Lemaire Fall/Winter 2026
Lemaire’s Fall/Winter 2026 presentation blurred the line between runway and theatre, unfolding like a dream at the Opéra Bastille. Titled mine eyes, the show was conceived as a collaboration with French scenographer Nathalie Béasse, transforming the stage into a sequence of living tableaux. Instead of the usual single-file march, models drifted in clusters, their movements choreographed to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 141, creating an atmosphere that felt both intimate and uncanny. “We wanted to show diversity of characters and human depth,” Christophe Lemaire explained backstage, and that sentiment ran through every gesture. This was fashion as quiet performance — a meditation on fabric, movement, and the soul that connects them.
The clothes themselves were Lemaire at their most poetic. Crushed velvets shimmered like liquid metal, lacquered denim mimicked the depth of aged leather, and airy silks were layered into sculptural, almost gravitational drapes. There was a sense of surrealism that never tipped into fantasy, achieved through meticulous material play rather than excess. Accessories held small secrets: corkscrew pendants disguised as keys, bags shaped like shells, and belts that could double as scarves. These details hinted at domestic life and ritual, an everyday magic woven through the brand’s calm precision. The palette moved gently from moonlit neutrals to muted greens and ambers, mirroring the natural transitions of light that played across the stage.
In a world obsessed with immediacy, Lemaire reminded us that stillness can be its own kind of statement. The performance ended without applause, only silence, as if the audience needed a moment to re-enter reality. What lingered was not spectacle, but emotion — a collective exhale. Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran’s vision felt deeply human, even tender. They offered a wardrobe designed not for display, but for inhabiting; clothes that move with the rhythm of life rather than dictate it. In doing so, they proved once again that true modernity lies in restraint, and that elegance is simply empathy made visible.
