PARIS FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER 2026: DAY 4
editors ELIANA CASA, MAREK BARTEK, MARIA MOTA and MARIE-PAULINE CESARI
UMA WANG
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images UMA WANG provided by the brand
Change was the word on Uma Wang’s mind this season. Last time was about bows and cinched waists, and this spring was their undoing: silhouettes loosened, shoulders softened, and the body was freed into cascading lines. The inspiration came from marble — the draped statues of the Virtues in Mantua’s Palazzo Te — where fabric turned stone seems to twist, veil and fall forever. Wang translated that language into clothes that ripple with ease yet keep just enough structure to hold their shape.
The palette of travertine, fossil, dune and anthracite felt lifted straight from ancient walls, while fabric treatments mimicked age and erosion: a crinkle-coated jacket with the texture of parchment, jacquards that looked weathered but refined. Drapes and cutouts revealed quiet surprises at the back, while knotting, distressed knits and embroidery pushed texture forward. It was a collection of softness with strength, a quiet study in how to let fabric move like marble in motion.
RICK OWENS
review by NIA TOPALOVA
all images RICK OWENS via vogue.com
Designed not to please, Rick Owens’ SS26 women’s collection was unmistakably brutal in form yet strictly precise in execution. Coinciding with the opening of his retrospective Temple of Love across the street at Palais Galliera, the show began with models walking ankle-deep on water, across the flooded floor of the Galliera courtyard’s grey skies. Below, a disturbingly reversed loop of Jefferson Airplane’s Somebody to Love played in slow distortion, dragging the song’s optimism backwards.
Dresses and skirts were whipped into form with control, crafted from recycled nylon and latex-dipped sequined tulle manipulated by Paris fetish artist Matisse Di Maggio. Every panel was dipped, dried, brushed, and polished until it reached a hardened, crust-like surface. Beneath, sheer architectural layers mapped the naked body without exposing it, flirting with vulnerability but offering none. Cropped trench jackets were layered over long matching vests to build compressed, functional silhouettes. Leather jackets with Dracu collars and weeping fringe appeared beside washed-out flight jackets in faded, cotton-candy tones. Straytukay’s heavyweight handwoven leathers, tanned in Tuscany, added movement, letting weight articulate the body.
The Suicide collaboration grounded the collection in minimalist violence. Alan Vega and Martin Rev’s legacy was translated into deconstructed leathers produced in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The materials carried a sense of mortality, feeling worn, lived-in, and at times already in the process of decay.
Rick Owens builds spaces where resistance and vulnerability coexist, delivering garments that challenge the way we perceive the human body, its movements, and how it holds up under pressure. The collection demanded a deeper engagement with form and function, endurance and complexity, where the body is both protected and exposed, and clothing becomes an actual tool of survival.
VIKTOR&ROLF
review by PHOEBE PHOEBE GIBSON-DOUGALL
all images VIKTOR&ROLF provided by the brand
In March of this year, after a decade-long hiatus, the fashion world was blessed with Viktor&Rolf’s ready-to-wear return. During their absence, the Dutch duo made haute couture their sole focus, a decision which heavily influenced their SS26 collection. Describing ready-to-wear as “…a souvenir we’ve brought back from the world of haute couture” the pair’s latest offering “translates the house’s minimal baroque spirit into sculptural silhouettes.” This was most evident in this season’s dresses, a focal point for the collection. Dramatic bows and ruffles adorn both minis and full-length gowns, juxtaposed against sleeker, more severe dresses. There is also creative exploration with denim pieces; sculpted jackets and ballooning pants are reimagined in the fabric, showing off the pair’s haute couture pedigree. This collection continues Viktor&Rolf’s victorious return to the world of ready-to-wear and presents a poetic new vision for what it can be.
SCHIAPARELLI
review by MAREK BARTEK
all images SCHIAPARELLI provided by the brand
Daniel Roseberry likes to say that Schiaparelli should feel like going to a museum, and last night at the Pompidou, which will soon close for renovations, he proved it again. “What once felt like a liability feels like a superpower,” he said of his ready-to-wear’s couture intensity. Rather than listening to the criticism and choosing between one or the other, Roseberry fused them until they became inseparable.
The opening skirt suits looked formal at first glance, until you noticed the padding flipped inside out, hips and shoulders exaggerated into sculptural accents. Knit dresses traced the body with trompe l’oeil nudes, a witty nod to Elsa herself, while bias-cut gowns featuring surreal “rips,” referenced the house’s closeness to Dalí. A suit bristling with paintbrushes turned into fur was pure theatre. Accessories consisting of melted-clock handbags, salt-lamp jewels lit from within, and shoes with toe nails or elegant laces. Ready-to-wear or couture? Roseberry is done drawing the line. This is Schiaparelli as fantasy for everyday life.