Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1539744
Louis Vuitton Spring/ Summer 2026 Creative director Pharrell Williams traded noise for nuance, presenting a collection defined by precision and quiet confidence. Tailoring was razor-clean yet fluid, with blazers, trousers, and silk layers that subtly referenced Indian menswear traditions. A palette of terracotta, deep brown, and softened neutrals let the craftsmanship speak — each seam, fold, and drape measured to perfection. The setting sealed the mood: the Centre Pompidou courtyard, glowing in the Paris twilight, hosting its last major event before a five-year closure for renovation. By the time the landmark reopens in 2030, this will stand as one of its final, unforgettable tableaux — a love letter to art, architecture, and the power of a well-cut jacket. This was Vuitton at its most self-assured: refined, deliberate, and quietly magnetic, proving that restraint can be the sharpest edge of all. Saint Laurent Summer 2026 Inside the Pinault Collection's Bourse de Commerce, Tadao Ando's cylindrical concrete wall sliced through the 18th- century rotunda with quiet force, framing Anthony Vaccarello's most precise and sensual menswear to date. At its center, Clinamen by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot — porcelain bowls gliding across a still, pale- blue pool — composed a hypnotic score of accidental collisions. The collection mirrored 68 this interplay of control and chance in its cropped shorts, sheer silks, languid trousers, and tailoring cut to perfection yet worn with ease. The palette drew on the hedonistic summers of Fire Island, tempered by Parisian restraint — ochre, moss, cerulean, and rust. The collection pays tribute to a lost generation — artists such as Stanton, Angus, and Ellis who gave a face to silent desires. And to Yves Saint Laurent himself, of course, who in 1974 sought refuge, only to create anew. In this alignment of Ando's architectural minimalism, Boursier-Mougenot's poetic soundscape, and Vaccarello's refined sensuality, Saint Laurent distilled high art and high fashion into perfect, unforced harmony. Willy Chavarria Spring/Summer 2026 In the Art Deco grandeur of Paris' Salle Pleyel — its marble foyers, sweeping curves, and gilded balconies shimmering under the house lights — Willy Chavarria staged a performance as precise as it was emotional. Choreographed by Pat Boguslawski, 35 street-cast models knelt in oversized white ACLU tees and shorts, a silent act of resistance that held the room in stillness. From the shadows, Vivir Quintana began her 2023 ballad "Te Mereces Un Amor," her voice backed by a live mariachi band. The sound swelled and then dissolved into the smoky ache of José Feliciano's "California Dreamin'," shifting the mood from protest to longing in a single breath. The collection unfolded like a film reel — relaxed pastel suiting with influences from workwear, silk shirts catching the light, wide- legged trousers in butter yellow, Bourdin blue, and uniform green. Banda-inspired ensembles swaggered down the runway, while immaculate florals staked their claim with Paris, in Focus P aris menswear Spring 2026 cut the volume and dialed up the precision. Pharrell Williams' Louis Vuitton moved in silk and terracotta whispers; Anthony Vaccarello's Saint Laurent played desire against restraint in Tadao Ando's concrete curve; Willy Chavarria turned protest into pure cinema; Jonathan Anderson rewired Dior with one calculated strike. Off the runway, the city became its own gallery — Demna's decade at Balenciaga dissected at Laennec, Rick Owens draping the Palais Galliera in sequins and stone, David Hockney washing the Fondation Louis Vuitton in electric light. Every moment felt edited, exacting, and impossible to forget. By Steven Hempel with Michelle Aviña Detail of runway floor at Pompidou Center, "Paris to India," Louis Vuitton Spring Summer 2026 Saint Laurent Men's Spring 2026 ready-to-wear collection