The calm and tranquility of the Issey Miyake Fall/Winter 2026 collection stood out on day five of Paris Fashion Week. A rather somber presentation unfolded through an attention-holding rhythm between looks in black and white and Itten color wheel bursts. Juicy violets, citric yellows, and burgundy reds appeared throughout an otherwise grey palette in a lineup that seemed to let every silhouette imaginable glide gracefully down a silver, glitter-dusted runway. It seems that this collection for designer Satoshi Kondo felt like an evaluation—or even an exercise—in design, dabbling freely into whatever direction he wished to explore. Many of the looks were rooted at the waist as the focal point, with lacquered bodices adding toughness to garments otherwise defined by a flowy and generous fabric distribution. There were human postal-envelope silhouettes and there were plissés treated in a way that created an almost alien surface texture as conceptual knit outfits that evoked a mother holding her child in her arms to something as straightforward as a perfectly cut trench coat just a few looks later. It was an exercise in textile treatment versus design process.

Yamamoto remains the show for the cognoscenti and somewhat former inner circle of fashion. How about photographer Max Vadukul and his wife stylist Nicoletta Santoro, art director Marc Ascoli, Cartier Foundation head Chris Dercon or ubiquitous Juergen Teller. The 82 year old designer is still at his game of obscuring the body by piling on the layers of his black fabrics. While he is always present in the better boutiques globally, he has his days of shaping the conversation or not so. In a season which is more and more about the return of body con silhouettes, his women with countless layers of knitwear, jackets, coats and scarves may be a little out of step. Held in the beautiful hôtel de ville of Paris, it was a moment of a designer who walks to the beat of his own drum.