Paris Haute Couture: The Sounds of Silence Yuima Nakazato’s Meditation on Ancient Landscapes, Time and the Body

Japanese couturier Yuima Nakazato spent 1500 hours crafting thousands of ceramic pieces to create his designs for his new haute couture collection in Paris. Photograph (above) and cover by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM.  

For Spring/Summer 2026, Yuima Nakazato stepped outside of haute couture and into something far more elemental. Presented in Paris yet shaped by an ancient Japanese landscape, the collection fused craft, philosophy, and geology into a meditation on time, touch, and the human urge to become one with nature, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Andrea Heinsohn

The atmospheric Paris runway show

offered an intellectually and emotionally 

resonant experience of haute couture. 

SCULPTED from thousands of ceramic fragments and animated by sound rather than music, Yuima Nakazato’s latest work, titled Silent, asked the audience not simply to look but to listen, to slow down, and to experience couture as a living ecosystem rather than a fleeting spectacle,

Set amid the lofty 19th century Gothic arches of the American Cathedral in Paris, the haute couture presentation felt less like a runway show and more like an otherworldly rite. 

This Spring/Summer 2026 collection unfolded in near silence, the vaulted space amplifying every movement, every breath, every fragile sound produced by the garments themselves. The designer sat cross-legged below the altar clinking porcelain rings together that added to the atonal soundscape.

By choosing restraint, Nakazato delivered one of the most intellectually and emotionally resonant couture moments in Paris. He redefined what a couture show can be: stripped of spectacle yet rich in meaning, his show drew on the Japanese countryside and hand-made ceramics to create a collection that felt less designed than unearthed. It posits Nakazato not just as a couturier, but as one of fashion’s most rigorous thinkers working today.

"In a landscape devoid of anything man-made, under the moonlight, I touched the streamlined stones carved by river currents and the tree rings of driftwood"

Nakazato's experience in ancient landscapes

inspired him to create pieces that recalled the 

growth, erosion and sedimentation of terrain.

Nakazato has long positioned himself at the intersection of cutting-edge technology, artisanship, and philosophy, but this collection marked a deeper turn inward. Rooted in an almost archaeological exploration of clothing’s origins, the show traced humanity’s enduring impulse to mirror nature.  

“Throughout history, across all cultures, humans have drawn inspiration from nature, plants and animals alike, because we have always perceived a primal beauty in nature, desiring not only to wear it but to become a part of it,” he explains. That desire to merge with rather than dominate the natural world was the collection’s quiet but insistent thesis.

The conceptual genesis lay far from Paris, on Yakushima, a remote island in Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture, home to ancient Yakusugi cedar trees that have endured for thousands of years. Nakazato’s pilgrimage there was a way of reconnection with Nature. He describes touching “the streamlined stones carved by river currents and the tree rings of driftwood” under moonlight, confronting “the immense span of time that transcends human intellect.” That confrontation with deep time, geological rather than seasonal, became the emotional backbone of the collection.

"The sensation of body and clay becoming one as forms, felt very close to the experience I had on Yakushima, immersed in the vast flow of time and existing as part of an ecosystem"

Some of the designs resembled

fossilized bark and river stones.

Visually, the garments echoed erosion, sedimentation, and organic growth. The ceramic elements, painstakingly handcrafted, formed sculptural surfaces that wrapped the body like living terrain. Some pieces resembled fossilized bark or river-smoothed stone; others suggested exoskeletons mid-transformation. 

The silhouettes were neither nostalgic nor futuristic, but strangely timeless, existing outside fashion’s usual coordinates. Couture here was not about opulence, but about process, patience, and devotion.

The labour behind the collection was formidable. Over a six-month period, Nakazato spent more than 1,500 hours working directly with clay, making the components by hand. “As I crafted thousands of ceramic pieces,” he says, “my fingers gradually learned the movement of the earth, and streamlined shapes began to emerge naturally from my hands.” This physical dialogue between body and material, designer and earth, translated to the runway, where garments appeared less constructed than grown.

"I chose not to add music to this show, only the resonance produced when garments made of ceramic sway, the sound of the earth itself"

The designs were neither nostalgic nor 

 futuristic, seemingly existing beyond

fashion's normal coordinates. 

Perhaps the most radical gesture, however, was sonic. Nakazato chose not to add music, allowing the faint resonance of ceramic against ceramic to define the atmosphere. 

The sounds are like a light, distant tinkle. “It might be described as the sound of the earth itself,” he says, “as if awakening memories from the time when soil first came into being on this planet.” In a cathedral space accustomed to grand choirs and organ notes, this hushed percussion felt subversive.

We are living in an age saturated with digital noise, so Nakazato’s insistence on slowness and attention felt quietly defiant. “That is why, during the fifteen minutes of this fashion show,” he exhorted the show's guests: “I ask you to direct your attention to the unstable, subtle sounds created by the garments before you, and to the breath of the bodies wearing them.” 

Yuima Nakazato’s Silent haute couture collection did not chase fashion trends or court headlines. Instead, it offered something rarer: a moment of stillness, an encounter with material and memory, and a reminder that couture, at its most powerful, can reconnect us to forces far older, and far more enduring, than fashion itself.

