The Haute Couture calendar for Spring/Summer 2025 was shortened this season but that still didn’t stop designers like Giorgio Armani and Maria Grazia Chiuri from sending breathtaking ball gowns and dresses down the Parisian runway. The season kicked off with Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Giambattista Valli, while London-based South Korean couturière Miss Sohee closed the show alongside Juana Martin and Peet Dullaert.
From caged dresses and puffball skirts to giant feathered headpieces and tweed suits, we’ve rounded up the highlights from the spring/summer 2025 shows to refresh your wardrobe.
Armani Privé
This season, Giorgio Armani showcased three different elements for his Privé line – tailored suits with a modern twist, evening dresses, and luxurious red carpet-ready ball gowns. This collection also marked the brand’s 20 years of successful couture presentation in Paris, and Mr. Armani celebrated the milestone with sequins, glitter, and glam on most of his pieces. Titled ‘Lumières’, this collection is inspired by the power of light, fantasy, and experimentation, where the designer expressed his vision through the art of savoir-faire in a way no other medium can.
Christian Dior
It was all about fairy tales at the house of Dior this couture season, as Maria Grazia Chiuri decided to take inspiration from Alice In Wonderland. Titled ‘The Flowers We Grew’, Chiuri imagined the woman of Dior in a cape of petals and short dresses showing off the corolla of a curvy bust. Also, a series of caged dresses with fantastical designs and giant feathered headpieces were seen throughout the collection.
Lace-trimmed tulle culottes seem to be on trend too at the Maison. Additionally, the designer brought back a specific look from Dior’s archive – Christian Dior’s La Cigale from Fall/Winter 1952 couture moiré dinner dress – as the highlight of this fashion season.
Chanel
Chanel celebrated 110 years of being in high fashion with a collection dedicated to the late Gabrielle Chanel’s use of colour. Back then, the couturière started Chanel with only black fabrics. Ironically, she was a great colourist and decided to put her skills to work after the first few years of production, putting every colour of the spectrum into her gowns and dresses.
For spring/summer 2025, the softest pastels to the loudest hues were seen throughout the collection on tweed suits, silk blouses, and breathtaking ball gowns. Every piece in this haute couture spring/summer line was designed by Chanel’s in-house creative team, as fashion enthusiasts wait for Matthieu Blazy’s takeover in the upcoming seasons.
Valentino
The world of couture is no stranger to Alessandro Michele and for the Valentino Spring/Summer 2025 collection, every gown, dress, and ensemble was meant to put minds in a euphoric state. The first look – a lampshade ankle-grazing ballgown – took 1,300 hours to create, and bear in mind, there were a total of 40 looks of equal complexity.
Titled ‘Vertigineux’, which directly translates to ‘dizzy’ in French, each piece is heavy on embroidery and embellishment, giving the collection the haute couture title it deserved. Also spotted on the runway were gowns with woven strips of fabric that formed triangular shapes, Victorian collars paired with skirt suits and cascading ruffles, and floral dresses that was made entirely from needlepoint tapestry.
Jean Paul Gaultier
The Jean Paul Gaultier Spring/Summer 2025 collection was taken over by none other than Ludovic de Saint Sernin, showcasing contrasts of texture and cuts in the pieces. Titled ‘Naufrage’ – French for shipwreck – models were draped in rope-like pleated jersey voile, corseted gowns undone by eyelets and laces, and tulle slip dresses studded with 50,000 brass pearls. Furthermore, some pieces were inspirations from Gaultier’s archives, like his signature boat hat from 1997 and corsetry that juts out at the hips.
Schiaparelli
For the latest Schiaparelli haute couture collection, Daniel Roseberry incorporated old and unusual colours, as well as antique ribbons from the 1920s and 1930s into the pieces. Titled ‘Icarus’, Roseberry focused on the idea of modernism where mini dresses were constructed from strands of pearls, gowns pleated in gold, and more gowns embracing fabrics and silhouettes that defined Schiaparelli in the mid-20th century. By experimenting with shape, technique, and colour, Roseberry created a line that was both exquisite and surreal for the modern woman.
Giambattista Valli
The puffball skirt was the most popular trend on the Giambattista Valli couture catwalk this season. The designer showcased several stunning satin versions of the skirt, some of which were worn with fitted, embellished jackets and others in the form of stunning red carpet-ready ball gowns.
Other standout pieces were the pastel-pink ballgown embellished with a plissé bodice, a belt crowned with hyperreal fabric roses, and a voluminous dress in blood-red with ribbons as the sleeves and on the hips.
Gaurav Gupta
The haute couture season welcomed back Gaurav Gupta to the Parisian runway, showcasing his collection of fabulous gowns titled ‘Across The Flame’. Fabrics were glimmered in gold and dresses with wide, open collars were sent down the runway.
Gupta also introduced the ochre colour – a sacred colour in Hinduism – which was seen on two drape dresses, and swirl embroidered dresses finished with raffia and micro pearls. The designer closed the show with a sculpted dress on a crystal-covered model, representing his loud return to the fashion world.
Miss Sohee
London-based South Korean couturière Sohee Park made her haute couture debut in Paris with ballgowns topped with bold bodice in classic South Korean stitching techniques. Also spotted at the show were voluminous Hanbok-inspired skirts and headpieces inspired by Korea’s dynastic grace.
Furthermore, the 28-year-old designer used fascinating traditional techniques to mould leather into organic, petal-like forms that spiral around the hips of a corset. Meanwhile, the embroidery work on the fabrics took inspiration from Korean folk art. Crystals and beads were also seen on gowns, creating intricate, shimmering motifs as the pieces were sent swaying down the runway.
Featured image: Armani Privé
Check out more fashion highlights and trends from the recent fashion shows here.