Fall Couture 2025: A Fantasy Film To Tune In To!
When Couture Meets Cinema.
Hello my darlings, did you miss me? Of course you did, that goes without saying. Last week was an eventful one, and if you currently live under a rock (which I wouldn’t judge you, not in this economy), Paris Couture Week officially commenced and had my jaw on the floor. On top of learning about your president (definitely not mine) being diagnosed with a vein condition, I am delightfully writing with a smirk on my face.
Photo: X
Paris Couture Week Fall/Winter 2025 was nothing short of iconic—a stage where artistry met storytelling in every stitch. From Schiaparelli’s surrealist fever dream to Ashi Studio’s emotional architecture, each collection was less about wearability and more about summoning worlds. Being a film connoisseur, if I were casting a dark fantasy universe, where kingdoms crumble under cursed skies, heroines rise in sculpted armor, villains sweep the stage in living nightmares—these designers? They’re my costume council. Let’s cast the roles.
Schiaparelli (Least Favourite — Too Concept, Not Enough Character)
Daniel Roseberry’s “Back to the Future” collection had ambition—it opened with Cardi B holding a live crow and featured rib-cage corsets and sculptural anatomical motifs rooted in Elsa’s surrealism.
Photo: WWD
Yet despite its theatrical setup, the show felt cool, aloof, and overly cerebral. The statistics tell the tale: 76.7% dresses, 96.7% lace, 76.7% maxi silhouettes—beautifully uniform but singularly safe. The palette—strict black, white, silver, splashes of red—sealed the minimalistic narrative. Roseberry stripped away the corsetry in favor of padding and bias cuts, but emotional connection remained subdued.
Photo: Maison Schiaparelli
Instead of tension-filled drama, Schiaparelli felt like fashion on mute—not screaming, just whispering. It lacked the visceral world-building the others achieved. It resembled museum art more than film costume.
Best reserved for a cameo—an artifact or relic housed in the story’s royal archive or cursed museum. It’s spectacular to look at, but not emotionally central.
Ashi Studios: The Godmother or Ritual Priestess of the Realm
Ashi Studios stood out with 81.5% dresses, 92.6% lace, chiffon and floral prints dominating texture (96.3%) . Mohammed Ashi, celebrated for sculptural couture rooted in architectural tradition, builds drama without excess. Deeply spiritual and refined—a couture echo of ancestral poetry.
Ashi Studios helms the godmother archetype: ritual keeper, magical advisor, ceremonial wardrobe queen. Picture silk gowns layered with symbolic lace, sleeves draping like incense, shapes that suggest both gravitas and grace. This is couture as ritual; Ashi would carry the film’s spiritual lineage in every stitch.
Photo: Style Cartel
Elie Saab: The Princess/Heir of Romantic Court
Elie Saab’s Fall/Winter 2025 “La Nouvelle Cour” was a confectionary court fantasy in pastel macaron hues and moiré silks woven into architectural dreams. With 96.5% dresses, 89.5% lace, and 70%+ beading and embroidery, each gown felt like a chapter in high-couture fairy tales. The shapes—sheath (89.5%) and maxi (78.9%)—with floral print and patterns at 100%, whispered power and grace, not spectacle. In my dark fantasy, Saab would dress the princess/heroine—the ruler with empathy and steel. Imagine a blush-pistachio ball gown, sweeping velvet cape, corsetry cinched like armor, embroidered flowers blooming across the soul of the dress. Saab knows how to evoke emotional magic in fabric.
Photo: The Impression
Robert Wun: The Haunted Romantic Interest or Cursed Knight
Robert Wun’s debut couture collection “Becoming” plunged us into existential shadows: 72% dresses, heavy satin (72%), maxi silhouettes (92%), layered in tulle, crystal blood-red motifs, false limbs, and dismembered tailoring illusions. Wun’s garments are an emotional entity, people wearing longing, guilt, metamorphosis.
He’d style the romantic interest: the rugged, conflicted warrior or tragic knight entwined with fate. Expect satin suits with “handprint” scars, mesh veils dripping illusionary blood, and extra-appendage capes clinging like ghostly memory. Wun’s couture doesn’t dress characters—it haunts them.
Photo: Gossip Stone TV
Iris van Herpen: The Evil Witch
Iris Van Herpen’s work is fashion as living myth. Though exact FW25 stats aren’t cited, her practice—94.7% lace, 78.9% embroidery, sheer and crochet textures, sleeve-heavy construction (89.5%)—shows her obsession with technology meets couture realism. She’s the benchmark of fabric as creature, garment as magic.
Van Herpen would design my evil witch. Imagine glowing algae-infused gowns, sculptural silhouettes that warp physics, dresses that breathe in dusk-lit scenes. With Iris, costume isn’t just costume—it's a world summon.
Photo: Kendam
Archetypes in Costume: Narrative Through Silhouette
Princess / Heroine: Saab's ballgown corsets deliver poise and vulnerability. Delicate embroidery, pastel color story, illusion sleeves—revealing strength masked in softness.
Romantic Interest: Wun’s satin and mesh become emotional armor—beautiful but battle-scarred, emotional seams evident under pressure.
Godmother: Ashi’s ceremonial volume and floral motifs sew lineage, spirituality, and ancient ritual into each dress—tactile presence that commands scene and silence.
Evil Witch: Iris van Herpen’s glowing algae gown blurs biology and magic. Irregular, glowing, almost alive—a presence, not a costume. Dark fantasy needs magic that fabric betrays weight, life, and danger
Final Curtain (Heavyweight Edition)
This couture season wasn’t just fashion—it was narrative architecture. Saab wove royalty’s wistful crown, Wun sculpted inner turmoil in satin and crystal, Ashi conjured ceremonial lineage in lace, Iris brought elemental nightmares to the runway, and Schiaparelli? It lingered as legacy.
If I were directing a dark fantasy film: complete with kingdoms, curses, and climactic magic—my costume auteurs are those who design not clothes, but worlds. Fashion isn’t pretty—it's a prophecy. Choose wisely because in your film, the audience must believe every stitch whispers a story.
XOXO, The Fashion Stock Market
Cover Photo: The Impression
Editor: Annaliese Persaud
