This coming September promises a veritable reshuffle of the fashion tectonics, as the runway calendars align to unveil a new cohort of creative auteurs. After seasons of musical chairs - some with more discordant notes than others - a few names in particular mark an era in fashion of sorts: Mathieu Blazy at Chanel, Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe.
But if you’re looking for an early overture, the weekend offered one. Beneath the saturated grey Parisian skies and a theatrically billowing silk foulard suspended like an overtly decadent veil of the show’s courtyard venue, Michael Rider made his highly anticipated runway debut for Celine. This was no arbitrary appointment: Rider is returning to the house where once cut his teeth under Phoebe Philo - a connection not lost on the brand’s ever-discerning devotees.
Fresh from his role as design director at Polo Ralph Lauren, Rider delivered what could only be described as an exercise in intelligent calibration. With reverence and resistance in equal measure, he grafted his own syntax onto the storied Celine canon. House signatures? Present and accounted for. A new hint of his own making? Undeniably. It was a show, but also a thesis.
‘I did not want there to be a sense of erasure,’ he said backstage following the show. ‘There was a foundation to build on. That to me felt modern, it felt ethical, it felt strong,’ he continued.
The collection itself moved with confident duality. Ultra-skinny jeans - a pointed nod to Hedi Slimane’s punk-rock, razor-edge sensibilities - rubbed shoulders with supersized silhouettes that whispered of the ‘80s. Colour came in primary jolts, but it was the accessories, those talismanic objects of fashion desire, where Rider’s instinct as a commercial wunderkind shone. Naturally, rapturous applause ensued, not least from the A-list guests in attendance, such as Alanis Morisette and Dan Levy.
And let’s be honest, in an year where LVMH (and luxury market as a whole) is facing a rare wobble (the group reported a 4% drop in sales across fashion and leather goods for Q1 2025), it’s the bags that are expected to speak volumes. Rider now shoulders the future of LVMH’s third-largest luxury house, and based on his debut, he’s walking in the right shoes.
As for those who lived in Céline and worship at the altar of Celine, Rider’s opening chapter offers the best of both worlds: sensibility with sell-ability. And among fashion editors, spring/summer ‘26 shopping lists are already inked with longing. And here’s what’s topping them.
Chatelaines Are the New Bag Charms
The logo belt may live on, but Rider proposes a re-orientation of attention: away from bags (and their countless charms) and onto toward the waist. Modern-day chatelaines, festooned with charm-like trinkets, clinked and swung with irreverent utility. More is more, and belt real estate is prime.
The Phantom Bag Returns
A ghost no more: the Céline Phantom bag, a cult relic from Rider’s earlier tenure under Phoebe Philo, re-emerged with bolder, stretched proportions. It’s the sort of resurrection that doesn’t just nod to history, it compels a reappraisal. Expect to see it slung over every shoulder that matters.
Logo T-Shirts Are Cool Again
Both of Rider’s predecessors were smart marketeers when it came to stamping the Celine logo onto clothes, caps and even blankets, making it a fashionable rite of passage. This shows no signs of waning. The Celine logo most notably appeared on a T-shirt that even the quietest of wearers will want to be seen in. Elsewhere, it popped up on basket bags, pouches, jeans tabs, and the shoes. Never shouting, but quietly suggesting that you, too, are part of the new new Celine cult. Understated? Yes. Unmistakable? Also yes.
The Celine Triomphe Remains Fashion’s Chicest Shoulder Bag
For those still clinging to Hedi’s Celine, rest assured: the Triomphe endures. Now reinterpreted as a shoulder bag, it proves that evolution need not mean exorcism. A piece both for collectors and for the street style set.
Silk Scarves As The Ultimate Styling Hack
It began with the invitation - wrapped, naturally, in silk. Then came the canopy, a monumental foulard as poetic rain protection. Then, a runway riddled with silk scarvesknotted, slung, tucked, the kind of real-world, real-woman styling that earns its keep across seasons. The foulard, Rider reminds us, isn’t just decorative: it’s architectural, adaptable, and the one item you should add to wardrobe, no matter the season.
Henrik Lischke is the senior fashion news and features editor at Grazia. Prior to that, he worked at British Vogue, and was junior fashion editor at The Sunday Times Style.