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The spectacle was a larger proposition: a city positioning fashion as creative culture, international commerce and a serious part of its global identity There are fashion shows designed primarily to introduce a collection, and there are those that reveal something larger about the place in which they happen. On 2 September, as CENTRESTAGE ELITES opened inside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre with Victoria Harbour beyond it, the choice of designer carried particular significance. Hong Kong born creative director and visual artist Kit Wan was presenting the first solo fashion show of his career in his home city, returning with a practice shaped by years abroad and a body of work that has moved freely between clothing, sculpture, stage design, music and visual art. For a city increasingly assertive about its place within the international fashion landscape, there could hardly have been a more fitting opening statement. CENTRESTAGE itself has grown into something substantially larger than a runway programme. Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, its 11th edition brought approximately 270 brands from 24 countries and regions to Hong Kong, the largest participation in its history. Across four days, more than 40 events and over 30 runway shows occupied the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, while international buyers invited to source at the event included names such as 10 Corso Como, Dover Street Market London and Selfridges. Those numbers matter because CENTRESTAGE has a commercial purpose alongside its creative one. HKTDC describes Hong Kong as a “superconnector”, using the platform to bring Hong Kong designers into contact with overseas buyers while simultaneously encouraging international labels to treat the city as a route into Asian markets. It is an important distinction. Hong Kong is not attempting merely to stage a fashion spectacle for several days each September. The larger ambition is to connect design with buyers, markets, manufacturing knowledge, cultural institutions, media and international exchange. In 2026, that proposition became even more explicit. CENTRESTAGE joined Hong Kong Fashion Fest for the first time, becoming one of the flagship programmes of its third edition. Fashion Fest itself was announced following the Hong Kong Chief Executive's 2023 Policy Address as part of an effort to develop the city into a fashion design hub in Asia. Its mandate encompasses the promotion of Hong Kong fashion and textile brands, international industry exchange, business opportunities and the city's role as an East meets West centre for cultural exchange. The result is an interesting hybrid of fashion week, trade fair, talent platform and cultural programme. Korea became CENTRESTAGE's Featured Partner for the first time in 2026, bringing its largest pavilion to date, while Austria, Colombia, the Faroe Islands, Malaysia, Slovakia and the UAE were among the markets making their first appearances. Alongside established and emerging labels were dedicated spaces for craftsmanship, contemporary fashion, urban design, athleisure, accessories, circular fashion and, for the first time, fragrance. FASHIONALLY presented younger Hong Kong designers, while the programme also encompassed the Redress Design Award, the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers' Contest, industry discussions around sustainability and technology, and a conversation with ROKH founder Rok Hwang about building an international fashion career. Against that expansive backdrop, CENTRESTAGE ELITES occupies a particular position. It is the opening gala show and one of the event's most visible stages. In 2026, that stage belonged entirely to KIT WAN STUDIOS. Kit Wan Comes Home Kit Wan is difficult to contain within the conventional definition of fashion designer, which is precisely what made his selection interesting. KIT WAN STUDIOS describes itself through several disciplines, and Wan's work can move from a garment to a sculptural object, an installation or the visual architecture surrounding a performer. Science fiction, manga, mechanical forms, metalwork and cinematic imagery recur throughout a creative language the studio calls “Abstract Reality.” His route to Hong Kong's CENTRESTAGE runway was equally unconventional. Wan studied knitwear at Hong Kong Polytechnic University before spending time in London and Amsterdam, later moving to Oslo to complete a master's degree in fashion design and develop his practice at the intersection of fashion and art. His work subsequently entered the permanent collection of Norway's National Museum, while his career expanded into performance and entertainment. That second world has become central to understanding KIT WAN STUDIOS. In Hong Kong, the studio has created work for performers including Aaron Kwok, Miriam Yeung, Hins Cheung, Nicholas Tse, MC Cheung and Panther Chan. Internationally, its work has appeared in contexts including the Grammy Awards and Eurovision, alongside collaborations with performers including Teddy Swims and Alan Cumming. HKTDC characterises these creations as “stage armour”, an apt description for garments conceived not simply to dress a body but to alter its presence under lights, in motion and before an audience. For CENTRESTAGE ELITES, however, Wan was given an opportunity to turn that visual language inward. Rather than designing around another performer, he could construct an entire world belonging to the studio itself. The significance was personal as well as professional. After years spent developing his work abroad and returning to Hong Kong in 2019, Wan told Vogue Hong Kong that MUTANT // MYTHOLOGY represented his first solo “fashion” show in Asia. He had previously staged shows in Denmark and Norway, but the CENTRESTAGE presentation brought the complete vocabulary of KIT WAN STUDIOS home. MUTANT // MYTHOLOGY What emerged was not a conventional seasonal runway. MUTANT // MYTHOLOGY unfolded in three acts, bringing together industrial futurism, nature and romanticism within a collection that moved between the spectacular and the wearable. HKTDC initially announced more than 30 new looks; Wan subsequently told Vogue Hong Kong that the completed collection comprised 36. Twelve were fantasy pieces closer to the performative costume world for which his studio is known, surrounded by a combination of avant garde pieces and wearable separates. The starting point came from an intriguing collision of time. Wan had been watching a science fiction film from the mid 1990s imagining the world of 2035. Viewed in 2026, that fictional future suddenly existed less than a decade away. The distance between the future imagined by the past and the future approaching in the present became fertile territory for the collection. Industrial futurism met natural forms; mechanical structures encountered fantasy; the studio's familiar darkness was interrupted by a renewed use of colour. It was a particularly appropriate proposition for Wan because his clothes rarely behave as passive objects. Metal details can appear almost anatomical. Sculptural forms extend or distort the body's natural architecture. Garments can resemble protective shells, imagined organisms or equipment from a civilisation that has yet to exist. The familiar boundaries separating costume, couture technique, fashion and installation begin to dissolve. Yet MUTANT // MYTHOLOGY also represented an evolution. Wan spoke ahead of the show about introducing greater harmony and femininity into the studio's vocabulary while retaining its mechanical and futuristic DNA. This mattered because the presentation demonstrated that an experimental practice does not have to choose between conceptual ambition and clothing. Fantasy pieces could coexist with separates. Sculpture could sit beside something recognisably wearable. The theatricality remained, but the studio's universe became broader. The staging amplified that idea. CENTRESTAGE ELITES took place in the Grand Hall at HKCEC, where the futuristic environment was set against the real geography of Victoria Harbour. The show was conceived through lighting, space, sound and clothing as a single visual experience, reflecting Wan's parallel practice as scenographer and designer. For a designer accustomed to creating worlds around musicians, it was fashion assuming the role of performer. Why Kit Wan Matters to the Hong Kong Story There is another reason the choice of KIT WAN STUDIOS felt important. International fashion cities are often recognised through a small number of aesthetic stereotypes. Paris has couture. Milan has industrial luxury and craftsmanship. London has cultivated generations of experimental designers. Copenhagen has developed a powerful contemporary Scandinavian identity. Tokyo became synonymous internationally with particular strains of conceptual and avant garde fashion. Hong Kong's fashion identity is harder to reduce to a single visual code. That can be an advantage. Wan's work is unmistakably connected to Hong Kong, particularly through his relationship with Cantopop and the city's entertainment culture, but it has also been shaped by Scandinavia, European art education, science fiction, digital culture and international performance. His creative identity is therefore neither an imitation of Western fashion nor something that needs to perform a simplified idea of Asian heritage in order to appear culturally authentic. That feels relevant to contemporary Hong Kong. The city has long possessed advantages that fashion needs: international commerce, sophisticated consumers, proximity to mainland China, textile and manufacturing history, logistics, retail expertise and an unusual cultural position between different worlds. What Hong Kong Fashion Fest and CENTRESTAGE are increasingly attempting to demonstrate is that the city can also become more visible as a place where fashion ideas originate. The 2026 programme makes that strategy unusually clear. The government's Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency identifies talent development, support for start ups, market expansion, multidisciplinary collaboration and the industrialisation of cultural and creative sectors among its priorities. Fashion, in other words, is being approached simultaneously as culture and industry. CENTRESTAGE embodies that duality particularly well. A young designer can show a collection, meet buyers and encounter international labels. A visitor can move from experimental Hong Kong fashion to a Korean pavilion, a sustainability discussion, a fragrance discovery area and an international retailer. Emerging talent sits alongside commercial infrastructure rather than being isolated from it. That distinction may ultimately matter more than simply adding another fashion week to an already crowded global calendar. Hong Kong as Fashion's Connector The geography of the fashion industry is changing. The established capitals remain immensely powerful, but influence is increasingly distributed across a wider network of cities. Seoul has demonstrated the global force of Korean popular culture. Tokyo retains extraordinary creative authority. Shanghai has developed an increasingly significant designer ecosystem. Copenhagen has turned a comparatively small market into a fashion destination with an identity recognised far beyond Scandinavia. Hong Kong's opportunity is different. Its strength may lie less in trying to replicate Paris, Milan or Seoul than in becoming the place where different fashion economies encounter one another. That is already embedded in the language surrounding CENTRESTAGE. HKTDC explicitly positions the city as a two way business hub, connecting Hong Kong companies with international markets while giving overseas brands a platform from which to approach Asia. The composition of the 2026 event provides tangible evidence of that strategy. Approximately 270 brands from 24 countries and regions came together at HKCEC. Korea arrived as Featured Partner. European, Asian and North American delegations participated. International retailers were invited as buyers. Local emerging designers were given dedicated runway opportunities. Sustainability, technology, craftsmanship, street culture, entertainment and retail were brought into the same programme. This is where CENTRESTAGE becomes more interesting than its runways alone. Fashion ecosystems require much more than designers. They require buyers willing to place orders, journalists willing to tell stories, institutions willing to develop talent, consumers prepared to experiment, education, manufacturing knowledge, capital, retail and enough cultural energy to make people want to participate. Hong Kong already possesses many of those components. CENTRESTAGE attempts to bring them visibly together. Hong Kong Fashion Fest widens the frame again. Running across multiple city landmarks, its 2026 edition brought together eight flagship programmes organised by six industry organisations, explicitly seeking international participation, cross sector collaboration and connections between Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas fashion communities. The opening of Fashion Fest at VIRTUOSE inside the Hong Kong Palace Museum, followed by CENTRESTAGE and other programmes across the city, also makes a larger cultural argument: fashion belongs alongside art, architecture, performance and design as part of Hong Kong's contemporary creative identity. The View From Victoria Harbour There was something particularly resonant, then, about watching Kit Wan's strange imagined future materialise beside Victoria Harbour. Here was a Hong Kong born artist who left the city, developed his vocabulary internationally, entered a European national museum collection, worked across music and performance, returned home, and was ultimately given the opening stage of one of Asia's largest fashion trade events to present his own world. That trajectory says something about the kind of fashion city Hong Kong could become. Global relevance does not necessarily require producing designers who resemble those already dominating Paris or Milan. It can come from cultivating voices that could only have emerged from the particular collisions of the city itself: Chinese and international, commercial and experimental, technologically fluent and deeply connected to popular culture. CENTRESTAGE ELITES offered one version of that future in 2026. MUTANT // MYTHOLOGY supplied the spectacle, but the more consequential story was happening around it. Designers were meeting buyers. International brands were entering the market. Emerging Hong Kong talent was being placed alongside established global names. Fashion was crossing into music, technology, sustainability, art and commerce. And at the centre of it all was a Hong Kong designer whose work resists easy categorisation. For a city attempting to strengthen its position within global fashion, that may be exactly the point. Hong Kong does not need to become somebody else's fashion capital. CENTRESTAGE is beginning to make the case for why the international fashion industry should come to Hong Kong on Hong Kong's own terms.

One of the world’s most recognisable couture houses is bringing its language of glamour, embellishment and refined evening dressing to H&M ELIE SAAB is the latest designer house to join H&M’s long running collaboration programme, with a new collection set to launch on 22 October 2026 across selected stores in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt, as well as online. The partnership brings together two very different fashion worlds, pairing H&M’s global reach with the codes of a house built around couture craftsmanship, red carpet dressing and a distinctly polished vision of modern glamour. Founded in Beirut, ELIE SAAB first became known for refined bridalwear before growing into one of the international names most closely associated with haute couture. Elie Saab later became one of the first international members of France’s Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, marking an important stage in the house’s ascent from Beirut to the centre of the Paris fashion establishment. Over the years, the label has become synonymous with high impact eveningwear and memorable red carpet moments, while expanding its universe across couture, ready to wear and accessories. For H&M, the collaboration offers an opportunity to translate that established visual language into a broader wardrobe. According to the announcement, the collection will span womenswear, menswear and accessories, including footwear, with embellished gowns, shimmering separates and sharply cut tailoring among the key pieces. Fine lace, gradient sequins and signature monograms will appear throughout, bringing some of ELIE SAAB’s most recognisable codes into the collection. The collaboration also appears determined to preserve the sense of occasion traditionally associated with the house. ELIE SAAB has rarely been about anonymity or understatement. Its appeal lies in the transformation that comes with dressing up properly, whether through intricate surface work, a sharply defined silhouette or the sweep and movement of an evening gown. Even within a more accessible format, the intention is clearly to retain that emotional relationship with glamour. Ann Sofie Johansson, H&M Creative Advisor and Head of Design Womenswear, describes the partnership as a landmark collaboration and points directly to Saab’s journey from bridal designer in Beirut to the centre of Paris fashion. She says customers should expect a collection that is “magical, ornate and glamourous”, a description that places the emphasis firmly on the decorative richness and fantasy that have shaped the house’s identity. For Elie Saab, however, the project is framed as more than a series of statement evening pieces. He describes the collection as being created for those who already admire the ELIE SAAB world, while also emphasising the collaborative nature of the design process with H&M. Most notably, Saab refers to the result as a complete wardrobe designed to speak to different moments in a woman’s life, suggesting that the partnership will move beyond formalwear alone. That breadth makes the collection particularly interesting. ELIE SAAB may be best known globally for gowns, bridalwear and red carpet dressing, but the modern house operates across a much wider fashion landscape. Bringing womenswear, menswear, tailoring, separates, footwear and accessories together under one collaboration allows H&M to explore the house as a full fashion proposition rather than reducing it to a single category. There is also a natural significance to the regional launch. The collection will be available across several major Middle Eastern markets, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, regions where Elie Saab’s name carries particular familiarity and cultural resonance. For a designer whose story began in Beirut before expanding internationally, the collaboration’s strong regional presence creates a fitting connection between the house’s origins and its global reach. The first details point towards a collection built around exactly what many followers of the house will hope to see: glamour, polish and visible craftsmanship translated through a more widely accessible format. Lace, sequins, tailoring and embellished gowns are familiar ELIE SAAB territory, but the inclusion of menswear and broader wardrobe pieces suggests a more expansive interpretation of the label’s identity. When ELIE SAAB H&M arrives this October, the real intrigue will lie in how effectively the collaboration captures the atmosphere of the couture house at a completely different scale. If the early announcement is any indication, the objective is clear: to bring the fantasy of ELIE SAAB into everyday fashion without losing the glamour that made the house famous in the first place.

VIRTUOSE 2026, fashion became a conversation between cultures, generations and radically different ideas of what couture can be There could hardly have been a more fitting place to begin. On 1 September, the doors of the Hong Kong Palace Museum opened to an international fashion crowd gathered for VIRTUOSE: The Artistry of Couture, the flagship event chosen to launch the third edition of Hong Kong Fashion Fest. Beyond the museum walls, Victoria Harbour stretched across West Kowloon. Inside, four designers from three places, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Spain, were about to offer four strikingly different answers to the same question: what does couture mean now? The answer unfolded across forty looks and two presentations, with each designer given space for ten creations. Spain was represented by Guillermo Décimo, Vietnam by PHAN HUY, while Hong Kong presented two very different sides of its own fashion identity through Vivian Luk Atelier and TIGERSTROLLING Artisanal. Rather than building the programme around a single aesthetic, VIRTUOSE placed contrast at its centre. Romance encountered deconstruction, heritage met experimentation, established couture technique sat beside a younger generation testing its boundaries. What connected them was the extraordinary amount of human skill behind the clothes. For The EDIT, attending VIRTUOSE offered an immediate introduction to something that became increasingly apparent throughout Hong Kong Fashion Fest: this is a city taking its fashion ambitions seriously. Couture Inside the Palace The Hong Kong Palace Museum was more than an impressive venue. Its presence gave the evening an additional layer of meaning. VIRTUOSE is conceived around the relationship between fashion, craftsmanship, art and cultural exchange, and placing contemporary couture inside an institution dedicated to Chinese art and cultural history made that conversation tangible. The runway itself extended the idea. Four architectural arches framed the presentation, moving through references that included a traditional Chinese courtyard, neoclassical architecture and Franco Vietnamese design. Models passed through these changing visual languages as the collections moved between cultures, making the set part of the story rather than simply a background for it. It also positioned couture where it increasingly belongs: within the wider conversation about decorative arts and cultural authorship. Couture has always relied upon knowledge passed through hands, from cutting and draping to embroidery, construction and finishing. At VIRTUOSE, those processes were allowed to become the focus. The clothes demanded closer attention because much of their value existed in the details. That philosophy sits at the heart of the programme. Organised by the Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association and sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, VIRTUOSE has become the opening flagship of Hong Kong Fashion Fest. The 2026 edition was its third, following its inaugural presentation in 2024 and second edition in 2025. This year, however, the setting carried particular weight. Hong Kong Fashion Fest moved VIRTUOSE from its previous harbour setting in Central to West Kowloon, placing its opening night within one of the city's most important cultural districts. It was a confident declaration of how Hong Kong wants fashion to be seen: as part of its cultural landscape. Vivian Luk: The Intelligence Beneath the Surface Hong Kong designer Vivian Luk offered one of the evening's most refined interpretations of couture. Her work is built around structure, but not structure that immediately announces itself. Boning, wiring, handwork and precise cutting operate beneath the surface, manipulating fabric and controlling movement while allowing the finished garment to retain an apparent ease. That tension is fundamental to Luk's design language. After studying at Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she began her career at Vera Wang, working in bridal and celebrity made to order before returning to Hong Kong and establishing her own label in 2008. The years spent understanding the mechanics of formal dressing are evident, but her work has developed its own vocabulary around asymmetry, diagonal lines and the relationship between clothing and the body. There is also psychology behind it. Luk has spoken about clothing as both protection and expression, something capable of shielding the wearer while communicating something about the person inside. On the VIRTUOSE runway, that translated into garments where construction and movement seemed to be constantly negotiating with one another. Among four designers interested in craft for very different reasons, Luk represented a quieter form of technical confidence. The intricacy did not always need to announce itself. Sometimes the most compelling couture is the work whose difficulty becomes apparent only when you understand what you are looking at. TIGERSTROLLING: Hong Kong's Couture Disruptors Then Hong Kong changed register completely. TIGERSTROLLING, founded by Tiger Chung Ka Ching and Tiger Chung Tsz Ho, brought the disruptive energy of the city's emerging fashion generation to the palace. Even the label's name contains a joke, playing simultaneously on "Tiger Strolling" and "Tigers Trolling", and that combination of sophistication and irreverence runs throughout its work. VIRTUOSE marked the debut of TIGERSTROLLING Artisanal, a new line created to push the designers' existing language further into couture. Their vocabulary includes deconstructed tailoring, distorted proportions and regenerated materials, with conventional ideas of preciousness repeatedly questioned. The result is fashion that can be beautifully constructed while retaining a sense of mischief. That mattered within the context of VIRTUOSE. A celebration of couture could easily have become an exercise in nostalgia, particularly in surroundings so steeped in history. TIGERSTROLLING prevented that. Their presence made an argument for couture as a living practice, capable of absorbing sustainability, subculture, humour and the everyday without abandoning technical skill. It was also an important representation of contemporary Hong Kong fashion. Vivian Luk and TIGERSTROLLING came from the same city but spoke entirely different visual languages. Presenting both was considerably more interesting than attempting to define a singular "Hong Kong aesthetic". The city was instead represented as a place where multiple fashion identities can coexist. PHAN HUY: Vietnam's New Couture Generation