Haute Couture – Numéro Berlin

Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda and Alta Sartoria Collection

Anna Klusmeier — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 14:19:53 +0000

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana called the city “the triumph of Beauty.” From emperors to La Dolce Vita, they celebrated its power to inspire art, cinema, and fashion. Rome, they declared, remains the eternal muse of dreams and creation.

Photo by Luigi & Iango Model: Kristen McMenamy

Alta Moda collection which was presented at the Foro Romano celebrated Rome’s grandeur, blending ancient myth with Renaissance and Baroque splendor. Inspired by the elegance of 1950s cinema and couture, each handmade creation honored the city’s timeless artistry. It was a tribute to Rome as the heart of Alta Moda and Made in Italy.

Photo by Luigi & Iango Model: Kristen McMenamy

Presented at Castel Sant’Angelo, Alta Sartoria collection paid homage to ecclesiastical tailoring and Rome’s sacred legacy. Drawing from the robes of popes and cardinals, the collection showcased centuries of Italian craftsmanship. It was a union of faith, history, and meticulous handwork.

Photo by Luigi & Iango

HAUTE COUTURE WEEK IN PARIS: FROM SCULPTURAL ROMANCE TO RADICAL MINIMALISM

Anna Klusmeier — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:21:01 +0000

CELINE – READY TO WEAR

Michael Rider presented his striking debut collection as Creative Director of CELINE, marking a powerful return to the house. “Coming back has been incredibly emotional for me. And a complete joy,” he shared. Under his vision, CELINE reasserts its core values: quality, timelessness, and style – elusive concepts, often spoken about but rarely embodied with such clarity. Rider and his team worked to translate these ideals into a wardrobe that reflects attitude as much as identity. “I’ve always loved the idea of clothing that lives on,” he says, pieces that resonate beyond a single season, becoming part of a life, a memory, a history.

With this first collection, Rider manages to capture both the utility and the fantasy of fashion – the now, the past, and what’s still to come.

SCHIAPARELLI – BACK TO THE FUTURE

Daniel Roseberry’s latest collection for Schiaparelli blurs the boundaries between past and futurism with a haunting black-and-white palette. Inspired by Elsa Schiaparelli’s departure from Paris in 1940, the collection reimagines a world on the edge, poised between elegance and upheaval. Gone are corsets; in their place, sculptural silhouettes and surrealist trompe l’oeil textures evoke both restraint and release.

The entire show can be conceived as a surrealist trompe l’oeil, from the makeup to the fabrics, and fantasy pieces that dazzle: A reworked “Apollo” cape in black diamanté starbursts, a 3D-embroidered “Squiggles and Wiggles” dress, and the dreamlike “Eyes Wide Open” gown with iris cabochons and a silk tulle train.

“It’s too easy to romanticize the past. It’s too easy to fear the present,” say the show’s notes. This is couture that resists nostalgia, asking instead how archival memory can shape a post-technological future: One free of screens, shaped by hands, and grounded in imagination.

GEORGES HOBEIKA – THE NEW ORDER

Georges Hobeika is presenting its newest collection „The New Order“ This Bezeichnung is wegweisend in the presentation. In heavy and uncertain times we are gifted a momentum of stillness by reminding us of true craftsmanship while Beauty agiert as a werkzeug to create and resell.

The collection is finding its roots in elegance while boldly staying true to tradition and its ambiguity between weakness and strength. While masterfully honoring Couture Fashion and adding value to it, the pieces stand out as individuals – grounded and resolute.

After 30 years of existence the House of Georges Hobeika shows once again how true couture is desirable, timeless and never not relevant.

RAHUL MISHRA – BECOMING LOVE

In Sufism, love grows through seven steps: attraction, infatuation, letting go, respect, devotion, obsession, and finally, the loss of self into something bigger. It starts gently and grows until there’s only stillness.This collection traces that journey. The clothes flow like lines in a love story, inspired by Gustav Klimt’s art and brought to life with traditional Indian embroidery. Rahul Mishra’s team of almost 2000 fashion workers uses age-old techniques with silk threads, pearls, beads, and sequins on fine fabrics like organza, tulle, velvet, and satin. Every piece is shaped by careful metalwork too. Each garment honors slow, skilled work and the people behind it, sharing India’s artistry with the world.

CHANEL – FALL-WINTER 25/26 HAUTE COUTURE

With this collection, CHANEL invites us to wander through a refined pastoral dream. Staged in the Salon d’Honneur at the Grand Palais and envisioned by Willo Perron, the show recalls the quiet elegance of Gabrielle Chanel’s salons at 31 rue Cambon. Inspired by the fresh breeze of English countrysides and Scottish moors, the garments consist of reimagined winter classics through a lens of freedom and natural harmony, featuring natural shades of ecru, ivory, brown, green and black.

Tweed is, of course, a central element: Transformed into featherlight mohair, bouclé mimicking sheepskin, and illusionary faux fur. Soft, earthy hues in ecru, green, plum, and black echo the landscape’s palette. Wheat motifs, long symbolic of abundance in Chanel’s lexicon, are woven into chiffon, buttons, and embroidery, while floral details and gilded lace nod to the sunlight breaking through grey skies.

At the end, the cold English day turns into sunlight, magnifying its reflections with jewel-buttons, embroidery, gold and silver ennobled lace and a flounced dress in orange tones lamé. This is couture rooted in nature, crafted with clarity and emotion, basically modern feminine elegance with room to breathe.

ROBERT VAN DER KEMP – THE CALL OF THE WILD

Robert van der Kemp forms a personal homage to nature and human craftsmanship with his haut couture collection the Call of the Wild. In Collaboration with a collective of Brazilian Indigenous artisans and friend Thayná Caiçara and inspired by the lush vibrancy of the Amazon rainforest and its winged inhabitants, the collection evokes the beauty of both Earth’s flora and fashion’s flamboyant. Materials are reimagined: discarded fabrics become majestic corsets, jungle-dyed silks, sculptural plissés, and art collages stitched from feathers, beads, trinkets, and memories. Each of the 32 looks stands as a one-of-a-kind creation. Telling stories through the act of upcycling and celebrating of real-world beauty and resilience.In an era of excess, RVDK reminds us that luxury can be ethical, rebellious, and radiant. A couture that’s transforming the discarded into the divine.

GIORGIO ARMANI PRIVÉ – NOIR SÉDUISANT

Far from being monotonous, black offers an entire spectrum of nuances and possibilities while seemingly only being one shade. Giorgio Armani has always been drawn to it, as it represents synthesis, graphic purity that transforms every silhouette into a timeless mark. In this collection, the designer captures black’s most elegant, nocturnal, and seductive side, while once again exploring the dialogue between masculine and feminine.

Introduced by fluid garments with vivid embroidered accents, black takes the runway in a series of reinterpretations of the tuxedo and tailcoat, in sculptural jackets worn on bare skin or blazers styled with a white shirt, bow tie, and slim-fit trousers. Graced by black reoccurring hats, the models do look like they came straight out of classic and elegant fashion illustrations.

ROBERT WUN – BECOMING

Robert Wun makes a powerful statement with his Fall/Winter 2025 collection, Becoming. This body of work is an ode to the quiet, often unseen ritual of getting dressed. Those delicate moments when we shift from private to public, gathering courage as each layer goes on. Inspired by the beauty of the incomplete and the almost-ready, Wun plays with unfinished edges and fluid shapes that echo the in-between space of transformation. Becoming is more than clothing; it’s an emotional narrative about how what we wear shapes who we are on life’s significant days. With masterful cuts and thoughtful storytelling stitched into every look, Robert Wun invites us to witness not just fashion, but the deeply human act of becoming something new.

VICTOR & ROLF – ANGRY BIRDS

Victor & Rolfs newest collection reinterprets the concept behind their FW98–99 show: presenting two versions of the same garment, yet never revealing the same silhouette. Each set was shown first as an exaggerated form, stuffed with colorful faux feathers, followed by its raw counterpart, leaving an aftertaste of luxury and fantasy.

