Our Takeaways From Paris Couture Week: Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, and More!

This week, Chloe Malle sat down with Vogue France's Claire Thomson-Jonville and Vogue Runway's chief critic Sarah Mower straight from the Balenciaga show at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris to unpack the emotional highs of Couture Week's opening days. The trio's biggest topic was Pierpaolo Piccioli's first couture outing for the house, a collection they agreed felt unmistakably like his own after two seasons of ready-to-wear spent reconciling his sensibility with Demna's legacy. Under a blazing midday sun, with Cynthia Erivo, Naomi Watts, and Teyana Taylor among those fanning themselves in the front row, Piccioli sent out feather-heavy, richly colored looks. The conversation then rewound to Monday's openers, starting with Daniel Roseberry's Schiaparelli show, where a chrome runway and body-conscious, skin-like silicone pieces reflected an unusually experimental research process: rather than his usual research trip, Roseberry said he'd spent time at a company that manufactures silicone baby dolls. From there, talk turned to Jonathan Anderson's second couture collection for Dior, which the panel read as a loosening of the house's codes, with knotted, sculptural details inspired by artist Lynda Benglis softening the rigor of the bar suit into something more fluid and wearable. Matthieu Blazy's fairy-tale-inspired second couture show for Chanel was filled with joy and whimsy, with jacket linings stitched with each model's handwritten to-do list (i.e. “Pizza in fridge.”) They close on a lighter note about the practical realities of front-row life in a Paris heat wave, from designers rethinking fabric for a warming climate to the season's must-have accessory: a hand fan, tucked into every micro-bag that could fit one. The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices