Paris Fashion Week highlights: Teddies, Kids and a Phone Ban

A Ronaldo jersey becomes a dress at Vetements. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
A Ronaldo jersey becomes a dress at Vetements. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
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Paris Fashion Week highlights: Teddies, Kids and a Phone Ban

A Ronaldo jersey becomes a dress at Vetements. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
A Ronaldo jersey becomes a dress at Vetements. MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP

Paris Fashion Week, which runs until Tuesday, has seen no shortage of eye-catching moments this week. Here are a few highlights.
No phones?!?
OMG! Fashionistas at The Row's show were told they were not allowed to use their beloved phones, meaning entire minutes of their lives would go unrecorded on Instagram.
The label of TV star sisters Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen instead offered guests a notebook and pencil to record their impressions the old-fashioned way.
Chloe's new mama
There was a rare moment of spontaneity and family love at Chloe, where German designer Chemena Kamali made her debut with a collection that returned to the 1970s heyday of the house.
When Kamali came to take the customary bow at the end of the show, her five-year-old son couldn't resist running onto the catwalk for a hug in front of the ranks of fashion elite. Surprised and delighted, Kamali took him in her arms before quickly passing him back to dad and rushing backstage.
PETA's Beckham protest
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) disrupted Victoria Beckham's show on Friday, with slogans including "Viva Vegan Leather" and "Animals Aren't Fabric" before being bundled quickly off the catwalk.
Teddy Boy
Vetements, the subversive brand launched in 2014, vowed its latest show was the one "you've been waiting for for 10 years", and drew attention with hugely oversized suits and a Ronaldo jersey turned into a dress.
One crazy look was a coat made of teddy bears. Was creative director Guram Gvasalia having a dig at his estranged brother Demna, who quit the brand to work for Balenciaga and had a huge controversy around an ad campaign featuring BDSM teddy bears?
Perhaps, though Vogue pointed out it was a direct copy from Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who made a similar coat for Madonna.
Highland Sam Smith
British popstar Sam Smith made a surprise appearance on the catwalk for Vivienne Westwood in a very short and rather revealing tartan kilt under a red shawl.
The "Unholy" singer, known for daring red carpet outfits, re-emerged later in a long shredded black coat over a polka-dot top.
Casablanca up in arms
Charaf Tajer's label, which joined Paris Fashion Week last year, has built a lot of hype with its luxury sportswear.
Its second show, named after 90s Bjork hit "Venus as a Boy", introduced more stylish nightwear -- ranging from a blood-red cocktail dress to a semi-sheer rhinestone blouse to a pearl-encrusted mini-dress -- and played with imagery from Ancient Greece including laurels, pottery and sandals.
But in the ring of the Winter Circus, the clothes were almost overshadowed by an incredible troupe of synchronized arm dancers in the background.
DVN's 'audacious everyday'
Known for meticulous craftsmanship, Belgium's Dries Van Noten presented another eclectic collection that spawned a possible new trend tag from WWD: "audacious everyday" has apparently replaced last year's "quiet luxury".
Deconstructed sweaters turned into wraparound shawls, kimono-like coats, big furry shorts and bags -- in a pastel range of pink, aniseed green and butter yellow -- the collection sought a balance between stylish restraint and exciting statement.
Raining on Hermes
It was a rainy week in Paris, and Hermes brought the wet indoors, too, with a curtain of rain pouring down through the middle of the catwalk.
The collection, "midway between equestrianism and motorbikes" according to creative director Nadege Vanhee, offered luxurious ways to keep dry.

Biker-style jackets and tight-fitting coats with wool sleeves. Others featured rocker-style rivets or ostrich feathers, all in a narrow palette of burgundy, green, black and grey.



Zara Owner Inditex Posts Record Profit in 2025

Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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Zara Owner Inditex Posts Record Profit in 2025

Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Shoppers walk past a Zara clothes store, part of the Spanish group Inditex, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

Zara owner Inditex, the world's leading low-cost fashion retailer, posted a record annual profit for the third year running on Wednesday, seeing off strong international competition.

The Spanish group, which includes top brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Bershka, reported a profit of 6.22 billion euros ($7.23 billion) in the fiscal year ending January 31.

That marked a six percent rise on the 5.9 billion it raked in in 2024, which was also a group record, Inditex said.