The feathers, symbols of wealth and refined taste, are not mere accessories here, but architectural elements, essential in sculpting the couture silhouettes and in exploring the tension between presence and absence.

„Angry Birds“ offers us exuberant spectacle followed by its softened shadow. The show serves as a powerful reminder that quietness and exaggeration can not only coexist but also elevate each other’s beauty.

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA – ARTISANAL COLLECTION 2025

Glenn Martens presents a deeply architectural and art-historic collection for Maison Margiela, drawing on the gothic verticality and sculptural austerity of medieval Flanders and the Netherlands. The show was held in le Centquatre, which reflects the approach of archaic times and atmosphere. Of course, also the garments took deep inspiration from Gothic structures such as towers or saintly figures of church facades and also draped fabrics that create optical illusions and elongations of the physique.

With reinterpretations of flemish floral leather wallpapers and Dutch still life paintings as overlays, embossed fabrics or 3D collages, this narration is continued. Brushstroke-inspired trompe l’œil pieces nod to Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau, while lace and veiled drapery mimic skin and marble sculpture. As for materials, the house went to vintage leather, costume jewellery, plastic and even metal boxes, that are transformed into couture details and face coverings. The iconic Tabi boot is reborn with claw toes and wedge plastic sandals.

Set against palatial paper collages and a deconstructed Smashing Pumpkins soundtrack, the show is a haunting, tactile reflection on art, memory, and metamorphosis.

RAMI AL ALI – GUARDIANS OF LIGHT

Marking a historic debut on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar, Syrian-born, UAE-based designer Rami Al Ali unveils Guardians of Light – The Living Craft of Damascus, a powerful and personal ode to heritage and artistry.

Rami Al Ali’s couture vision is steeped in the rich visual language of Damascus: Courtyards, painted ceilings, and mother-of-pearl inlay, rendered in brocade, sequin, and hand-embroidery. Drawing from the carved wood of Al-Azm Palace and the geometric harmony of Khan As’ad Pasha, Rami Al Ali reimagines the quiet grandeur of Damascus in couture form. Historic homes like Bayt Nizam and Bayt Farhi inspire silhouettes where memory becomes material: brocades gleam with embroidery, sequins echo Iznik tiles, and beading reflects mother-of-pearl inlay. Each piece is a talisman, each veil a whispered verse, an ode to heritage, elevated through the craft of couture.

This is not nostalgia, it is a reclamation of craftsmanship as living heritage and guardianship of that more so. With his debut, Al Ali assumes the role of designer and guardian, bringing Syria’s artistic soul into the haute couture conversation with quiet power and grace.

GERMANIER – LES JOUEUSES

„Les Joueuses“ is Kevin Germanier’s way of serving bold looks while playfully inviting us to forget about hard times. The garments are full of polka dots, leopard prints, stripes and certainly not lacking in color.

The show is set against a backdrop of brightly shining balloons, enhancing the celebration of play, color, and the endless possibilities of imagination. Beyond the visual satisfaction, the set once again reflects Germanier’s commitment to sustainability: the balloons were previously rejected due to flaws, feathers were recycled from past collections, and the entire set design will be reborn next season, fully upcycled into sequins.

Germanier’s latest collection marks a clear step outside of his comfort zone. It’s vibrant, full of light and joy, while true craftsmanship is evident in every piece. You can truly feel the designer’s deeply rooted desire to redefine couture — while staying true to the essence of Germanier.

IN CONVERSATION WITH CHARLES DE VILMORIN

Anna Klusmeier — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 11:05:13 +0000

Charles de Vilmorin‘s creations are theatrical and dramatic. At the age of 26 he is the creator of his eponymous haute couture label Charles de Vilmorin. The young Parisian couturier enriched the fashion world at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week with his first show. Faced with an empty stage, like a blank sheet of paper, Charles explains how he places his characters and his inspirations in order to create a formidable work of art. Talking about his pride in his collection, the couturier shares his future ambitions.

Charles, how did you want to become a fashion designer?

When I was a child, I was very inspired by the theatre world. I really wanted to play with light, music, clothes, atmosphere, and characters. As I grew up, it was spontaneous. I discovered the world of McQueen, Galliano and all these very theatrical designers. It was like an evidence, I started like that.

