Fall-Winter 2026 Collection

For the Fall–Winter 2026 Couture collection, Peet Dullaert reflects on the enduring dialogue between artistic heritage and contemporary creation. Inspired by Rembrandt van Rijn’s celebrated portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, jointly acquired by the Louvre Museum and the Rijksmuseum, and currently presented at the Louvre, the collection explores how every generation defines beauty through the innovations, craftsmanship and values of its own time.

Rather than revisiting historical costume, the collection translates the principles embodied within the paintings into a contemporary couture language. Their remarkable craftsmanship, individuality and quiet presence become the point of departure for silhouettes created to accompany modern life. Every generation leaves behind its own portrait—not only on canvas, but through the women who embody their time. Haute couture preserves those portraits in movement rather than paint.

A vision that reimagines historical construction through the realities of today. Across this season’s silhouettes, traditional couture codes dissolve into a new sartorial grammar where movement, comfort and craftsmanship exist in equal measure.

Colour forms one of the collection’s central narratives. During Rembrandt’s lifetime, the rarest pigments could surpass the value of gold, their significance residing not only in rarity, but in the extraordinary knowledge, labour and artistry required to create them. Haute couture continues to embody that same philosophy today, where value is measured through human hands, innovation and time.

Historical couture techniques remain central throughout the collection. The iconic robe à la française, with its characteristic Watteau pleat, is translated into contemporary construction, while the liberated glamour of the 1920s finds renewed expression through refined interpretations of leopard. Entirely hand-executed developments in velours de panne, lace coupé, intricate macramé, and delicate silk embroidery inspired by the luminous irregularity of historical chiné silks pay homage to centuries of textile innovation and the enduring dialogue between East and West that has long enriched the history of couture. Like the paintings that inspired the collection, each textile is approached not merely as a material, but as a bearer of memory, craftsmanship and cultural exchange. These artisanal explorations culminate in sculptural draped silhouettes, including an entirely black couture creation worn by Gia Bab, where texture, light and movement converge into a singular expression.

Rooted in an ethos that honours how the body inhabits and moves through life, traditional couture techniques coexist with knitted constructions and technical stretch textiles—materials that have become symbols of innovation in our own era. In selected silhouettes, garments extend beyond the body into sculptural hair compositions, dissolving the boundary between dress, adornment and the individual who embodies the creation.

The collection is presented through women who continue this dialogue across generations. It opens with House Muse Anastasia, whose quiet confidence, independence and self-authority reflect the spirit of women today. The finale is presented by the extraordinary Jade Parfitt, whose defining imagery of the 1990s—including Steven Meisel’s iconic Avalon campaign for Versace—continues to represent one of fashion’s most enduring visual eras. From Oopjen Coppit to Jade Parfitt, from museum walls to the contemporary runway, the collection reflects on how extraordinary women become part of our collective cultural memory.

Just as the Louvre Museum and the Rijksmuseum preserve artistic heritage, and the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode upholds the living tradition of haute couture, its future is sustained through the dialogue between creator, atelier, the women who embody creation, and the patrons who choose to preserve it. Women of remarkable self-authority, such as Mouna Ayoub and Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo, embody an unwavering devotion to preserving a designer’s vision and the work of the atelier. They are the custodians of living couture—ensuring that exceptional craftsmanship remains not only preserved, but continually lived and carried forward. It is through such patronage that haute couture endures.

Every creation is entirely realised by hand in the Paris atelier. Heritage is not preserved through repetition, but through continual reinvention. The collection proposes that true luxury is not defined by nostalgia, but by the ability to reinterpret history through the materials, craftsmanship and ideas of the present.

“Every generation leaves behind its own portrait. Museums preserve them in paint; haute couture preserves them in movement. Every generation defines luxury through the innovations of its own time. Beauty exists in the relationship between creator, craftsmanship and the individual who embodies creation. Haute couture exists to honour craftsmanship while embracing the reality of how we live today.” — Peet Dullaert