The best of Paris Haute Couture Week SS25 so far

Twice a year, Haute Cou­ture week descends on Paris, defy­ing struc­tur­al and sar­to­r­i­al bound­aries through cre­ative crafts­man­ship. To par­tic­i­pate, each fash­ion house must receive Haute Cou­ture sta­tus from the Cham­bre Syn­di­cale de la Haute Cou­ture in Paris, and design (by hand) upwards of 35 looks twice a year. This arti­sanal work fus­es the avant-garde with the antique, draw­ing on ele­ments of the past to pro­pel fash­ion for­wards.
From the mytho­log­i­cal at Schi­a­par­el­li to the cre­ative mus­es of Alex­is Mabille, here are OVERDUE’s high­lights from Paris Haute Cou­ture Week Spring 2025 so far.

Words by Ella Mansell

Schi­a­par­el­li

Daniel Roseberry’s Schi­a­par­el­li SS25 Haute Cou­ture col­lec­tion soared with ambi­tion, draw­ing from the myth of Icarus—a reflec­tion of the designer’s own “quest for per­fec­tion”. The invi­ta­tion, a gold cast feath­er, set the stage for gar­ments that trib­ute a lin­eage of canon­i­cal cou­turi­ers before him, from Azze­dine Alaïa’s sculpt­ed curves to Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smok­ing and Charles Fred­er­ick Worth’s struc­tured gowns. How­ev­er, the cou­ture col­lec­tion bore hum­ble begin­nings: con­ceived in an antique shop stock­ing rib­bons from the 1920s and 1930s, these silk and satin pieces wove a his­tor­i­cal romance into the dresses. 

Padded hips and crino­line under­scored impos­si­bly nar­row waists, while seduc­tive neck­lines plunged and the­atri­cal­ly flared out­ward. Though, godets on the dress hem­lines added flu­id­i­ty and ensured that it wasn’t just the waist-lines vying for all the atten­tion. Embroi­dered details took an uncon­ven­tion­al turn, craft­ed not with thread but enam­el and Schiaparelli’s sig­na­ture fuch­sia reap­peared in a fringed 1940s-inspired jack­et. Mean­while Roseberry’s own draw­ings were satin-stitched into gar­ments, fur­ther embed­ding his vision into the house’s evolv­ing identity. 

The col­lec­tion reject­ed mod­ern min­i­mal­ism in favour of grandeur, embrac­ing instead the imag­i­nary free­dom of mythol­o­gy.  “How high can we cou­turi­ers go?” Rose­ber­ry mused, before answer­ing, “as high as the sun—and the gods—allow.”

Gior­gio Armani Privé

Armani Privé embraced all that glit­ters for the brand’s 20th anniver­sary show; bead­ed stitch­ing across light-weight, trans­par­ent tops met swathed silk skirts and sculpt­ed evening gowns, each tes­ti­fy­ing to the high­ly-skilled lega­cy of the fash­ion house. 3D flo­ral sequinned appliqués reflect­ed the shine of the stuc­coed ceil­ings of Palaz­zo Armani, where the col­lec­tion was housed, just like the metal­lic sheen of the jack­ets and bal­loon-leg trousers, shaped with hints to the Ori­ent. Pearls were promi­nent — mir­rored in the greyed tone of the satin waist­coat and zig-zag print­ed jack­et of the open­ing look — and the gold-tint­ed sheers shim­mered in tune with the synth sound­track. “Haute cou­ture is fash­ion when it becomes art” Armani elo­quent­ly sum­maris­es, and ‘art’ this col­lec­tion cer­tain­ly was.

Tama­ra Ralph

Sweet, sug­ar, Tama­ra Ralph: the Paris-based salon offered can­dy floss and all things nice with an ultra-fem­i­nine and ele­gant cou­ture col­lec­tion. A bou­quet of pink blos­somed on the cat­walk, as bright rasp­ber­ry hues undu­lat­ed with del­i­cate pas­tel rose across every­thing from silk cinched satins to sheer gloves. Mean­while, weave caged rib­bons, enam­elled flow­ers, feath­er-trimmed boudoir robes, and superla­tive bows only teased the sac­cha­rine notes. The col­lec­tion is apt­ly named Poé­tique Sym­pho­ny, as a solo pianist per­form­ing on a grand piano ser­e­nad­ed the gar­ments down the run­way, the sub­tle acoustics of the keys echo­ing against the expan­sive walls of the Amer­i­can Cathe­dral in Paris.