How would you define yourself to someone who has never heard of your creations before, and how would you describe what you do?

If I had to find some words to describe my work,

Also, narrative because I love to tell stories, and poetic, I hope. Colourful, joyful, but with sometimes a little touch of darkness.

You used the word poetic. Are you inspired by a lot of writers?

Not really. We can find poetry everywhere, not only in books. Poetry is more about emotions. I’m more inspired by paintings, movies, or pictures than by books.

De Vilmorin is linked to an important cultural and historical heritage; you are the grandnephew of the French writer Louise the Vilmorin. Is that heritage a source of inspiration for you? How does this affect your creativity?

The link with Louise de Vilmorin and my immediate family is not this close. Of course, we have the same name, and she was a very inspiring, avant-garde, and feminist woman, with an immense talent and numerous amazing friends who are people I really love. It’s more a question of atmosphere because in the de Vilmorin family, there are a lot of artists and even in the different places where I spent my childhood, like my grandparents’ house, the decoration was very specific, with lots of colours and flowers, ‘Vilmorin’ is actually also the name of a flower species. I’m very lucky with my family heritage because it’s open and artistic. It’s not only Louise de Vilmorin. It’s a more global atmosphere.

You’re also the son of an art teacher, and you’re known for your colourful drawings. Is drawing still an important part of your creative process?

The starting point of my different projects. I love drawing and it’s essential. Because when you draw a silhouette, for example, it can be very beautiful. But the body is not a real body, it can have exactly the volume you want. The challenge is to bring my drawings to life. And that’s my daily challenge for all my projects.

On July 3, 2023, you presented your very first couture show under your own name and about this show you said, “Mon premier défilé, celui dans lequel je mets tout de moi de A à Z” (“My first fashion show, the one in which I put everything about myself from A to Z”) Which features of the collection best represent you?

The inspiration for this collection was creativity in the darkest ways. It was a question of reflection on what I want to show in my work. We have some all-white looks, black looks, and colourful looks. As a designer, for my first show, it was very hard to find the precise things I wanted to present: the “A to Z” is because I struggled to know what I wanted to show at the time. Precisely because the last two years haven’t always been easy for me in terms of showing myself and clarifying my creativity, and my inspirations. This has been the most difficult part of creativity and I wanted to talk about it. My goal for future collections is to be more precise, but for this one that wasn’t the intention. I showed different concepts that are part of my world.

Is that also why this collection is less colourful than others you’ve created?

Yes, colours are very difficult to work with because you have to find the right ones. In the past I’ve used a lot of primary colours, it’s not very difficult because it’s red and yellow, it’s quite easy to work with and it works every time. I want to play with colours, but with more precise colours and create new combinations. It’s not easy, I need to do a lot of research and testing to create new and beautiful colour combinations. For this collection, I didn’t really know what I wanted to create with the colours. So, there are fewer colours than in the other collections.

What was your favourite piece from this couture show?

The black suit of Inès de la Fressange and the last part with the Maggie Mauer white horse, because these two looks were the more difficult to make and I love them.

Was this couture show a goal for you from the start of your career?

I launched my brand in my own name during COVID. I did some videos to present my collection. Later I was at Rochas and had the opportunity to create beautiful shows with a huge production. But this show was my first for my own brand. This means the production and the team were totally different, and I made a lot of things by myself, even for the show. So, it was of course a goal, and it was very emotional for me. I can’t wait for the next one.

Theatre and staging play an important role in your creative world and process, can you tell us about how it began for your latest couture collection.

My creative process for a collection or any other project, a video for example, is always the same. I imagine an empty stage and first I put in lights, then music. Music is like drawing, it’s one of the starting points of the project because music is more than a source of inspiration for me. It helps me to create the atmosphere and the story of the project or collection. Music, lighting, and then I imagine a bit of set design to create something simple. I start with the set and imagine the silhouettes, the different characters. At the end, I put on some clothes and it’s always the same process.

What theatre piece did you imagine before creating this collection?