If TIGERSTROLLING represented disruption, PHAN HUY demonstrated just how quickly a young Asian house can move onto the international stage. Founded in Vietnam in 2023 by creative director Phan Huy and stylist and designer Steven Doan, the house is barely three years old. Its ambitions, however, are already international. Vietnamese textile traditions, silk weaving, embroidery, hand draping and natural plant based dyeing sit alongside contemporary processes including laser pattern cutting, creating a vocabulary that looks backwards and forwards simultaneously. That cultural foundation is important. PHAN HUY does not treat Vietnamese heritage as decoration added after the design process. It is embedded in the making of the clothes. The atelier works with techniques connected to Vietnam's textile history while using couture as a means of translating them for an international audience. At VIRTUOSE, the house brought intricate silk work, hand embroidery and sculptural draping into the wider conversation. Against the architectural language of the Hong Kong Palace Museum, the collection felt particularly resonant. Here was a young Vietnamese house presenting its own cultural vocabulary within a Hong Kong institution devoted to the preservation and interpretation of another great Asian artistic tradition. The significance extended beyond one runway. PHAN HUY's rapid international ascent reflects a broader shift taking place within fashion. The geography of couture is expanding, and Asian designers no longer need to treat their own heritage as something that must be diluted in order to communicate internationally. At VIRTUOSE, cultural specificity became an advantage. Guillermo Décimo: Couture as Theatre Spain's Guillermo Décimo brought another energy entirely. Where other collections explored fluidity, deconstruction or cultural translation, Décimo embraced fashion's capacity for theatre. Founded by Guillermo Díez López, the label is rooted in an unusually comprehensive understanding of garment making. Díez works across design, illustration, pattern cutting, dressmaking and craftsmanship, approaching a collection with the knowledge of someone interested not only in how a garment looks, but how it is physically created. His visual world reaches frequently into historical dress and portraiture, drawing particularly from the drama and grandeur associated with the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet the purpose is not historical reproduction. Those references are exaggerated, distorted and reassembled into a contemporary couture language with a taste for romance, spectacle and fantasy. Décimo also carries serious Spanish fashion credentials. He trained professionally with designers including Ana Locking and Ulises Mérida and studied haute couture techniques at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum. In 2025, he won the Mercedes Benz Fashion Talent award at Madrid Fashion Week for his collection In Tempo. In Hong Kong, that grounding in European couture tradition created another useful contrast. Décimo's work entered into dialogue with three Asian labels whose cultural and technical references came from entirely different places. The point was never to make those aesthetics agree. VIRTUOSE was strongest precisely when they did not. Forty Looks, Four Fashion Languages Seen together, the forty looks demonstrated why restricting the programme to four designers was effective. There was enough time to understand each point of view before the visual language changed. Vivian Luk explored the sophistication of concealed construction and controlled movement. TIGERSTROLLING questioned what materials and references deserve a place within couture. PHAN HUY translated Vietnamese craft through the vocabulary of a rapidly emerging international house. Guillermo Décimo embraced historical romance and theatrical craftsmanship. They shared technique without sharing aesthetics. That distinction is important because couture is sometimes discussed as though it were itself a style, associated primarily with gowns, embellishment and occasion dressing. VIRTUOSE presented something broader. Couture became a methodology: time, skill, experimentation and an unusually close relationship between an idea and the hands required to realise it. The format continued the following day with a private trunk show at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Designers, media and clients were able to encounter the work at closer range, with the possibility of ordering pieces directly. It was a commercially important extension of the runway and one that speaks to VIRTUOSE's wider purpose. Building a couture ecosystem requires more than presenting beautiful clothes. Designers need collectors, clients, media relationships and opportunities for international exchange. Why Hong Kong Matters The larger story surrounding VIRTUOSE is Hong Kong itself. Hong Kong Fashion Fest was launched as part of a wider effort to strengthen the city's position as a leading Asian centre for fashion design and cultural exchange. Its third edition is built around the theme "Rhythm of the Heart", with programmes spanning runway presentations, exhibitions, retail initiatives, industry conversations and international collaborations across the city. VIRTUOSE made a particularly persuasive opening statement because it played directly to Hong Kong's strengths. The city has long existed at an intersection of cultures, with deep Chinese roots and an international outlook shaped by generations of global exchange. Bringing designers from Hong Kong, Vietnam and Spain together inside the Hong Kong Palace Museum allowed that identity to become part of the show itself. There was another message embedded in the casting. Two of the four participating labels were from Hong Kong. Neither was asked to represent the city in the same way. Instead, Vivian Luk Atelier and TIGERSTROLLING Artisanal showed just how wide the spectrum of Hong Kong fashion can be, from sophisticated couture construction to experimental deconstruction and regenerated materials. For international media arriving in the city, that distinction matters. Hong Kong does not need to imitate Paris, Milan or London to justify its place within the global fashion calendar. Its opportunity lies in creating platforms that could only make complete sense here, connecting Chinese and wider Asian creativity with designers, buyers, collectors and media from around the world. A Fashion Fest Begins As an opening to Hong Kong Fashion Fest 2026, VIRTUOSE succeeded because it gave the wider programme a clear cultural position from its first evening. This was fashion presented alongside art and history, but also fashion with a commercial life beyond the runway. It connected established technique with emerging talent, local designers with international names and the intimacy of couture with the larger ambition of a city investing seriously in fashion. The surroundings undoubtedly helped. Couture moving through the Hong Kong Palace Museum created images of extraordinary beauty, but the setting would have meant little without clothes capable of holding their own within it. Across forty looks, four designers did so through radically different approaches to craft. For The EDIT, watching the collections unfold in Hong Kong also revealed something more interesting than another entry on an increasingly crowded international fashion calendar. The city has the infrastructure, cultural confidence and geographic position to become an important meeting place for fashion conversations that are increasingly moving beyond their traditional Western centres. VIRTUOSE captured that possibility in miniature. Spain met Vietnam. Two generations of Hong Kong design shared the same runway. Historic craft encountered regenerated materials. European couture tradition sat beside Asian textile heritage and contemporary experimentation. The Hong Kong Palace Museum became their common ground. Hong Kong Fashion Fest had begun, and before the rest of the week's shows, exhibitions and conversations could unfold, VIRTUOSE had already made the city's intentions beautifully clear.

For its 2026 Veggie Collection, Gentle Monster turns the garden into an eyewear experiment Tomatoes, folding sunglasses and a desolate field make unlikely companions. For its 2026 Veggie Collection, Gentle Monster turns the garden into an eyewear experiment, with aespa’s Karina at the centre of a campaign that makes considerably more sense once you enter the strange visual universe of the Korean brand. A tomato sits in the middle of a field. Karina of aespa appears consumed by it. Nearby, another figure, the multidisciplinary creative Yosh, stares intently at a vegetable. The landscape is sparse, the mood faintly unsettling and the premise deliberately difficult to explain without making it sound even stranger. This is Gentle Monster, so perhaps explanation is beside the point. The Korean eyewear brand has built a considerable part of its cultural identity around taking familiar objects and pushing them somewhere unexpected. Sunglasses become jewellery. Retail stores become installations. Campaigns borrow from science fiction, gaming, dolls and digital culture. Giant sculptures and surreal creatures occupy spaces where conventional brands might have placed mannequins and product displays. For summer 2026, it has found its latest source material in the vegetable garden. The 2026 Veggie Collection takes the colours, curves, stems and silhouettes of vegetables and translates them into ten folding eyewear designs. The premise sounds playful, although the frames themselves are far more sophisticated than a literal reading might suggest. Organic shapes meet highly engineered structures, flashes of colour appear across temples and lenses, and details resembling stems interrupt otherwise sharply constructed frames. There are tomatoes involved, certainly. Yet nobody is expected to walk around wearing a salad on their face. From Pocket to Produce The folding mechanism provides an important piece of context. Gentle Monster introduced its Pocket Collection in 2025 as a dedicated line of compact eyewear designed to fold down for portability. That collection contained 21 designs, including a collaboration with Bratz that paired a folding frame with a specially created doll. Karina fronted that campaign too, appearing in frames that collapsed into surprisingly small geometric forms. Veggie takes that engineering into a different aesthetic territory. Each of its ten designs folds inward into a compact form while retaining the exaggerated proportions and sculptural character associated with Gentle Monster. The technical exercise is easy to overlook beneath the campaign’s theatrical vegetables, but it gives the collection a practical foundation. These are objects designed to change shape. The vegetable references then begin to make more visual sense. Frames including Aden, Harv, Ivy, Jasmin, Mori, Oatt, Radi, Tofi, Vert and Zest appear across optical and sunglass variations. Colour moves from relatively restrained black and brown into yellow, green, violet and other more expressive treatments. Gentle Monster describes the collection as an encounter between pastoral vegetable forms and a synthetic aesthetic, and that tension is visible throughout the designs. Nature provides the