The abundant lightness of the Paris Haute Couture Week FW26 Some have set aside the overload to make way for a cloudy aesthetic that is not to displease us

While the major fashion houses have deserted the Paris runways, some preparing for a well-deserved break and others already gearing up for a September that will soon appear, the spirit and silhouettes of haute couture—which just presented its FW26 collections—linger in the capital. The word couture holds many meanings. It can be heavy, theatrical, extravagant, or exaggerated. Yet this season, a disarming lightness took hold of the runway shows. A novelty, one might say, as there was a time when couture was synonymous with adornment. One thinks notably of the work of he who could be seen as the undisputed master of pompous, overloaded, even rococo fashion, John Galliano, who at Dior from 1997 to 2011 presented couture as the anti-thesis of "less is more". For Galliano, the more, the better. Fabrics are decorated, embroidered, the voluminous silhouettes defy gravity, and accessories abound. At the same time, at Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld, opulence was also in full swing. Tweed, a heavy and thick fabric, was used in winter and summer alike, pearls were abundant, as were golden buttons and accessories. Over time, French couture evolved but maintained this idea of abundance and excess. However, last week, heaviness was the last word that came to mind as the collections unfolded. Could we then be witnessing a new era of couture made of tulle and veil?

We might answer this question positively just by looking at the Lever Couture show and its debut collection Anatomy of Identity. Presented at the Palais de Tokyo, the collection by Ukrainian designer Lessja Verlingier is a weightless journey into a dreamy imagination. Through the use of tulle and calming nature-inspired tones, soft and transparent mesh resembling a veil, nude sequins echoing skin, and “cream waben mesh”—a honeycomb-like textured fabric adding volume and pattern without heaviness—the collection is of bewildering lightness. Meanwhile, Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen continues to lift us off the ground while keeping our feet on it, with vaporous and voluminous silhouettes so light it seems her models might take flight at any moment. Italian Giambattista Valli, the undisputed king of cloud-like meringue gowns, also presented, as usual, a collection where volume rhymed with lightness. For Parisian haute couture, it seems that lightness equals success. Who knows, maybe in the near future, silhouettes will be filled with tulle and airy decor.