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

Berlin Fashion Week: Home Work, Andrej Gronau Rewrites the Rules of Dress from the Living Room

The comforts of home were the centerpiece of Andrej Gronau's new collection in Berlin. Photograph (above) and cover picture by Jay Zoo for DAM.

One of the highlights of Berlin Fashion Week, Andrej Gronau’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection made the domestic interior the starting point for contemporary dress. The London-trained designer, who launched his label in 2022, used the season to examine how comfort, privacy, and personal space shape what we wear, translating household materials and silhouettes directly into clothing. The result was a collection that treated the home not as an escape from fashion, but as its organising system. Story by Antonio Visconti. Photography by Jay Zoo 

A mid-century vibe of housecoats

permeated Andrej Gronau's collection.

ANDREJ Gronau has emerged as an articulate voice in contemporary European ready-to-wear. A Central Saint Martins graduate, the designer operates with a clarity of intent: his clothes consistently probe the uneasy but fertile ground between youthful naivety and adult restraint, between intimacy and public performance. Nostalgia is present, but not sentimental; instead, it is filtered through precise tailoring, unexpected textures, and a subversive sense of play.

"The collection thrives in this tension between good and bad taste, between style and fashion sins, between what we show and what we hide," explains the designer.

The Autumn/Winter 2026 range, titled Room-For-Play, was presented at an apartment in Berlin. Rather than treating fashion as spectacle, Gronau framed the collection around a familiar structure: the home. 

Drawing inspiration from the dollhouse, not as a toy but as a system of rooms, rules, and contradictions, the designer asked what happens when adulthood moves back into spaces associated with comfort, decoration, and privacy. The result is a body of work that turned the interior inside out, translating domestic logic directly into dress.

Upholstery to blankets and carpets to curtains inspire the textiles and designs of the collection, including velour, and brocade. Even fabrics traditionally hidden indoors such as terry towelling, knitwear and fleece, were part of the concept. "The fabrics we reserve for ourselves, for rest, for softness, for pleasure are made visible and wearable" Gronau says. "At home, taste behaves differently. In public, it is trained and performed. Inside, it slips."

Rather than treating fashion as spectacle, Andrej Gronau framed the collection around a familiar structure: the home.

Fleece skirts and brocade tops

were inspired by upholstery. 

Fleeced, belted skirts and demure housecoats suggest mid-century domestic elegance without lapsing into costume and styled with shoes soft enough to recall slippers, dissolve conventional dress codes.

Knitwear, already a Gronau signature, played a central role. Intarsia bow cardigans and sweaters appeared alongside shrunken fluffy pullovers in ecru, turquoise, lilac, and aquamarine. 

The colour palette, warm, saturated, and optimistic, stood in deliberate contrast to the neutrals the designer sees as part of conformity in the outside world. It underscored Gronau’s growing confidence as a colourist and reinforced the emotional core of the collection.

"Saturated yellows, turquoise, mint and gold recall the era when velvet and velour ruled interiors with confidence and warmth," says the designer. " These tones clash deliberately with bureaucratic greys, the uniform we slip into when leaving for the office."

Underlying Room-For-Play was autobiography. Memories of Gronau's grandmother’s villa, layered with decades of mismatched rooms and decorative excess, informed the collection’s embrace of inconsistency. A second observation, seeing his infant nephew dressed in a miniature adult suit, sparked a provocation: why do adults cling so tightly to rules, while denying themselves joy? With this collection, Andrej Gronau offered a persuasive answer. His vision suggests that refinement and rebellion are not opposites, but domestic partners, coexisting comfortably, especially at home.

Scroll down to see more highlights from the Andrej Gronau Autumn/Winter 2026 collection in Berlin

Backstage at the Andrej Gronau AW26 show at Berlin Fashion Week