Alex­is Mabille

A phrase as friv­o­lous in feel­ing as “we are amaz­ing” is rarely declared in fashion’s all-too-seri­ous vibe. But that’s just the sen­ti­ment Alex­is Mabille is offer­ing this Haute Cou­ture Week, with the jovial gar­ments to match. For the brand’s anniver­sary col­lec­tion this sea­son, Alex­is Mabille cel­e­brat­ed colour, mate­r­i­al, and dec­o­ra­tion all at once: bead­ed tulle, pleat­ed organ­za, metallics, pas­tels, and leop­ard print includ­ed. Tulle skirt­ing pil­lowed from beneath ball­go­wns and paired with gold tuxe­do jack­ets (cinched at the waist, nat­u­ral­ly), while volute col­lars craft­ed from silk-coloured crepe curved around long sheath dress­es. Hero­ing indi­vid­u­al­i­ty, each look in the col­lec­tion is named after a dif­fer­ent muse of the brand, from French bal­let dancer and chore­o­g­ra­ph­er Marie-Agnès Gillot to Ger­man pho­tog­ra­ph­er Ellen von Unwerth and mod­el Paula Eng­bert — each “amaz­ing” women in their own right.

Rahul Mishra

A frag­ment­ed sense of our dystopi­an future loomed over the poet­i­cal­ly-craft­ed gowns at Rahul Mishra’s Spring 2025 Cou­ture Col­lec­tion. Titled The Pale Blue Dot, inspired by the book by Amer­i­can astronomer Carl Sagan of the same name, the col­lec­tion grap­ples with the real threats of pol­lu­tion and cli­mate change on city life. Across the pieces, there was a sense of fragili­ty and resilience at once, as organ­ic tex­tures of rep­til­ian scales, 3D crows cir­cling an evening gown, and bold pea­cock-like plumage were all black­ened. This show stood out for its immense vol­umes and forms; over 2,000 arti­sans worked across the pieces, each help­ing to her­ald the tal­ent of Indi­an craftsmanship.

Georges Hobei­ka

Georges Hobei­ka poignant­ly trib­uted this season’s cou­ture col­lec­tion to his late moth­er, Marie Hobei­ka, a core muse for the design­er. While run­way shows tend to debut dark evening wear last, the run­way opened with the glob­al colour of grief via black heav­i­ly feath­ered over­coats and rich vel­vet dress­es. There were plen­ty of nods to the celes­tial too, jour­ney­ing from the cos­mic embroi­dered con­stel­la­tions to a god­dess-like puri­ty, as gold lau­rel wreaths wrap around crisp-white gowns, a trib­ute to the per­ma­nence of fam­i­ly mem­o­ry and ties.

RDVK Ronald van der Kemp 

Titled Let the Sun Shine In, the lat­est haute cou­ture col­lec­tion by the epony­mous design­er, Ronald van der Kemp, affords a viva­cious use of colour in the heart of Paris’ grey win­ter. Four looks from the col­lec­tion homage the artistry of hand­wo­ven Thai silk, flit­ting between La Reine Ser­pent, a gold gown adorned with a col­lage of Thai silk jacquards, and Homage à Thai­land, with 3D shoul­der and waist detail­ing. Haute Cou­ture is often a search for new­er, big­ger, grander, how­ev­er this sea­son RVDK — as the brand has done since 2014 — looked to rein­vent the fash­ion wheel with “new ethics in lux­u­ry fash­ion”. Every piece from the col­lec­tion was fash­ioned from vin­tage or sur­plus cou­ture fab­rics, includ­ing leather cut­tings from lux­u­ry bag brands as well as feath­ers, but­tons, pearls, and beads plucked from vin­tage jew­ellery and art. The col­lec­tion is a reminder that despite its almost super­nat­ur­al forms, human craft and cre­ativ­i­ty are at the core of couture.

Lead image cred­it: Tama­ra Ralph