initial shape. Industrial precision takes over from there. Karina and the Tomato Then comes the campaign. Gentle Monster has cast Karina of aespa alongside Yosh, placing them within what the brand describes as a “bizarre obsession” unfolding across a desolate field. Karina becomes fixated on a tomato. Yosh watches the vegetable with equal intensity. What could easily have become a cheerful garden fantasy instead takes on the eerie quality of an art film whose meaning remains just beyond reach. That decision matters because vegetables are almost aggressively ordinary. They sit in supermarket crates, refrigerators and kitchen drawers. They carry none of the automatic fantasy of diamonds, flowers or exotic animals, all familiar territories for fashion imagery. Gentle Monster takes that banality and changes the scale and context until it becomes surreal. The tomato becomes an object of fascination, a stem becomes a design detail, a field becomes a fashion set and eyewear sits somewhere between the organic and artificial. Karina is particularly effective inside this universe because her relationship with Gentle Monster predates Veggie. She fronted the Pocket Collection in 2025, giving the two projects a visual continuity even as the narrative moves from Bratz and compact eyewear into agriculture. Her presence also connects Gentle Monster with the enormous cultural reach of K pop while keeping the campaign rooted in the brand’s Korean creative identity. The Garden Gets Weird The campaign does not end with photographs. Gentle Monster created Veggie pop ups across Los Angeles, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok, extending the vegetable universe into physical space. The installations are based loosely around agricultural landscapes, although very little resembles an ordinary farm. At their centre sits a monumental tomato, surrounded by Veggiemon, vegetable creatures produced at varying scales and scattered through vividly constructed garden environments. Visitors can also enter an interactive photo booth that transforms them into their own Veggiemon incarnation. This is where Gentle Monster’s approach to fashion retail becomes particularly relevant. The product is only one component of the experience. The brand has repeatedly used temporary installations and elaborate stores to build physical worlds around its collections. The spaces provide material for photographs, social content and cultural conversation while giving visitors something to encounter even before they decide whether they want the eyewear. A pair of sunglasses can be displayed on a shelf. A giant tomato is considerably harder to ignore. Why Gentle Monster Can Get Away With It The obvious question is why any of this works. Luxury fashion has long borrowed from surrealism, but Gentle Monster approaches spectacle with unusual consistency. Its collaborations and campaigns have moved through wildly different territories while retaining a recognizable appetite for distortion, scale and visual unease. The brand’s recent archive alone moves between Maison Margiela, Mugler, Tekken 8, Overwatch 2, Bratz, Moncler and its continuing projects with BLACKPINK’s Jennie. Its own digital archive places these projects beside experimental films, games, interactive experiences and temporary retail environments. That history gives a vegetable collection permission to exist without requiring an elaborate justification. Gentle Monster is also operating in a category unusually suited to experimentation. Eyewear occupies the face, immediately altering appearance without requiring the commitment of an entire wardrobe. A strange frame can function almost like jewellery or a small piece of sculpture. It can be theatrical while everything surrounding it remains simple. The 2025 Jewelry Collection pushed directly into that territory, embellishing eyewear with pearl and jewellery inspired details. Pocket then explored transformation and portability. Veggie takes the same compact architecture and introduces organic form and colour. Seen in sequence, the tomato feels less random. Nature, Reconstructed The most interesting frames are those where the reference remains slightly ambiguous. Gentle Monster has resisted simply attaching miniature vegetables to sunglasses. Instead, the collection extracts visual characteristics from them. A curve can suggest produce without reproducing it. A temple can terminate with something resembling a stem. Acidic green, tomato red or vegetable yellow can appear against a synthetic frame. The result occupies an odd space between something grown and something manufactured. That relationship is embedded in Gentle Monster’s own description of the collection, which places vegetable silhouettes and colours against a deliberately synthetic aesthetic. It also explains why the folding mechanism belongs here. The frames may borrow from organic shapes, but they behave like engineered objects. Hinges allow them to collapse, components interlock and the form transforms before being reconstructed on the face. The garden has effectively been processed through a machine. Fashion Needs a Sense of Humour There is another reason Veggie feels timely. Fashion has spent several seasons surrounded by conversations about commercial caution, wearable collections and the pressures facing the luxury market. Against that backdrop, a Korean eyewear company building enormous tomatoes and imaginary vegetable creatures around folding sunglasses feels wonderfully unserious. The humour does not diminish the design. If anything, it gives the product room to be more experimental. A frame inspired by a vegetable stem does not need to make an intellectual argument about the future of fashion, and a giant tomato does not require symbolism. Sometimes an object becomes compelling because somebody had the confidence to make it strange. Gentle Monster understands that instinct particularly well. The company has never behaved as though eyewear needs to remain within the polite boundaries of accessories. Its frames can be exaggerated, futuristic, decorative or deliberately peculiar. Its stores can resemble galleries, laboratories or dream sequences. Its campaigns frequently ask viewers to enter a world before explaining what is being sold. Veggie simply pushes that instinct into new terrain. The collection launched globally in June with ten folding designs and an expanding assortment of colours and lens treatments. Several variations currently appear as sold out or awaiting restock on Gentle Monster’s international store, suggesting that the absurdity has not prevented the frames from finding an audience. A tomato becomes a campaign star. A vegetable garden becomes a retail installation. Sunglasses fold into compact little objects before opening into sculptural frames. None of it should feel particularly fashionable, yet within Gentle Monster’s peculiar universe, somehow it does.

As Miraval makes its first move beyond the United States after more than three decades, its arrival on Saudi Arabia’s Shura Island carries ambitions that extend far beyond another beautiful wellness resort In an exclusive conversation with The EDIT, General Manager Juan Paulo Alfonso speaks about the changing meaning of wellbeing, our complicated relationship with constant connectivity, the influence of Saudi culture and why some of the most valuable things a hotel can give its guests may be the ones they take home with them. There is a moment Juan Paulo Alfonso has begun to notice at Miraval The Red Sea. It rarely happens immediately. Guests arrive carrying the momentum of the lives they have temporarily left behind, accustomed to messages arriving, calendars filling and the subtle expectation that they remain reachable even while technically away. Then, after a day or two on Shura Island, something changes. “The pace changes,” Alfonso tells The EDIT. “We’re constantly connected, constantly available, and often so focused on what’s next that we forget to appreciate where we are.” It is a deceptively simple observation, but it goes directly to the heart of the proposition Miraval has brought to Saudi Arabia. Miraval The Red Sea opened in June on the southern edge of Shura Island, surrounded by the mangroves, lagoons and startling blue water of Saudi Arabia’s rapidly emerging Red Sea destination. It is the first Miraval outside the United States, a considerable step for a brand that began in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona in 1995 and has spent more than three decades developing its particular philosophy of mindfulness and a “life in balance.” The new resort is adults only, with 180 rooms, suites and villas spread through three million square feet of coastline. Foster + Partners and Rockwell Group shaped the architecture and interiors around the surrounding landscape, drawing on desert tones, natural materials and forms influenced by coral. At its centre sits the 40,000 square foot Life in Balance Spa, the largest spa on Shura Island. Those statistics describe the physical resort. They explain considerably less about what Miraval is trying to do there. For Alfonso, the conversation begins with the word that now appears almost everywhere in luxury hospitality. “Wellness.” “I think one of the challenges with the word ‘wellness’ today is that it means something different to everyone,” he says. “For some people, it’s movement and physical health. For others, it’s creativity, mindfulness, time in nature, or simply having the chance to step away from the demands of everyday life.” That breadth has become increasingly relevant as wellness has migrated from a specialist corner of hospitality into the mainstream luxury market. Spas have grown larger, menus healthier, sleep programmes more sophisticated and language around longevity, recovery and optimization increasingly ubiquitous. Miraval enters this crowded conversation from an unusual position because wellness has been its entire reason for existing since long before the sector became fashionable. “What makes Miraval The Red Sea different is that wellness isn’t an amenity, it’s the reason the brand exists,” Alfonso says. That philosophy is visible in the way a stay is assembled. Guests connect with an Experience Planner before arrival, with planning available as early as 60 days ahead. The conversation is designed around what someone wants from the stay rather than simply filling a timetable with activities. Once on the island, the possibilities move between meditation, movement and integrative wellbeing, creative workshops, culinary experiences, spa therapies, cultural programming and adventures across the water and landscape. “No two guests arrive at Miraval The Red Sea for the same reason, so it wouldn’t make sense for everyone to follow the same itinerary,” Alfonso explains. “Some guests want to completely unwind, while others are looking to challenge themselves, reconnect with a partner, or spend uninterrupted time together as a family.” The plan is allowed to evolve. Someone arriving convinced that several days in the spa will provide exactly what they need might unexpectedly prefer kayaking. Another guest seeking activity may discover that a quiet morning beside the water becomes the most important part of the trip. “We see our role as guiding those choices, not dictating them.” When Wellness Stops Looking Like Wellness