Paris Fashion Week SS26 recap: an NBA-Inspired Analysis of Balenciaga, Dior, Chanel, Gaultier, and The Row shows and trends
Paris Fashion Week SS26, Told in NBA Terms
Paris Fashion Week SS26 in NBA terms? Think of it as the playoffs of fashion: nine days of style at its most competitive and unpredictable—for better or worse. Each fashion house came to the court chasing redemption, dominance, or relevance, fully aware that in a season marked by numerous creative-director debuts, securing a moment of hype with a show was no easy feat.
Critics are now dropping their fashion MVP lists, balancing personal favourites with objective pro-players who delivered, and a few clear slip-ups. But let’s be honest—this season was filled with legacy moments. After likening haute couture to the Champions League, we couldn’t resist going full court with the ready-to-wear season. So here it is: the SS26 scoreboard, presented like the NBA Finals—all heart, hustle, and ready-to-wear.
Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Balenciaga SS26 Debut—The Klay Thompson Comeback Game
If Demna’s Balenciaga was the flashy isolation player, Pierpaolo Piccioli’s debut was a team rebuild centred on soul and rhythm. The Balenciaga Spring-Summer 2026 show began with the sound of a heartbeat—not a metaphor, but an actual sound cue—pulsing through Kering HQ like a signal that the house had finally exhaled. After years of irony and spectacle, Piccioli arrived with a manifesto of connection, slowing the tempo and prioritising emotion over shock value.
Klay Thompson's famous comeback game highlights against Cleveland Cavaliers
His silhouettes riffed on founder Cristóbal Balenciaga’s iconic shapes of the 1950s, including the sack dress and the cocoon coat, but they were softened and opened up. Colours breathed, fabrics floated, everything moved with human warmth. While the sharp tailoring codes of the maison remained, they were infused with the gentle romanticism he carried over from his heydays at Valentino.
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Balenciaga SS26 by Pierpaolo Piccioli: a heartbeat of rebirth—softer silhouettes, warmer tones, and human emotion replacing spectacle
This approach mirrored Klay Thompson’s comeback game, showing the same patience and a refusal to chase highlights. After the (beautiful) chaos of past seasons, this was Balenciaga rediscovering its jump shot. It wasn’t about dominance; it was about rhythm. Piccioli didn’t dunk; he floated, and by doing so, he changed the pace of the entire week.
Score: Balenciaga 112 – Doubt 98. Quiet win, long-term impact.
Jonathan Anderson’s Dior SS26 Womenswear—The Flu Game of Paris Fashion Week
Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior was the kind of performance that shouldn’t have worked: too much pressure, too much work managing both the fashion house JW Anderson, too many eyes watching him. Yet somehow, it became the Flu Game of fashion—exhausted genius turning pain into poetry.
In 1997, during the NBA Finals, Michael Jordan played what became known as the Flu Game. Despite being feverish, dehydrated, and barely able to stand, he dropped 38 points and led the Chicago Bulls to victory. It was the moment that solidified him as more than an athlete; he became a myth, who could perform under impossible pressure.
Throwback to Game 5 from 1997 NBA Finals, when Michael Jordan dropped 38 points despite being feverish and dehydrated
Jonathan Anderson showed up in the same headspace, visibly tired from juggling two brands while shouldering Dior’s extensive legacy. But the fatigue only sharpened his focus. The show opened with an Adam Curtis film, offering a visual breakdown of Dior’s history. A giant prism in the centre of the room projected clips from the maison’s most iconic shows over the decades. The prism converged into a box bearing the Dior logo—the brand’s living archive.
Then came the clothes: bar jackets twisted into cropped shapes, skirts that flirted with sculpture, and trompe-l’œil denim pretending to be couture. Everything looked as if it had been designed in a state of heightened adrenaline—stunning, somewhat unstable, yet perfectly balanced on the edge.
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Dior SS26 by Jonathan Anderson: history refracted through a prism—archival echoes, sculptural silhouettes, and couture reimagined with restless brilliance
This wasn’t Dior as perfection; it was Dior as endurance. A designer gasping for air yet still hitting every shot. Like Michael Jordan, Jonathan Anderson didn’t need to appear composed—he just needed to win.
Score: Dior 120 – Fatigue 105. Tired, sweating, and still the best on the floor.
Matthieu Blazy Reignites Chanel SS26—LeBron Restores the Dynasty
When Matthieu Blazy stepped onto Chanel’s court, the air felt different. For the first time in years, the brand wasn’t playing defence—it was ready to win again. Blazy’s debut was less a reinvention than a restoration; it serves as a reminder that Chanel doesn’t need to chase relevance; it just needs to look vibrant and alive.
