Five Standout Show Invitations from Paris Fashion Week

Every fashion show begins with an invitation. Eagerly anticipated each season, brands seek to stand out with their invites, sometimes leaving a clue, a game, an accessory or simply an elegant card for guests. It represents the key that permits them to open the most fashionable doors, and a precious souvenir of each collection.

These objects also serve as archival pieces of the brand. Since 2024, the Palais Galliera has accumulated an archive with over 11,000 invitations. Historically, invitations were handwritten by the director of the house, completely unadorned, containing only practical information and the logo. The ’80s set off a trend of more creative designs, with designers and photographers collaborating on the cards, such as Patrick Sarfati’s photograph for a 1983 Jean Paul Gaultier show. 

Technological advances in the 2000s offered endless new graphic design possibilities for the cards to be transformed into teasers of the collection. Now, with the increasing number of brands taking part in fashion week, editors’ offices are inundated with messengers all day, their desks piled high with packaged invitations convincing them to attend.

Dior 

On March 3, Jonathan Anderson revealed his second women’s ready-to-wear collection for Dior. Taking place at the Jardin des Tuileries, the Irish designer used a tried-and-tested recipe of his own: transforming something mundane into a piece of art. 

This season, he opted to create mini versions of the Tuileries green chairs, an object deeply rooted in Parisian culture. Originally created by the Paris municipal workshops in 1923 for use in the capital’s gardens, since 2008 they have been manufactured by Edmond & Fils. 

Anderson explained to Bella Freud in the show teaser how he will always feel like a tourist in Paris and, walking back home from the Dior atelier, he takes note of what surrounds him. “I think that’s what’s interesting about the chair in the Tuileries, it is for everyone to use. It is not a hierarchy. There’s something quite humbling in that”. 

Alaïa

On February 5, Pieter Mulier announced he would soon leave Alaïa, the maison he had led for five years, to take over as creative director of Versace. For his final collection, guests received a mysterious brown box fixed shut with a strap. Inside it: four leather pieces, to be assembled into a woman’s mannequin bust. 

Although they looked like a puzzle, simple instructions explained how to create them. The mannequin is the first tool used when it comes to draping flou fabrics, yet this invitation was structured, a sharp silhouette made of leather, embodying craftsmanship. Alaïa’s invitation left guests to speculate its meaning, until show time, when all would be revealed. 

Chloé

Beautifully presented inside a small white box, this season’s Chloé invitation was a ball made from crystal resin containing a real dandelion flower. What could this symbolize? The dandelion opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to sleep. It’s a flower that can bring luck when its fluff is blown in the direction of a loved one. It’s also simply a light, breezy, fragile flower, here encased in a resin to prevent it from ever being destroyed. 

Designed by the Swedish atelier In Flore, the piece is usually available to purchase for €60  on their website, however Chloé’s creative director, Chemena Kamali, has caused a sell-out. 

Loewe

Last season, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez sent guests kitchen utensil silhouettes engraved in leather by way of invitation. This season, they received just one ingredient: an inflatable black lobster claw in a vibrant yellow box. The box interior was coated in a green and white tablecloth-like checkered pattern, leaving them to wonder what could be on the menu for Loewe’s Autumn-Winter 26/27 collection.

Celine

With his focus on silk, American designer Michael Rider has again opted for a scarf tied around a thick invitation for his Autumn-Winter 26/27 show. Celine guests have already started a collection of carré de soie invitations, though this season’s scarf is larger than before, perhaps created as an accessory for a bag. Since his debut last July, Rider has brought a fresh and joyful eye to the French maison which is reflected in the invite. It’s certainly one that won’t end up in the bin.