing felt radically disruptive. Instead, the innovation was in proportion, layering, and tone.
Critically, the response has been mixed in the most interesting way: some praising its romantic restraint and craftsmanship, others questioning whether it pushed far enough. But perhaps that’s the point. Chanel rarely shouts. It recalibrates.
Final Thoughts
Chanel Fall/Winter 2025/26 wasn’t about reinvention. It was about atmosphere. About stretching familiar codes until they feel slightly surreal. About reminding us that heritage houses don’t always need to shock — sometimes they need to refine.
In a season filled with spectacle, Chanel offered poetry.
And sometimes, that’s the most powerful move of all