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Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut: nostalgia shed for clarity—airy tweeds, assertive tailoring, and craftsmanship reborn with quiet, effortless rebellion
Chanel’s new creative director began by stripping away the nostalgia. Out went the over-styled sets and predictable girlishness; in came a lighter hand, sharper construction, and an almost rebellious restraint. The tweed was airy, the tailoring confident, the craftsmanship spoke volumes without saying a word. Even the 2.55 bag, usually treated like a museum piece, looked worn-in and alive again.
Highlights from the Best Plays of LeBron James during 2020 NBA Finals, which ended up with an historic win for Los Angeles Lakers
This was LeBron’s 2020 Lakers energy: a legacy player returning to the top, not to prove anything new, but to prove he still had it in him. Like LeBron reclaiming a dynasty for Los Angeles, Matthieu Blazy restored Chanel’s confidence—less costume, more movement, more feminine. The final bow didn’t require any flashy effects; the audience already knew they’d seen a franchise reborn.
Score: Chanel 132 – Expectations 87. Dynasty mode: activated.
Duran Lantink’s Jean Paul Gaultier SS26 Debut—The Overhyped Rookie Game
Every draft class has one: the prodigy who promises revolution, only to find out the pros hit harder. Duran Lantink’s debut at Jean Paul Gaultier felt like that rookie moment—buzzy, brave, but too chaotic to land.
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Gaultier SS26: chaos underground. Provocation without poetry—bold colours, louder shocks, but missing the wit and rhythm of rebellion.
The runway was set underground, literally: a dim, industrial basement beneath the Eiffel Tower. It was raw, sweaty, and loud—the kind of setting that screams subversion. But what unfolded felt more like a messy YouTube remix of the Gaultier archive than a conversation with it. Cone bras in safety orange, vertically flipped sailor stripes, tattoo prints dialled up to cartoon mode—every look went for the shock, none paused for the nuance.
The issue wasn’t irreverence—Gaultier built his career on that—but rather rhythm. His original provocations had structure, sensuality, and humour, while Lantink’s felt like provocation for provocation’s sake. Much like Zion Williamson’s early NBA games, the potential was clear, the athletic energy was wild, but the discipline was still lacking.
Zion Williamson was an absolute sensation during his high school senior season, drawing an excessive hype which later negatively influenced on his career
The crowd cheered out of curiosity rather than conviction—a reminder that rebellion without rigour is just noise.
Score: Lantink 84 – Overvaluation 102. High energy, low accuracy.
The Row’s Silent Masterclass at Paris Fashion Week SS26—The Bubble Game
While everyone else chased front-row buzz, The Row played its Finals in complete silence. No phones, no livestreams, no chaos—just couture-level serenity for this high-end ready-to-wear moment. The collection was later revealed through a black-and-white lookbook, reminiscent of leaked footage from an old archive, and yet it spoke louder than any viral moment.
The Olsens, who have practically trademarked the concept of quiet luxury, used this season to bury it. Gone was the monk-like minimalism; in its place came sequins, feathers, sculptural silhouettes, and a kind of cinematic restraint that felt monastic and decadent at once. It was sensual minimalism on steroids—proof that calm doesn’t mean static.
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The Row SS26 Womenswear Collection lookbook, which is the only output related to the capsule as the brand did not allowed any phone or livestream during the show
Hence the nickname: The Bubble Game. During the 2020 NBA playoffs, the league built an isolation “bubble” at Disney World so players could finish the season under Covid lockdown—no fans, no distractions, just pure focus. Jimmy Butler excelled in that pressure cooker, delivering career-defining performances while others struggled. The Row channelled that same energy: isolation as a competitive edge.
Highlights of Jimmy Butler during NBA Restart, the 2019-2020 season finale which took place in the Orlando Bubble due to COVID lockdown
With no crowd, no noise, and no performance anxiety—just discipline. The Olsens don’t chase trends; they perfect the shot until it resonates in silence.
Score: The Row 99 – Hype 74. Minimalism stays undefeated.
Paris Fashion Week SS26 Recap: Designers, Highlights and Long-Term Impact
By the end of the Paris Fashion Week SS26, it became evident that the focus this season wasn’t about going viral—it was about going long. Designers traded spectacle for storytelling, memes for meaning, and shock value for skill.
Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli played with empathy. Dior’s Jonathan Anderson played with endurance. Chanel’s Matthieu Blazy played for legacy. Jean Paul Gaultier’s Duran Lantink played with risk. The Row’s Olsens played for peace. Different tactics, same drive: stay in the league, not just the feed.
In fashion, much like basketball, real greatness is not measured by the highlight reel but by who remains standing when the season’s over.
Edoardo Passacantando
Editor, Milano