Looking back at the Spring–Summer 2026 haute couture season in Paris, the spotlight naturally fell on Matthieu Blazy’s fairy‑tale debut at Chanel, Schiaparelli’s emblematic high‑concept theatrics, and Gaurav Gupta’s sculptural fantasies, each distinguished by an exceptional level of craft and originality. Yet beyond these headline‑grabbing collections, several houses offered compelling, highly personal visions that deserve closer attention.
This Agnes Select review turns its gaze to Celia Kritharioti, Georges Chakra, byFANG, and Juana Martín, alongside the already well‑known Tamara Ralph. Through screen‑inspired staging, origami‑like constructions, and culturally charged symbols, these five designers advance powerful visual narratives and a nuanced approach to structure in contemporary couture.
Two Echoes of Cinematic Glamour: Celia Kritharioti & Georges Chakra
Celia Kritharioti, whose family house dates back to 1906 and is considered the oldest couture maison in Greece, made her official Paris debut this season as an invited member of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode with a collection titled Old Hollywood avant‑première. Staged at Pavillon Cambon, the show unfolded against deep black velvet curtains and expanses of white chiffon, transforming the venue into a cinema‑like premiere where, as the notes propose, “cinema is the architecture of dreams.”
At the heart of the collection lies cinematic glamour rendered through volume and surface. Taffeta, silk satin, and organza swell into almost gravity‑defying silhouettes, while cut‑feather fringes, floral lace incrustations, and chains of crystals drift around the body like smoke, creating starlet‑worthy outlines that remain surprisingly soft. The finale bride, cocooned in a monumental white tulle ball gown covered in embroidered floral lace, appears like a ballerina inside a music box, pushing the Old Hollywood fantasy to its most poetic extreme and showcasing the intense handiwork of the maison’s own workrooms and its Parisian embroidery and feather ateliers.
If Kritharioti revisits Hollywood’s extroverted glamour, Lebanese couturier Georges Chakra channels a cooler, more controlled cinematic mood drawn from black‑and‑white film. His Spring–Summer 2026 haute couture collection, often described as “structure in motion,” starts from 1940s screen‑sirens and sharpens them into sculpted bodices and coats with armour‑like corsetry and geometric seaming. Working mainly in powder pink, ivory, and pale gold, punctuated with touches of lilac and apricot, he softens the rigor of his tailoring with a film‑grain haze of colour, compressing the tension between hardness and fluidity into every seam.
