DIOR, SAINT LAURENT, CHANEL AND VALENTINO: A MODERN TAKE ON THE HISTORY OF HOUSE CODES

Paris Fashion Week (PFW) Autumn/Winter 2025-2026 ready-to-wear calendar featuring a total of 72 shows, 37 presentations and three key debuts, which ran between March 3 and 11, held plenty of promise. Most prominently, it held the promise of the reviving of history of house codes but also its ability to constitute a repertoire of new possibilities, especially in times of flux. Designers thus seemed united by a playful fascination with the archival past but also, with the intimate redefining of the female body expressing a desire to subtly challenge its boundaries via form, insert costume, and proportion.