For this collection, I wanted to tell the story of a quest, an adventure. The location of the show inspired me because it looked a bit like a ghost city, full of concrete. I wanted to create characters who would walk through the forest for a fortnight. So, I imagined all the wet looks, with the hair close to the face. It’s the story of an adventure, as if they were walking through this ghost town. The first name of the collection was ‘Les Vagabonds’. The collection has a lot of rough and frayed edges, and too long clothes that the models must lift to be able to walk. The story was about freedom and adventure, for the swan and the horse for example, which can also be found in the music, through horse noises of all kinds.

I really loved the wide structures and accessories. Where did this idea come from?

The first sculpture was the horse, and it was just a vision I had of a white dress with a big horse on its head. There’s no specific inspiration. Sometimes ideas just come, when you’re walking, and you have a vision, when your spirit shows you something. Later I had the idea of the swans.

Are your collections different acts in the same piece of theatre or are they all separate pieces?

Of course, there are some links. For example, you can link this collection with my first full black collection. It’s not an intention, and I think it’s natural and important to build a DNA, to have links between your collections. For this latest collection, there are three distinct acts. The first one is a white part. It’s like a blank sheet of paper, when you start to create something, and you don’t know how to start. Then you have the more coloured part with the prints. This is the craziest part of creation, when you don’t know how to stop creating. Creation with no limits. I deleted lots of looks from this part of the collection; five looks weren’t in the show in the end. The third and final act is black, more sophisticated and couture, followed by the white final look. It’s the story of a creative process.

You recently designed your sister’s wedding dress. Does this dress belong to the creative world of your couture show?

Not really, it’s a very different project. The dress is inspired by my sister. It’s not part of the story of the show, but I think this dress is a source of inspiration for my next show. It was so nice to make this dress. This dress is full of joy with big flowers, it’s for a wedding, so it was complicated to do something dark for her. I love this dress, and I really want to continue this story for the next project.

I was seduced by the lightness and the importance of the movement in the creations of the collection. The movement of a garment is what embellishes it and what sublimates the model. How do you bring your creation to life through the movements, and how does the movement create sensation for you?

Movement is one of the most important things in a silhouette and in a collection, especially on a show. I love moments where I can play with movement – for example when I was doing videos with dancers, it was pleasant. Movement is important, for the emotional part of the show because it’s very close to music, but it’s first a question of fabric. In the collection there are a lot of very light little silk dresses. I love the movement of silk.

What emotions would you like to create and to transmit to those who wear your creations on the street or at your show?

It’s very personal, it depends on the person. This is the most important thing when you buy clothes: you want to feel strong in your body and proud of the way you look.

An important feature in your identity is to create gender-neutral collections. What are your intentions behind this choice?

It’s not really an intention because for me, it’s just very natural. In my process of creating a look, I need to put it on me and live in my apartment with the look to see how it moves, how I can use the sleeves and those volumes.

From my point of view, we need to see men in couture looks because in real life, I’m sure there are lots of men who wear couture. I think it’s very modern to put men in couture shows. And this season we’ve seen a lot of men on the catwalk. It’s not an intention. It’s not a political gesture, it’s just something natural for me.

To what extent does your past influence your present and your future?

I’m at the beginning of my career because I launched my brand 3 years ago. We had the Rochas part for two years, and my brain was a bit in standby. I learned a lot during these three years, especially at Rochas, more specifically about the commercial part. I want to take my brand forward and create, not necessarily the ready-to-wear part, but I want to see people in the street wearing my clothes. This collection has a beautiful potential in a more commercial way. I really want to work on this part.

You dressed your favourite actress Isabelle Huppert and Inès de la Fressange walked in your latest runway. What do you imagine for the future of your brand and the future of your creative universe?

I love to work with artists. They can be painters, singers, actors, or actresses. For my brand, I want to continue to work with different artists. I love to be surprised every day, and I don’t know what might happen. I don’t have any specific objectives; I just want to do my best with my brand and make beautiful creations.

Artists are significant to you. Is there a particular artist you’d like to work with in the future?

In a close future,