That freedom is particularly interesting in an industry that can occasionally turn wellbeing into another form of performance. Modern life already offers plenty to measure. Steps, sleep scores, heart rate variability, calories, productivity and recovery can all be reduced to numbers, while an expanding longevity economy promises increasingly sophisticated ways of optimizing the body. Travel has inevitably absorbed some of that thinking. Alfonso offers a gentler interpretation. “People often think balance means giving equal attention to every part of life, but I’ve never looked at it that way,” he says. “Most people don’t need more hours in the day; they need permission to step away from the constant expectation of always being available.” Balance, in his view, changes according to the person and the moment. “It’s recognizing what you need in a particular moment, whether that’s being active, spending time with the people around you, or simply allowing yourself to slow down without feeling guilty.” That thinking explains why Miraval’s programme stretches into territory that may initially seem peripheral to wellness. Guests can explore Arabic calligraphy, perfume blending and heritage storytelling, alongside kayaking through mangroves, paddleboarding, stargazing and more familiar movement and mindfulness practices. A creative workshop can carry as much value as a fitness session. An afternoon outdoors may accomplish something a treatment cannot. “If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, it’s that wellbeing isn’t universal,” Alfonso says. “Some guests leave feeling completely re energized after paddleboarding or tackling one of our challenge courses. Others find that same sense of fulfillment through perfume creation, calligraphy, or a cooking class. Neither experience is more valuable than the other.” Mindfulness is approached with the same accessibility. For someone unfamiliar with the practice, the terminology itself can create distance. Alfonso has little interest in making it complicated. “At Miraval The Red Sea, mindfulness might mean taking a walk along the shoreline without your phone, paying attention to your breathing for a few minutes, or sitting quietly with a coffee and nowhere else to be.” No expertise is required. There is no expectation that a guest arrives already living according to a particular wellness philosophy. “Our role is simply to create opportunities for them to slow down and discover that mindfulness doesn’t have to feel complicated to make a meaningful difference.” The Phone Goes Away Perhaps the most revealing experiment at Miraval involves something most of us carry everywhere. The resort encourages Miraval Mode, inviting guests to put devices away across many shared spaces. It sounds almost trivial until one considers how rarely adults now sit through breakfast, wait for another person, walk somewhere beautiful or spend an idle ten minutes without reaching instinctively for a screen. Alfonso watches what happens next. “People begin talking to one another, paying attention to their surroundings, and engaging more fully with the destination,” he says. The memorable moments that follow are often unscheduled. “An unexpected conversation over dinner. Trying an experience they never imagined they’d enjoy. Spending an evening without reaching for their phone.” For a resort filled with carefully developed programming, there is something compelling about Alfonso placing such value on experiences that cannot be booked. “As a hotelier, those are the moments I enjoy watching most because they’re genuine and they can’t be manufactured, only encouraged.” Why Saudi Arabia, Why Now Miraval’s arrival in Saudi Arabia represents a major geographical shift. For three decades its identity developed entirely in the United States, beginning with Miraval Arizona before expanding to Austin and the Berkshires. Hyatt acquired Miraval in 2017 as it moved more deeply into the wellbeing sector. Shura Island now becomes the brand’s first international expression. Choosing the Red Sea was about more than finding another spectacular coastline, Alfonso says. “The Red Sea has an incredible sense of calm that’s difficult to describe until you experience it for yourself. The landscape naturally encourages people to disconnect, spend time outdoors, and appreciate their surroundings without us having to manufacture that feeling.” The setting gives Miraval an extraordinary palette. Mangroves edge the island. Warm water stretches towards the horizon. Desert and sea occupy the same visual field. Guests can move through that environment by kayak or paddleboard, walk the shoreline, or experience it through moments that require no formal programming at all. “When you arrive here, you immediately realize the landscape isn’t something you look at, it’s something you experience,” Alfonso says. For Miraval, however, arriving in Saudi Arabia also presented a more nuanced challenge. A brand with a highly developed American identity needed to feel connected to its new home. “It was equally important that Miraval The Red Sea reflected Saudi Arabia rather than feeling like a concept that could have been placed anywhere in the world,” Alfonso explains. Saudi influences appear through cultural experiences, regional flavours and elements of the spa programme. The resort's hammam traditions sit within the wider Life in Balance Spa, while calligraphy, perfume creation and heritage storytelling introduce other points of connection. “The Kingdom has a deeply rooted culture of hospitality, generosity, and bringing people together, and those values align naturally with our own,” Alfonso says. “Travelers today are looking for authenticity. They don’t just want to visit a destination; they want to understand it.” The decision also places Miraval inside one of the most ambitious hospitality developments underway globally. Shura Island is becoming the central hub of The Red Sea destination, bringing together a collection of international luxury resorts within an environment Red Sea Global has positioned around regenerative tourism. For Miraval, that landscape provides something architecture alone cannot create. Nature does part of the work. Pleasure Remains on the Menu Wellness resorts have historically carried another complication: food can become virtuous to the point of losing its pleasure. Alfonso rejects that trade off. “It’s one of the great pleasures of travel, and we believe it should remain exactly that,” he says. “Guests shouldn’t feel like they’re sacrificing enjoyment because they’re staying at a wellness resort.” Miraval’s dining revolves around three principal venues. Rosemary serves plant forward dishes built around seasonal ingredients. Palm Court Café offers lighter food, juices and more informal dining, while Coral Cove moves from coastal daytime dining into an evening setting built around sharing plates. The Life in Balance Culinary Kitchen adds an educational dimension through hands on experiences. “Our culinary philosophy is about showing guests that nourishing food can also be vibrant, satisfying, and full of flavor,” Alfonso says. “We want people to enjoy every meal without feeling they’re making compromises.” The kitchen also provides another route for the experience to travel home with the guest. Someone might discover an ingredient or technique and continue using it weeks later. “If they leave Miraval The Red Sea inspired to recreate even one of those ideas at home, then we’ve extended the experience beyond the resort.” That sentence reveals something larger about how Alfonso measures the value of the stay. What Happens After the Flight Home Luxury hospitality has traditionally been very good at escape. The door closes on ordinary life and another world begins. Miraval is interested in what survives after that door opens again. Alfonso sees no conflict between escape and personal growth. “We all need opportunities to escape, switch off, and recharge,” he says. The more interesting question is what remains. “If someone leaves Miraval The Red Sea feeling rested, we’ve done our job. But if they also return home sleeping better, making more time for themselves, reconnecting with a hobby they had forgotten, or approaching everyday life with a different perspective, then the experience has had a much more lasting impact.” It is an unusually modest definition of transformation. There is no promise of emerging as a completely different person after several days beside the Red Sea. Alfonso repeatedly returns instead to small behaviours and realizations. His answer becomes clearest when The EDIT asks what he hopes a guest remembers if everything else fades. “I hope they leave realizing that wellbeing doesn’t have to be complicated,” he says. “We often think improving our wellbeing requires making dramatic changes, but it’s usually the smaller habits that stay with us.” One habit is enough. “If guests return home feeling they’ve found one simple habit they’ll continue long after their stay, I’d consider that a success.” A Different Measure of Success Alfonso has spent enough time in hotels to understand the metrics by which they operate. Occupancy matters. Revenue matters. Awards matter. Yet when he talks about Miraval, those are not the stories he says the team remembers. “They’re about the guest who discovered confidence they didn’t know they had. The couple who reconnected after spending uninterrupted time together. The people who leave with a healthier routine they’ll continue at home.” Those experiences cannot be neatly represented on a performance report. “That’s a measure of success you can’t capture in a report, but it’s probably the one we’re proudest of.” It also explains why Miraval’s international expansion feels particularly relevant now. The luxury wellness market is growing more sophisticated, more scientific and, at times, more complicated. Diagnostics, biometrics and optimization will continue to have an important place within it. Alfonso believes personalization will become even more significant over the next decade, with travellers increasingly choosing experiences according to what they need at a particular stage of life rather than following a universal wellness prescription. Miraval arrives on the Red Sea with a surprisingly uncomplicated counterpoint. Move if movement feels good. Be creative. Eat something delicious. Learn something. Go into the water. Put the phone away. Have a conversation. Sit with a coffee. Sleep. Then pay attention to what happens. Before our conversation ends, The EDIT asks Alfonso how he hopes guests feel when they eventually leave Shura Island and board the flight home. His answer brings us back to the change in pace he notices after those first days at the resort. “I hope they leave feeling lighter,” he says, “not because we’ve tried to change who they are, but because they’ve had the opportunity to step away from the pace of everyday life and reconnect with what matters most to them.” For all the scale of Miraval The Red Sea, the three decades of philosophy behind it and the significance of opening the brand’s first international resort in Saudi Arabia, its General Manager ultimately returns to something much smaller. A person goes home rested. Perhaps more present. Perhaps carrying one new habit. And perhaps, for a while, moving through life a little differently.

