Welcome to our new series: an unfiltered, stream of consciousness Paris fashion week fall 2026 diary recounting the real life moments, thoughts, and magical highlights that make the best week of fashion month so interesting. Read all of our diary entries for the season here.
Paris fashion week is easily the longest fashion week in the world, clocking in at nine full days. Yet this season, the organizers switched some things around, leaving the last few days feeling emptier than usual. On the second to last day, I wore my 1960s Lord & Taylor psychedelic housecoat, with patchwork pants, a t-shirt and excessive jewelry as always, with a vintage Fendi bag. The coat is one of my most complimented pieces of all time, it amazingly appeals to both maximalists and minimalists.
Zimmermann hosted a really beautiful 1920s inspired show full of gorgeous gowns, luscious outerwear and perfectly ruffled and feathered prints. The show felt laidback. Backstage, designer Nicky Zimmermann said she was inspired by strong Australian women, including her own grandmother who was a lifeguard.
I had a huge break, so I snuck off to the outlets right outside of Paris. La Vallée Village is extremely hit or miss. But when it’s good, it’s really good. I’ll be sharing what I bought soon in another post devoted to my Paris haul (which also includes lots of vintage).
I made it back just in time for the Kiko Kostadinov show, which is always a highlight for me. They are one of the few brands making extremely, joyfully weird clothes that are still wearable. There’s a lot of layering, pattern play and really unusual silhouettes that feel almost like an interpretation of retro futurism through the lens of cool women. Think: twisted shoulders, excessive draping, off-kilter colors and architectural silhouettes that aren’t conventionally “flattering”. I loved that this season felt extremely earthy and forest-like, with models walking through a white little house inside an old, high ceiling venue with marble tiled floors.
Immediately following, I went to the Abra show which showcased some wow-worthy textures: fringe, corsetry, ruffles, padding shaped like couches, geometric leather shapes and generally oversized silhouettes that just felt fun. Later I watched the Chanel livestream and fell in love with the holographic hair and excessive embellishment toward the end of the collection.
On the final day of Paris fashion week, I also watched the Louis Vuitton livestream and loved the insane, bulbous shapes and dedication to nature. Like Kiko, I think designers are musing a lot about touching grass and chilling out in the forest this season.
My final day, however, is always devoted to my favorite, Miu Miu. It’s one of the most exciting shows to analyze conceptually, and it also sets some of the biggest trends for the coming season. Like I said in my other diaries, I never want to dress specifically for shows, but I do like to pay tribute to Miu Miu since I extensively collect it and also wrote a book on it! I chose my pink plastic rain jacket from 2014 and decided on an all-pink look. The day before, I found the Prada scarf sunglasses at the outlet and they worked perfectly with the look. I read somewhere that only three of these were produced, but I don’t think that’s accurate. They are, however, extremely rare–I can’t seem to find them anywhere else for sale.
Miu Miu has one of the biggest, most boisterous crowds and it always feels like a swan song of seeing all the street style photographers we’ve visited with for weeks for the last time…at least until the next six months.
The show venue really outdid itself and transformed into a forest (continuing the trend!) with a grass floor, dirt, sticks and moss that were being tended to and rearranged as we waited for the show to start. Red patterned walls were the ultimate contrast. Icons Chloë Sevigny (who first walked the Miu Miu runway in 1996, and again in 2019) and Gillian Anderson modeled in the show, wearing simplified, toned down suits, separates and dresses that had a similar vibe to the label’s 1990s collections. The collection was titled Mindful Intimacy.
After the show ended, I raced to the back of the venue to join the group interview, which is always one of the most stressful parts of the fashion month: getting there in time and being close enough to hear. Mrs. Prada said the show was about feeling small in the vastness of the world.
I think there the collection represented elements of feeling perceived; and private vs public personas. I interpreted the simplistic clothing as being symbols of homogeneous coexistence, and the accessories, which were extremely maximalist, as being defining rebellious voices or pieces of personal identity that one can hang on to. I know I’ll be dreaming about the personality-defining rhinestone-studded trapper hats, distressed fedoras, tinted sunglasses, vintage inspired bubble-soled boots, tangerine-hued glitter mary jane heels, and best of all, those jumbo flower beaded earrings for the next six months. I love seeing pieces so closely tied to the archives.
All images © Sudden Chic.
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