Margot Robbie, Oprah Watch Blazy Transform Chanel with Color and Craft

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
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Margot Robbie, Oprah Watch Blazy Transform Chanel with Color and Craft

Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)
Models present creations from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection of French-Belgian designer Matthieu Blazy for Chanel during Paris Fashion Week, in Paris, France, 09 March 2026. (EPA)

Chanel 's Matthieu Blazy is still building. Six months into his tenure at the Parisian stalwart, the designer staged his second ready-to-wear collection at Paris Fashion Week Monday, where brightly colored cranes rose from a holographic floor — a deliberate signal that the construction is ongoing.

For Parisians who have spent years staring at the real thing above Notre-Dame cathedral, the set was perhaps less dreamy than intended.

The audience inside the Grand Palais suggested the foundations are solid: Margot Robbie, Oprah, Jennie, Kylie Minogue, Lily-Rose Depp, Teyana Taylor and Olivia Dean all turned up to watch the next floor go on.

Blazy took his cue from a quote from Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel: “We need dresses that crawl and dresses that fly.”

The collection was structured around that tension — plain against spectacular, function against fantasy — with a discipline his sprawling debut last October sometimes lacked.

The opening looks were austere by design. Black knit zip-ups, tweed blousons and boxy overshirts arrived with little more than four gold buttons to signal they belonged to Chanel.

In the vast runway space, they could read as underwhelming. But Blazy’s point was architectural: the suit, he said, is “the first brick” — and everything else rises from it.

That logic tracks to the founder.

In her apartment on Rue Cambon, a wall is covered in gauze painted gold — something poor made precious.

Chanel built a house on that idea, borrowing from everyday dress and elevating it. Blazy is doing the same with her codes, stripping the suit to a knit shirt jacket or pressed-tweed blouson before rebuilding it in silicone-woven fabric and metallic mesh.

The collection’s most provocative move was its silhouette. Blazy pulled waistlines dramatically low — belts slung to mid-thigh, pleated skirts starting where blazers ended.

The references were retro flapper filtered through a modern lens: drop-waisted twinsets, patchwork dresses with floral embroidery, vivid patterned knits with a twenties pulse.

A furry coat in bold geometric color could have been worn in a chic part of London's Camden.

Whether the ultra-low waistlines will land with the well-heeled clients who pack Chanel’s front rows is another question. Selling a radically new proportion to women with deep loyalty to the house is a different challenge than winning critical praise.

The final stretch answered that concern with force. Sequined plaid suits arrived in dazzling color. Beaded coats glinted with star-chart embroidery. Metallic mesh was woven to mimic tweed motifs, and several models wore pastel-tinted hair to match their looks.

Fabric flowers burst from bodices. Trailing ribbons, layered ruffles, and insect-wing detailing turned the runway into something closer to spectacle than commerce.

Blazy cast wide — teens through to women in their fifties — and let the show breathe, with a runway circuit that took models the better part of five minutes. He framed it all with seven pared-back black and cream looks, as if to say: whatever else changes, the Chanel you know isn’t going anywhere.

If this second outing holds — on the penultimate day of fashion week — Blazy has found something rare at a heritage house: a way to honor the founder’s voice without simply echoing it.


Hugo Boss Posts Annual Profit Above Expectations

The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
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Hugo Boss Posts Annual Profit Above Expectations

The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)
The logo of German fashion company Hugo Boss is seen at a store in Vienna, Austria, November 23, 2016. (Reuters)

German fashion group Hugo Boss reported a higher than expected annual operating profit on Tuesday, despite a challenging market environment.

The company reported earnings ‌before interest ‌and taxes (EBIT) of ‌391 ⁠million euros ($455 million) ⁠for 2025, up from 361 million euros a year earlier, and above analyst's average forecast of 379 million euros in a company-provided ⁠poll.

"2025 once again highlighted ‌the ‌rapid transformation of our industry, shaped by ‌technological innovation, evolving consumer preferences ‌and ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty," Chief Executive Officer Daniel Grieder said in a statement.

Luxury groups ‌have been struggling with tighter consumer spending, with the ⁠sector ⁠hit by slowing demand for fashion and accessories particularly in the US and China.

The premium fashion retailer said it will propose a dividend of 0.04 euros per share for 2025, compared with 1.40 euros a year earlier.