For Autumn 2026, Daniel Lee takes us into the English countryside for a road trip steeped in music, weather, heritage The British road trip rarely begins with much ceremony. A car is packed, a route is loosely agreed upon and the city gradually disappears in the rear view mirror. Motorways narrow into country roads, villages interrupt the journey and an open window carries in the smell of grass and summer air. Music becomes inseparable from the landscape passing outside. Somewhere along the way, the journey begins to matter as much as wherever everyone thought they were going. Burberry understands the romance of this ritual particularly well. For its latest Autumn 2026 chapter, Escape to the Countryside, Daniel Lee takes the house out of the city and onto the road with Moses Martin, Edie Campbell, Nora Attal and Sang Woo Kim. Photographed by Chris Rhodes, the campaign follows the group through an English summer day of winding lanes, rolling fields and spontaneous stops before eventually arriving at Deene Park, the historic country estate in Northamptonshire. For Martin, the campaign carries another milestone. It marks his fashion campaign debut, placing the musician alongside three established names within fashion while allowing music to become part of the narrative itself. His band, People I’ve Met, provides the soundtrack with For Hire, giving the journey a personal connection that extends beyond casting. Martin fronts the New York based trio alongside Orlando Wiltshire and Andrew Suster. The group grew from friendships formed during high school in Los Angeles before taking shape as a band after moving east for college. Their debut EP Bunny arrived in May 2026, following releases including Promise, For Hire and Loving One. Here, For Hire slips naturally into Burberry’s vision of a long drive through England, carrying the campaign forward with the easy intimacy of a song that becomes attached to a particular journey. Daniel Lee has spoken about music on long drives becoming part of the memories created along the way, and the campaign leans into that familiar relationship between sound and place. The photographs look through open car windows and follow moments between destinations, allowing fields, villages and roadside pauses to become as important as the arrival at Deene Park. The setting also brings Burberry back to territory the house has occupied for generations. Thomas Burberry founded the company in 1856, and 2026 marks its 170th anniversary. The relationship between Burberry and the outdoors stretches through much of that history, from the development of weather resistant gabardine to clothing created for explorers and adventurers. Protection from the elements eventually became inseparable from the visual identity of the house, with the trench coat travelling far beyond its functional origins to become one of British fashion’s most recognizable pieces. Under Lee, those codes continue to move between their historical origins and contemporary British life. Across Burberry’s 2026 campaigns, Britishness has appeared through music, sport, countryside escapes and the everyday rhythms of London. The country road is another piece of that landscape, giving Autumn 2026 a setting where weather, practicality and personal style can coexist without feeling staged. The clothes are built for precisely that movement between environments. House Check appears in archive beige across accessories intended to travel easily between town and country. The zip tote and bucket bag join the Primrose and Pocket styles in coated canvas, carrying one of Burberry’s most familiar visual signatures into shapes designed for everyday use. The collection becomes lighter as summer enters the picture. Cotton piqué polos sit alongside check bikinis, while outerwear accounts for the unpredictability of British weather. The men’s Leadenham trench is cut to a mid length silhouette in water resistant cotton gabardine, maintaining a direct connection to one of the materials most closely associated with Burberry. For women, the lightweight Tillydrine introduces a more fluid shape through a ruched, flared hem and antique finish hardware. These pieces make sense within the world Rhodes photographs. A countryside escape in Britain can move from sunshine to rain within an afternoon, and Burberry has spent much of its history designing for exactly that uncertainty. Here, the practicality is absorbed into the styling rather than treated as technical performance. A trench belongs in the car because the weather may turn. A large check tote carries what the day requires. A polo works when the sun returns. Deene Park gives the final scenes another layer of Englishness. The Northamptonshire estate provides the architectural conclusion to a journey spent largely in motion, moving the group from open roads and fields into the grounds of a traditional country house. The transition allows Burberry’s wardrobe to travel through several versions of Britain within the same day, from the casual familiarity of a road trip to the grandeur of an English estate. There is nostalgia within the imagery, particularly in the references to Burberry’s own archive, but the casting keeps the story connected to the present. Campbell brings the familiarity of a model whose career has long intersected with British fashion, while Attal and Kim join Martin in a group that feels generationally and culturally broader than a literal recreation of some imagined English past. Martin is particularly interesting within that equation. His famous family inevitably brings recognition, yet the campaign gives him a role connected to his own creative life. His music accompanies his first major fashion appearance, allowing Burberry to introduce him through the thing he is actively building rather than treating him purely as a celebrity offspring. It also continues the close relationship between Burberry and British music that Lee has repeatedly drawn upon. Earlier in 2026, the house’s summer campaign explored music as a cultural language through a cast that included Twiggy alongside contemporary artists and models. Escape to the Countryside brings that relationship somewhere more personal. Music leaves the stage and enters the car, becoming part of an ordinary summer ritual. That ordinariness gives the campaign much of its charm. The fantasy is accessible enough to recognize. Pack a bag. Pick up friends. Leave the city. Stop when something looks interesting. Turn the music up. Let the road determine part of the day. Burberry has plenty of history to draw upon after 170 years, but its strongest contemporary expressions often emerge when those archives connect with experiences that still feel familiar. The countryside, unpredictable weather, a good coat in the back of the car and music playing as the landscape changes outside the window all belong naturally within the house’s world. By the time the group reaches Deene Park, the clothes have travelled through villages, fields and country roads rather than remaining suspended within the controlled environment of a fashion image. The House Check looks at home beside an open car door. Gabardine returns to the weather it was created to navigate. A new musician enters fashion with his own song playing in the background. For Autumn 2026, Burberry’s British summer is found somewhere between the city and the country house, windows down, music on and the road stretching ahead.

From ancient verse to modern heirloom Some stories survive because history records them. Others endure because people refuse to stop telling them. Across the Arab world, few love stories have travelled through the centuries with the emotional force of Qays and Laila, a tale preserved through poetry, literature and collective memory until the names of its protagonists became almost inseparable from the idea of love itself. Now, in Diriyah, that centuries old story has found an unexpected contemporary expression. Bab Samhan, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Diriyah, and Saudi fine jewellery house Charmaleena have come together for a limited edition creation inspired by Qays and Laila, transforming poetry, architecture and cultural memory into an object designed to be carried close to the heart. The collaboration feels particularly fitting within Diriyah, where the relationship between past and present is visible at almost every turn. Najdi architecture, earthen walls, traditional doors and palm lined pathways provide more than an aesthetic backdrop. They speak to generations of Saudi history and to a culture in which poetry and storytelling have long served as powerful ways of preserving memory. Bab Samhan itself takes its name from one of ancient Diriyah's gates, creating an immediate connection between the property and the historic landscape surrounding it. At the centre of the collaboration is The Locket of Love, part of Charmaleena's signature Tales & Treasures collection. Crafted in 18 karat gold and diamonds, the piece draws visual inspiration from the intricate patterns of traditional doors and homes, while an engraving connects it directly to the poetry associated with Qays and Laila. It can also be personalised, allowing a story inherited from the past to acquire a new and deeply individual meaning for its wearer. The verse chosen for the project captures precisely why the story remains so resonant: "It is not the dwellings themselves that captured my heart, but those who dwelled within them." It is a sentiment about love, but equally one about place, memory and the emotional significance we attach to the spaces inhabited by the people we love. Within the context of Diriyah, where the preservation of physical place has become inseparable from the preservation of Saudi cultural history, the words acquire another layer of meaning. Qays and Laila's story has endured precisely because its themes transcend the period from which it emerged. Qays, traditionally remembered as Majnun Layla, became immortalised through poetry after being denied a life with the woman he loved. Over centuries, their story travelled far beyond Arabia, inspiring poets, writers, artists and musicians across different cultures. What began as an Arabic tale of unattainable love ultimately became one of the world's enduring literary archetypes, demonstrating the remarkable ability of storytelling to move between generations and geographies. Charmaleena's interpretation avoids turning that heritage into something purely decorative. The house has built its jewellery language around narrative and emotion, and here the locket becomes a physical repository for both. Gold and diamonds provide preciousness, but the more interesting value lies in symbolism. Architectural details become pattern. Poetry becomes engraving. Memory becomes something tangible enough to wear. This intersection between cultural heritage and contemporary luxury is becoming increasingly significant within Saudi Arabia's creative landscape. As the Kingdom's fashion, jewellery, hospitality and design industries expand, some of the most compelling collaborations are those that resist simply importing an international luxury vocabulary. Instead, they look inward, finding inspiration within Saudi architecture, craftsmanship, landscapes and stories and translating them for a contemporary audience. Bab Samhan provides a particularly meaningful setting for that conversation. The 134 room property, including 23 suites, was the first luxury hotel to open in Diriyah and draws heavily upon Najdi architectural traditions. Its connection to the destination extends beyond design through experiences centred around storytelling, cuisine and exploration of the surrounding historic district. That makes this collaboration more interesting than a conventional hotel retail partnership. Hospitality and jewellery might initially appear to occupy different worlds, but both can function as vehicles for memory. We remember places through the experiences we have within them, just as jewellery often acquires significance through the people, occasions and emotions attached to it. The most treasured pieces become personal archives, accumulating stories as they pass through lives and sometimes generations. The Locket of Love sits precisely at that intersection. Its starting point belongs to cultural memory, but its eventual meaning belongs to the person who wears it. Personalisation allows the original narrative to become intertwined with another, creating an heirloom whose significance can continue evolving long after the collaboration itself has ended. There is also something particularly appropriate about choosing a locket. Historically, lockets have existed among jewellery's most intimate forms, created to conceal portraits, inscriptions, locks of hair or other private reminders of someone significant. Unlike jewellery designed principally for display, their meaning has traditionally been inward facing. They hold something. In this case, what they hold is a story that has survived for centuries. For Bab Samhan and Charmaleena, the collaboration therefore becomes an exercise in preservation without nostalgia. It does not attempt to recreate the past or freeze heritage in time. Instead, it allows an old story to acquire a new material language, one shaped by contemporary Saudi jewellery design and experienced within one of the Kingdom's most historically significant destinations. In a luxury landscape increasingly crowded with collaborations, that sense of connection matters. The strongest partnerships are rarely those created simply by placing two recognisable names beside one another. They emerge when both participants contribute something essential to the narrative. Here, Bab Samhan provides place, heritage and context, while Charmaleena translates those ideas through jewellery and craftsmanship. Qays and Laila provide the emotional thread connecting them. Centuries after their story first entered the cultural imagination, the lovers continue to remind us that places derive much of their meaning from the lives and memories attached to them. In Diriyah, that idea now exists in miniature, engraved into gold and designed to travel far beyond the walls that inspired it.

