INSIDE THE MAKING OF CAROLINE’S COUTURE 2026 THROUGH JAKOB SCHLAEPFER’S TEXTILE POETRY
editor MARIE-PAULINE CESARI
Ahead of the unveiling of Caroline’s Couture 2026 during the Cannes Film Festival, Numéro Netherlands was invited to St. Gallen, Switzerland, for an intimate look inside the making of the collection — a rare chance to discover the craftsmanship and creativity behind the couture pieces before they arrive on the Cannes red carpet.
There are some places where fashion feels less like an industry and more like pure magic. Jakob Schlaepfer’s ateliers in St. Gallen are definitely one of them.
Invited by Caroline’s Couture and Chopard, we traveled to Switzerland to discover the world behind the Caroline’s Couture 2026 collection, inspired by what Caroline Scheufele calls “the miracle of nature.” Before the gowns are revealed in Cannes on May 14, everything begins inside the ateliers and the experience honestly felt less like visiting a factory and more like stepping inside the creative process of couture itself.
From the beginning of the visit, nature was everywhere. Images taken in Caroline Scheufele’s Geneva garden became the starting point for many of the textile developments imagined by Jakob Schlaepfer. Flowers, water reflections, leaves, textures, and colors were transformed into fabrics through different techniques and experiments.
Inside the ateliers, every fabric felt like its own little world. Some materials looked almost liquid under the light, covered with sequins that reflected like morning dew. Others featured floral appliqués that seemed to grow directly from the fabric. We discovered laser-cut organza, hand embroidery, delicate layering, guipures, and incredible textile manipulations that turned fabrics into almost sculptural pieces. Watching the artisans work up close using the atelier’s machines was mesmerizing and made us realize how much detail exists behind couture garments — details you sometimes don’t even notice from afar!
What made the experience even more special was seeing all the experimentation behind the collection. We were shown archives, fabric samples, early developments, and different technique trials inspired by nature and flowers. It was fascinating to see how an idea evolves step by step into a final couture fabric.
There was also something very emotional and human about seeing couture at this stage. Before the runway, before Cannes, before the final looks, there are simply people working carefully with their hands — adjusting threads, placing embroidery one by one on the machines, testing textures and shapes until everything feels perfect.
In a moment where fashion moves faster than ever, visiting Jakob Schlaepfer was a reminder of the beauty of slowness, craftsmanship, and savoir-faire. A couture collection may only exist for a few minutes on a runway, but behind it are hundreds of hours of work, experimentation, and artistry. And maybe that’s the real magic of couture.