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Paris Haute Couture: Under the Big Top - Stéphane Rolland Turns to the Circus for his New Collection

Celebrated aerialist and circus artist Natalia Bouglione performed at Paris' historic Cirque d’Hiver during French couturier Stéphane Rolland's new show, wearing one of his diaphanous creations. Photograph above and cover picture by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM

Under the splendid domed ring of the Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione, Stéphane Rolland unveiled his Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture collection before an audience including Brigitte Macron, First Lady of France, Heart Evangelista and Andra Day. The show drew on the symbolism of the circus to explore movement, discipline, and transformation, translating those ideas into a series of sculptural, precisely constructed silhouettes that balanced poetic resonance with Rolland’s trademark architectural rigor. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Key photography by Andrea Heinsohn

Jewel-like hues and a dash of

circus panache were highlights

of Stephane Rolland's collection.

CALLED Parade, Stéphane Rolland imagined his new collection as a circular procession rather than a conventional linear runway. Models moved deliberately through the ring, reinforcing the idea of ritual and return.

Rolland’s point of departure was the circus, filtered through historical, artistic, and architectural references rather than nostalgia or costume. The designer cited Pablo Picasso’s involvement with the ballet Parade and his depictions of circus figures as a central influence.

"This show is conceived as a circle, a ritual," the French couturier explained. "The ghosts of the circus return, not to replay the past, but to transform it. They appear, cross the space, and disappear once again. What remains are the silhouettes, the memory of movement, the emotion. The circus is reborn for a brief moment, carried by bodies, materials, and light."

The Cirque d’Hiver Bouglione, is a place whose history is inseparable from Parisian spectacle and performance. The show combined couture presentation with sales of tickets to the public with proceeds benefiting the Fondation des Hôpitaux, chaired by Brigitte Macron, to support at-risk teenagers. The choice of location reinforced Rolland’s intention to position couture not only as fashion, but as civic and cultural expression.

A recurring dove motif appeared across several looks, embroidered or abstracted in organza, crepe, and gauze. Rather than functioning as decoration, it served as a unifying symbol of continuity and renewal, aligning with Picasso’s own use of the image and giving the collection a subtle political and humanistic undertone.

"The ghosts of the circus return, not to replay the past, but to transform it. They appear, cross the space, and disappear once again"

Natalia Bouglione rises up 

to perform her aerial act.

Before the finale, there was the aerial performance by Natalia Bouglione, that thrilled the audience and emphasized the dialogue between fashion and movement that underpinned the collection. With Parade, Stéphane Rolland delivered a couture statement grounded in architectural themes and cultural references.

The Spring/Summer 2026 collection reaffirmed his position as a couturier focused on structure, coherence, and emotion, using the circus not as spectacle, but as a framework for rigor and form.

Rather than literal character depiction, Rolland abstracted archetypal circus figures through cut and material. The Ringmaster appeared through sharply tailored black-and-white looks and rigorously controlled lines. 

Pierrot was suggested through oversized ruffs, circular shapes, and stark chromatic contrasts. The Auguste figure informed a series of jumpsuits in black, white, red, and jewel tones, some accented with feathered shoulder elements or dense embroidery. The result was a coherent system of references expressed through form rather than narrative.

The opening silhouettes established the collection’s disciplined approach: asymmetrical coats, coat-dresses, and long structured capes in white gazar and duchess satin. Fabrics were treated as construction materials as much as textiles, reinforcing Rolland’s long-standing interest in architectural form. Gazar, crepe, satin, organza, chiffon, velvet, and Georgette crepe were used to build silhouettes that emphasized volume, balance, and containment.

Rather than literal character depiction, Rolland abstracted archetypal circus figures through cut and material

Coco Rocha wears a translucent,

glimmering gown with a white

ruffled cloak.

Jumpsuits emerged as a defining element of the season. Appearing in multiple variations, long, short, structured, or embellished, they articulated what Rolland described as garments that allow movement while maintaining strict form. 

These were paired with high-waisted trousers, sculpted bustiers, and ballooned shorts. Shoulder bustles, cubic sleeves, corolla skirts, and ball silhouettes created recurring moments of expansion and suspension, suggesting instability without overt theatrics.

Embroidery played a structural and symbolic role throughout the collection. Diamonds, crystals, rubies, topazes, garnets, quartz, amber, and lapis lazuli were used to enhance light and sparkle. Plexiglass brooches, cubic jewellery, and architectural headpieces functioned as extensions of the garments, blurring the boundary between clothing and scenography. 

The palette moved between black and white and deeper tones including red, burgundy, bronze, plum, honey, and caramel. These colors echoed both the Second Empire origins of the Cirque d’Hiver and Rolland’s interest in ceremonial grandeur. Capes, trains, hooded dresses, and sculptural gowns reinforced a sense of formality, while maintaining mobility through elegant proportion and fabric choice.

Scroll down to see more highlights from the Spring/Summer 2026 Haute Couture Collection in Paris