Designed around togetherness rather than isolation, Six Senses AMAALA offers a new perspective on luxury travel The relationship between luxury hospitality and wellness has changed dramatically over the past decade. What was once confined to a spa menu has evolved into something far more holistic, shaping everything from architecture and dining to sleep, movement, and the way guests interact with their surroundings. Increasingly, the world's most ambitious resorts are moving beyond the concept of wellness as a treatment and instead embedding it into the rhythm of daily life. This philosophy sits at the heart of Six Senses AMAALA, the latest addition to Saudi Arabia's rapidly evolving Red Sea coast and the brand's second property in the Kingdom following the opening of Six Senses Southern Dunes. Set to welcome guests from mid-July, the new resort occupies a striking position within AMAALA, the ultra-luxury wellness destination taking shape along more than 1,600 square miles of protected Red Sea coastline. Framed by desert peaks, mangrove lagoons, coral-rich waters, and sweeping beaches, the setting feels purpose-built for a brand whose identity has long centred on the relationship between nature and wellbeing. What distinguishes Six Senses AMAALA is its focus on togetherness. While many luxury resorts have traditionally centred on privacy and seclusion, this property has been designed around shared experiences and multigenerational travel. One hundred suites and villas, alongside twenty-five branded residences, are woven into the landscape in a way that evokes the feeling of a coastal village. Inspired by traditional Saudi seaside architecture and hospitality, the resort seeks to encourage connection through communal experiences, local storytelling, and nature-led discovery. That emphasis feels particularly relevant at a time when luxury travellers are increasingly seeking meaningful time together rather than simply luxurious surroundings. Across the hospitality industry, family travel has become one of the fastest-growing segments, with many travellers prioritising destinations that can accommodate multiple generations while offering experiences that appeal to different ages and interests. Six Senses AMAALA appears designed with precisely this audience in mind. Wellbeing remains central throughout the experience, though not in an overt or prescriptive way. The Six Senses approach has always focused on integrating wellness into everyday moments, and that philosophy continues here. Sleep-optimised accommodation, nutrient-focused cuisine, movement programmes, and immersive spa experiences are designed to work together as part of a broader ecosystem rather than existing as standalone offerings. The spa itself is among the resort's most ambitious features. Inspired by the idea of a hidden desert oasis, Six Senses Spa AMAALA combines lush vegetation, pools, waterfalls, and open-air spaces to create a sense of refuge within the wider landscape. Alongside signature treatments, guests will find an outdoor Watsu pool, a dedicated sound dome, thermal facilities, and a Longevity Center that blends advanced diagnostics and recovery therapies with the more intuitive, holistic practices that have become synonymous with the Six Senses brand. Cryotherapy, PEMF therapy, personalised consultations, yoga, fitness programmes, and multi-day wellness journeys all form part of the offering. Dining is similarly shaped by the brand's wellness-first philosophy. The Eat With Six Senses programme focuses on fresh, seasonal, and minimally processed ingredients, but the culinary ambition extends well beyond nutrition. One of the most interesting aspects of the resort is its sophisticated non-alcoholic beverage programme, which incorporates fermented drinks, botanical infusions, probiotic tonics, and carefully developed mocktails that place creativity and flavour at the forefront rather than treating alcohol-free options as an afterthought. The resort's dining venues each bring a distinct perspective. Perched atop the property's central mesa, Soraya combines Japanese and Latin American influences through a menu that pairs sushi, ceviche, and seafood with dramatic views across the Red Sea. Joud focuses on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine throughout the day, while Beach Shack offers a more relaxed setting just steps from the shoreline. Elsewhere, Bunna coffee roastery, Makhbaz artisan bakery, and Nafas cooking school add further depth to the culinary experience, reinforcing the idea that food can be a source of connection and discovery as much as nourishment. As with many of the region's most significant hospitality projects, sustainability forms a key part of the story. AMAALA has committed to operating entirely on renewable energy, while Six Senses AMAALA has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The property's mangrove-fringed lagoon serves as both a defining landscape feature and an important ecological asset, supporting marine biodiversity while helping protect the coastline. Guests are encouraged to engage with these environments through programmes such as the Junior Mangrove Ecologist initiative and workshops hosted within the Earth Lab, where sustainability becomes a hands-on experience rather than an abstract concept. Beyond the resort itself, the surrounding destination continues to emerge as one of Saudi Arabia's most ambitious tourism projects. Snorkelling and diving among coral reefs, desert adventures, the Corallium Marine Life Institute, and the future AMAALA Yacht Club all contribute to a broader vision that combines wellness, conservation, culture, and luxury hospitality. With its opening, Six Senses AMAALA adds another significant chapter to the Kingdom's growing luxury hospitality landscape. Yet its greatest strength may lie not in any single facility or experience, but in the way it approaches wellbeing itself. Rather than positioning wellness as something guests schedule into their day, the resort aims to make it an inherent part of how they spend it. In a destination defined by sea, sand, and sky, that philosophy feels entirely at home.

From the racetrack to the wardrobe, Alpine and Lacoste translate a shared philosophy into a bold new creative partnership Some collaborations feel inevitable long before they happen. At first glance, Alpine and Lacoste occupy very different worlds. One is synonymous with lightweight sports cars and motorsport engineering. The other has spent nearly a century shaping the language of modern sportswear through its iconic crocodile emblem and enduring vision of effortless French style. Yet both brands were founded by pioneers who shared remarkably similar philosophies, believing that performance and elegance should never exist in opposition to one another. This summer, those parallel histories converge through a new collaboration that extends beyond fashion or automotive design alone. Alpine and Lacoste have unveiled an ambitious creative partnership comprising a capsule collection and a one-of-one vehicle, the Beware of the Crocodile – Alpine Lacoste A290 Rallye, bringing together two distinctly French visions of innovation, movement, and design. The collaboration arrives at a moment when the boundaries between luxury, fashion, sport, and automotive culture continue to blur. Increasingly, brands are seeking partnerships that move beyond logo placement and merchandising, instead exploring shared histories, values, and creative languages. The most successful collaborations feel authentic because they emerge from genuine common ground. In the case of Alpine and Lacoste, that common ground stretches back decades. Both brands were shaped by founders who challenged convention within their respective fields. René Lacoste transformed tennis through innovation and technical thinking, while Jean Rédélé established Alpine by pursuing a lightweight approach to performance that would become central to the marque's identity. Their legacies continue to influence the brands today, united by a belief that precision, ingenuity, and intelligent design often achieve more than excess or complexity. That philosophy is most clearly expressed through the collaboration's centrepiece. Rather than creating a concept car purely for display, Alpine and Lacoste chose to build their vision upon the Alpine A290 Rallye, the most extreme and competition-focused interpretation of Alpine's forthcoming electric hot hatch. Developed for customer motorsport, the vehicle already represents Alpine's commitment to a new generation of electric performance. The decision to use a genuine rally platform rather than a styling exercise gives the project credibility and substance from the outset. The resulting one-off car draws inspiration from one of Lacoste's most recognisable visual signatures: the crocodile. Specifically, designers focused on the red tongue of the emblem, using it as the conceptual thread that runs throughout the vehicle. The exterior combines the purposeful aggression of a modern rally car with graphic details and visual references developed jointly by the creative teams of both brands. Widened tracks, pronounced aerodynamic elements, exposed carbon fibre, a roof intake, and an imposing rear spoiler reinforce the car's motorsport credentials while introducing a more expressive design language. The technical foundations remain equally serious. Rally-specific suspension, reinforced braking systems, dedicated electronic calibrations, and a chassis engineered for precision ensure the vehicle remains rooted in competition. Rather than disguising the engineering, the collaboration celebrates it. This is a rally car viewed through a different creative lens rather than a fashion object masquerading as one. Inside, the concept becomes even more immersive. The cabin is transformed into a monochromatic red environment intended to evoke the sensation of entering the crocodile's mouth. Lacoste's signature petit piqué fabric appears throughout the interior, while embroidery has been produced by Potencier, the historic workshop responsible for creating the brand's famous crocodile emblems. Structural components receive red anodised finishes, and several elements utilise advanced 3D-printing techniques to balance comfort, lightness, and performance. Even the smallest details contribute to the narrative, with references to the crocodile appearing throughout the design. In total, the vehicle contains 290 crocodiles integrated into various elements of its construction. Alongside the vehicle, the partnership extends into a capsule collection that brings the worlds of motorsport and tennis together through apparel and accessories. Polos, technical garments, T-shirts, and co-branded pieces draw upon the shared values of both houses, translating concepts such as movement, precision, and performance into wearable form. Yet what makes this collaboration particularly interesting is what it reveals about the evolving relationship between luxury sectors. For years, automotive and fashion partnerships often relied on superficial associations. Today, the most compelling collaborations are built around storytelling, craftsmanship, and cultural alignment. Consumers increasingly seek products and experiences that feel considered rather than manufactured, and brands are responding by exploring partnerships rooted in authentic narratives. Alpine and Lacoste possess exactly that advantage. Both occupy unique positions within French culture. Both are internationally recognised while remaining deeply connected to their origins. And both continue to demonstrate that technical excellence and aesthetic refinement can coexist without compromise. The result is a collaboration that feels less like a marketing exercise and more like a conversation between two institutions. It celebrates a distinctly French approach to design, one where innovation serves a purpose, performance is pursued intelligently, and elegance remains inseparable from function. In an era of increasingly fleeting partnerships, that sense of authenticity may be its most compelling feature.

Elsewhere transforms one of Oman's most enduring stories into an immersive olfactive journey Some fragrances are built around ingredients. Others are built around memories, places, or emotions. Occasionally, a perfume arrives carrying an entire story within it, one that unfolds gradually from the first spray to the final traces left on the skin. With Elsewhere, Omani High Perfumery House Amouage presents a fragrance that belongs firmly in the latter category, drawing inspiration from one of the Arab world's most enduring legends and transforming it into an olfactive journey that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. The fragrance begins its story in Oman, where it was originally created in collaboration with the Royal Opera House Muscat to accompany the institution's first original opera, a production centred on the mythical sailor Sindbad. In the opera, Sindbad embarks on a perilous quest to rescue Princess Hayat, ultimately discovering the Fragrance of Life, a magical substance capable of overcoming darkness and restoring hope. The perfume was initially released exclusively within Oman under the name Sindbad, quickly developing a devoted following among fragrance enthusiasts. Now, the composition begins a new chapter as Elsewhere, carrying the same formula to a global audience while embracing a broader narrative around travel, discovery, and the transformative nature of adventure itself. The transition feels particularly fitting for Amouage. Few fragrance houses are as intrinsically linked to the idea of journeys. Oman has long occupied a unique position within the history of trade and exploration, serving as a crossroads between East and West through centuries of maritime exchange. Frankincense, spices, precious materials, and stories all passed through its ports, shaping a cultural identity rooted in movement, curiosity, and connection. Those themes continue to influence the house today, often finding their way into compositions that feel as much about atmosphere and narrative as they do about scent itself. For Elsewhere, Amouage's Chief Creative Officer Renaud Salmon sought to create a fragrance that captured both sanctuary and adventure. To realise that vision, he collaborated with master perfumer Pierre Negrin, whose interpretation explores the emotional arc of a journey from departure to return. Rather than constructing a fragrance around a single destination, Negrin creates a narrative that mirrors the experience of travel itself. The opening is warm and inviting, evoking the comfort and familiarity of home before any voyage begins. Honey lends softness and richness, while mango, apricot, tangerine, and cardamom introduce brightness and optimism. The effect is luminous and welcoming, capturing the emotional pull of the places we leave behind when setting out into the unknown. As the fragrance develops, it begins to move into more mysterious territory. Black tea and davana create an intriguing sense of depth, while an unconventional cappuccino accord introduces an unexpected texture that feels both comforting and enigmatic. The composition becomes darker, more atmospheric, and increasingly seductive, reflecting the uncertainty, wonder, and possibility that define every meaningful journey. The final stage returns to themes of belonging and homecoming. Tonka bean and vanilla bring warmth and familiarity, while cedarwood, patchouli, vetiver, cypriol, and labdanum anchor the composition with earthy, smoky undertones. Together, they create a sense of resolution and permanence, echoing the emotional satisfaction of returning home changed by experience but connected once again to one's roots. Yet what makes Elsewhere particularly interesting within the broader Amouage portfolio is not simply its narrative structure, but the technical innovation that underpins it. The fragrance joins the house's Essences collection, one of the most ambitious explorations of maturation and infusion currently taking place within contemporary perfumery. Like other fragrances in the collection, Elsewhere undergoes a lengthy ageing process that extends beyond traditional perfume production. The concentrate is infused with Australian sandalwood chips for six months, while the alcohol itself spends six months resting within bespoke French oak barrels. This dual infusion process creates an additional layer of texture and refinement that becomes part of the fragrance's character. In many ways, the approach mirrors the philosophy behind fine wine, whisky, or cognac, where time itself becomes an ingredient. Increasingly, luxury consumers are seeking craftsmanship that goes beyond visible design or rare materials. They are drawn to objects shaped by patience, expertise, and process. The Essences collection reflects that shift, placing time at the centre of creation and allowing maturation to contribute as meaningfully as any raw material. The launch also arrives at a moment when storytelling has become increasingly important within luxury fragrance. As the market becomes more crowded, consumers are gravitating towards scents that offer depth and authenticity rather than simply trend-driven compositions. Amouage has long excelled in this space, creating fragrances that feel connected to heritage, culture, and place without becoming nostalgic or predictable. With Elsewhere, the house once again demonstrates its ability to bridge those worlds. Rooted in Omani storytelling yet universal in its themes, the fragrance speaks to anyone who has ever left home in search of something greater, only to discover the value of home itself along the way. Like the voyages of Sindbad that inspired it, Elsewhere is ultimately a story about exploration. Not merely of distant places, but of the experiences, emotions, and discoveries that shape us when we choose to venture beyond the familiar.

