Chanel Fall Winter 2025-2026 “The Bow, The Pearl, and The Ribbon”. Story by RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo Courtesy: Chanel.

Under the iconic glass roof of the Grand Palais, Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2025/26 Ready-to-Wear collection unfolded like a meticulously choreographed illusion. Spearheaded by the Creation Studio and framed by scenographer Willo Perron’s soaring black ribbon installation, the collection played with proportion, perception, and the house’s most cherished codes. The result? A spectacle where the boundaries between scale and silhouette blurred, transforming the familiar into something entirely unexpected.

Distorted Proportions, Reimagined Classics

From the very first look, it was clear that Chanel was embracing a new dimension of contrast—where the petite met the oversized, and the structured dissolved into the fluid. A mini tweed jacket in shades of blue, white, and pink clashed exquisitely with elongated, sweeping trousers. A seemingly classic poplin shirt extended down to the ankles, while a little black tweed jacket, edged with signature Chanel braid, stretched into the realm of a long coatdress. Even a cape found itself transformed, ending in precise jacket cuffs rather than a flowing hem.

This play on proportion was more than a mere stylistic trick—it was a reexamination of silhouette and movement, challenging traditional tailoring and questioning what luxury can look like in an era of shifting aesthetics.

The Bow, The Pearl, The Ribbon—Chanel’s DNA on a Grand Scale

If the manipulation of shape dominated the collection’s tailoring, Chanel’s decorative signatures took center stage in exaggerated, almost theatrical form. The bow—an eternal house motif—appeared in every imaginable incarnation: delicate ribbons bloomed along collars and cuffs, cascaded down the length of gowns, and adorned the ankles of a black down jacket and sweatpants set, injecting eveningwear decadence into casualwear. A sweeping white knitted ribbon twisted around a black sweater, culminating in a grand bow at the shoulder, while dresses, cardigans, and sweaters flaunted voluminous or cut-out bow detailing.

Jewelry, too, played with illusion. A cross-body bag masqueraded as an oversized pearl necklace, while shoe heels were sculpted from singular pearls, echoing Chanel’s perpetual fascination with trompe l’oeil effects. Rhinestone-encrusted jewelry sets embraced maximalist glamour, further emphasizing the house’s ongoing dialogue between classicism and reinvention.

Layering as Optical Illusion

Beyond proportion, layering became a key technique in crafting the collection’s surrealist appeal. A three-piece grenadine tweed ensemble balanced a micro-jacket with a wrap skirt and flared trousers, while another bronze-hued look paired a tunic with trousers and a buttoned-over skirt. Elsewhere, a sleeveless gilet layered over a long ivory slit skirt and a miniskirt redefined how elements of an outfit interact with one another.

Transparency introduced yet another layer of complexity. An ethereal flounced cape in black or white tulle hovered over tailored tweed suits, allowing the movement of fabric to dictate the visual narrative. A black tulle blouse and skirt enveloped an ecru trouser suit, while a white tulle long shirt with puffed sleeves softened the lines of an ecru jacket-dress. In these moments, Chanel’s mastery of contrast—between delicacy and structure, opacity and translucence—was at its most poetic.

A Dreamlike Finale

Delicacy remained an undercurrent throughout, manifesting in chiffon jeans, silk woven to mimic tweed, and a print of floating ribbon motifs. A hooded parka in black organza, embellished with bows, blurred the line between outerwear and haute couture fantasy. Accessories completed the picture of a dreamlike reverie—sock-ankle boots, satin bouillonné details gracing the vamp of evening shoes, and detachable ruff collars blooming like corollas. Black wool lace trench coats, their inlays of enhanced faux fur adding depth, and black sweaters adorned with 3D petal plastrons punctuated the collection with an unmistakable air of poetry.

In its entirety, Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2025/26 collection felt like a dialogue between past and future, heritage and modernity. The house’s classic codes—pearls, tweed, ribbons—remained firmly intact, yet their execution was nothing short of radical. Like the fairytales Chanel has often drawn inspiration from, this collection conjured an alternate reality—one where fashion is both illusion and mastery, where the boundaries of proportion, perception, and tradition are continually reimagined.

Chanel’s theatre of dreamlike illusions leaves us with one certainty: in the house’s hands, reinvention is an art form.

See All Looks Chanel Fall Winter 2025-2026