Paris Haute Couture: A Beautiful Spectacle With A Quiet Relevance

My social feeds this past week have been saturated with Parisian glamour. Sculptural designs covered in hand embellishments, carefully curated front rows, celebrities posed donning their personal endorsements. Haute Couture Week has once again unfolded as a total visual installation fashion, fame, theatre and fantasy rolled into one.

Much of the media frenzy has centred on the usual heavyweights, such as: Jonathan Anderson’s much-anticipated debut for Dior, alongside Chanel, Valentino and Armani Privé. The front row, arguably, received as much coverage as the collections themselves. Which raises a familiar but unavoidable question: ‘What relevance does haute couture actually have for the rest of us?’

Couture, undeniably, is an art form. It represents the pinnacle of craftsmanship, artisanal skill and creative freedom. It preserves skills that would otherwise disappear – embroidery, beading, couture tailoring, hours upon hours of human labour poured into a single garment. And yet, the reality is that couture exists well beyond everyday reach. With prices typically starting around €20,000 and rising well beyond €100,000 per look, it is a world designed for the few, admired by the many.

So perhaps the true value of couture today isn’t wearability, but meaning. And that meaning is often most clearly expressed away from the biggest names and loudest spotlights. A world away from fast fashion couture works closer to the season, and respects the materials and the skilled artisans that invest time and craftsmanship in every piece.

Beyond the Big Guns

(Juana Martín)

Crowded out by celebrity FROWs and brand spectacle, several designers this week reminded us why couture still matters – not as excess, but as expression, identity, and intention.

Juana Martín, presenting Presagio, delivered one of the most symbolically rich collections of the week. Rooted in Spanish heritage, the collection placed the horse at its centre, an ancestral omen of journey, conflict, transformation and triumph. Sculptural volumes echoed equestrian anatomy, garments moving between armour and skin. This was couture as storytelling: resilience rendered through form, elegance built from tension and release. Martín continues to carve out a singular voice in Paris, where fashion becomes memory, symbol and future vision.

(Elephant Princess)

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Elephant Princess offered a quieter, deeply introspective take on couture. In a season dominated by spectacle, the house proposed restraint. Founder Vivian Lee’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Wings of Ganesha, explored protection not as control, but as inner strength. Inspired by Ganesha as a symbol of wisdom and guidance, the collection translated spirituality into couture through feathered shoulders, talismanic embroidery, detachable skirts, and silhouettes designed to support movement rather than constrain it.

The palette; nude, black, soft grey, patinated gold whispered rather than shouted. Luxury here was defined by precision, lightness, and emotional intelligence. Elephant Princess reminded us that couture doesn’t need to overwhelm to be powerful. Sometimes, it simply needs to feel human.

(CHOCHENGCO)

Meanwhile, CHOCHENGCO brought cinematic appeal and responsibility together with Pretty Peplum. Inspired by Pretty Woman, the collection leaned into Hollywood femininity while grounding itself firmly in modern ethics. The peplum, sculptural yet soft, anchored the collection, reimagined through vegan materials such as cotton bouclé and velvet. White emerged as a symbol of optimism, balancing bold reds, while sustainability sat at the heart of the couture process: made-to-order, low-waste, and crafted in London with plans to relocate the atelier to Paris.

Here, couture wasn’t about nostalgia, it was about evolution. A reminder that fantasy and responsibility don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

So, Who Is Couture For?

Haute couture may never be for us “mere mortals” in a transactional sense. Most of us will never own it, let alone wear it. But its relevance lies elsewhere. Couture sets the cultural temperature. It safeguards skills, pushes ideas and offers fashion a space to slow down in an industry addicted to speed.

When stripped of celebrity noise and front-row theatrics, couture still has something vital to say about craftsmanship, identity, sustainability, and the future of fashion as a cultural practice.

Perhaps couture’s role today isn’t to be attainable. Perhaps it’s to remind us what fashion can be when time, care, and intention are allowed back into the process. And for that, even as spectators, it still deserves its own platform and our attention.