The Serpenti Beach Club brings Bvlgari's legendary emblem to life through an immersive beachfront experience Luxury fashion and hospitality have never been closer. What began with designer hotels and branded residences has evolved into something far more immersive. Today, the world's leading luxury houses are no longer content to exist solely in wardrobes, jewellery boxes, or flagship boutiques. Instead, they are creating environments that allow guests to step inside the universe of a brand, transforming hospitality into an extension of identity, storytelling, and lifestyle. The latest example arrives on the shores of Jumeira Bay, where Bvlgari Resort Dubai has unveiled the Serpenti Beach Club, a seasonal concept that brings one of the Maison's most iconic symbols into an entirely new setting. Long associated with Bvlgari's jewellery heritage, the Serpenti motif now extends beyond necklaces, watches, and handbags to shape an immersive beachfront experience inspired by the Italian house's enduring emblem. For Bvlgari, the choice is a natural one. Since its introduction in the late 1940s, Serpenti has become one of the most recognisable symbols in luxury. Originally appearing through the Maison's Tubogas watches before evolving into jewellery, accessories, and high jewellery collections, the serpent has long represented transformation, magnetism, movement, and reinvention. More than a design motif, it has become a visual language that is immediately identifiable to collectors and fashion enthusiasts around the world. At the Serpenti Beach Club, that language is translated into hospitality. Across the resort's beachfront, the motif appears through cabanas, daybeds, terraces, and design details rendered in vibrant golden-orange tones that contrast against the turquoise waters of Jumeira Bay. Rather than functioning as a simple branding exercise, the concept seeks to immerse guests within the atmosphere and aesthetic world of Serpenti itself. The result feels less like a conventional beach club and more like a living expression of one of Bvlgari's most enduring creations. The timing reflects a broader movement currently shaping luxury hospitality. Across the industry, brands are increasingly recognising that modern luxury consumers seek experiences as much as products. Fashion houses are extending their identities into cafés, restaurants, hotels, beach clubs, and immersive destinations, creating opportunities for guests to engage with a brand in ways that feel personal and experiential. Rather than simply purchasing a product, visitors are invited to inhabit a world. This approach has become particularly relevant in destinations such as Dubai, where hospitality increasingly serves as a platform for lifestyle experiences. The city's most successful venues are no longer defined solely by location or design, but by their ability to create a distinct point of view. In this context, Bvlgari possesses a unique advantage. Few luxury brands can draw upon such a recognisable visual code while simultaneously operating one of the region's most celebrated resort properties. The concept also feels notably aligned with the character of Bvlgari Resort Dubai itself. Since opening on Jumeira Bay, the resort has distinguished itself through a more intimate and understated interpretation of luxury. Unlike many of Dubai's larger beachfront destinations, the property embraces a boutique atmosphere where privacy, craftsmanship, and the Italian art of living take precedence over scale. The Serpenti Beach Club extends that philosophy while introducing a fresh seasonal energy to the resort's shoreline. Alongside the visual transformation, guests can enjoy a menu of fresh fruit, lighter dishes, and signature Bvlgari cocktails designed for leisurely afternoons by the water. The experience complements La Spiaggia, the resort's existing beachfront dining destination, creating a setting that moves naturally between relaxed dining, swimming, and beachside lounging. What ultimately makes the Serpenti Beach Club interesting is not simply its aesthetic appeal, but what it represents. The traditional boundaries between fashion, hospitality, dining, wellness, and lifestyle continue to dissolve. Luxury brands increasingly understand that their greatest asset is not a product, but a story. The ability to create environments where that story can be experienced rather than merely observed has become one of the industry's most powerful tools. At Bvlgari Resort Dubai, Serpenti leaves the jewellery case behind and enters the physical world. In doing so, it offers a glimpse into the future of luxury hospitality, one where the most memorable experiences are shaped not only by where we go, but by the worlds we are invited to step into.

As Paris once again becomes the centre of the fashion world, designers are using couture to explore new ideas Haute couture has always existed slightly outside the rhythms of the wider fashion industry. While ready-to-wear increasingly responds to commercial realities, social media cycles, and shifting consumer behaviour, couture remains fashion's purest form of creative expression, a space where craftsmanship, imagination, and artistic ambition take precedence over practicality. Yet this season's Paris Haute Couture Week feels particularly significant. Across the first days of the Fall/Winter 2026-2027 presentations, a clear theme has emerged. Rather than looking backwards, many of the week's most anticipated houses appear focused on defining what couture can become next. Established maisons are embracing new creative directions, younger voices are challenging convention, and some of fashion's most influential brands are using couture as a platform for reinvention. Among the most closely watched collections was Dior. Jonathan Anderson's latest couture presentation arrived surrounded by enormous anticipation, not only because of his growing influence within the industry but because many observers see him as one of fashion's most important creative voices. Rather than delivering spectacle for its own sake, Anderson presented a collection rooted in artistry and experimentation, drawing inspiration from the work of American sculptor Lynda Benglis. Hand-pleated silks, sculptural forms, metallic surfaces, and reimagined versions of Dior's iconic Bar jacket created a collection that felt both intellectual and emotional. The final bridal look, constructed from meticulously pleated chiffon, became one of the defining images of the week so far. Dior's presentation also reinforced a broader conversation currently taking place within luxury fashion. Increasingly, the industry's most influential designers are exploring the relationship between fashion and contemporary art, treating garments less as products and more as objects of creative expression. At Dior, that dialogue felt particularly compelling, positioning the house at the centre of couture's evolving narrative. If Dior offered intellectual elegance, Schiaparelli delivered theatrical fantasy. Opening the couture calendar as it traditionally does, Daniel Roseberry unveiled The Abyss, a collection inspired by the mysteries of the ocean and the surreal beauty of marine life. Iridescent surfaces, organic silhouettes, and sculptural forms transformed the runway into a dreamlike underwater world. Roseberry has become one of couture's most distinctive creative voices, and this latest collection further cemented Schiaparelli's position as one of the most exciting houses operating today. The show immediately became one of the week's most discussed presentations, generating significant attention across both industry circles and social media. Beyond the established houses, much of the excitement this season centres around a sense of transition. Fashion insiders are closely watching several important creative milestones, including Pierpaolo Piccioli's highly anticipated couture debut at Balenciaga and Duran Lantink's first couture collection for Jean Paul Gaultier. Both designers arrive with strong reputations and distinct perspectives, and their respective presentations are expected to be among the defining moments of the week. Similarly, Matthieu Blazy's latest outing for Chanel continues to attract considerable attention as audiences watch the evolution of one of fashion's most influential maisons under relatively new creative leadership. One of the week's more surprising successes has been Standing Ground. Founded by Irish designer Michael Stewart, the label's couture debut has generated considerable industry praise for its sculptural silhouettes, technical precision, and refined approach to craftsmanship. In a calendar dominated by some of the largest names in fashion, the collection demonstrated that couture continues to provide space for emerging voices and independent creativity. What makes this season particularly interesting is the absence of a single dominant aesthetic. Previous couture seasons have often been defined by a prevailing mood, whether minimalism, romanticism, or extravagance. This week feels different. Instead, designers appear united by a shared commitment to craftsmanship while pursuing dramatically different creative directions. Some collections explore fantasy and surrealism. Others focus on architectural structure, artistic experimentation, or technical innovation. The result is a couture season that feels remarkably diverse, reflecting an industry increasingly comfortable with individuality and creative freedom. As the week continues, attention will inevitably turn towards Balenciaga, Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Giorgio Armani Privé, all of whom are expected to contribute further defining moments to the season. Yet even at this early stage, Paris Haute Couture Week has already achieved something notable. It has reminded the industry why couture remains fashion's most important laboratory for ideas. In an era dominated by algorithms, immediacy, and commercial pressure, couture continues to celebrate imagination, craftsmanship, and the possibility of creating something extraordinary simply because it can be created. This season, more than ever, that spirit feels alive.