17 of the most memorable couture looks of all time (2024)

Schiaparelli’s lobster (1937)

Rome-born designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s haute couture salons during the ’30s may look like a sedate affair compared to today’s shows, but her Paris base at 21 Place Vendôme is still a hallowed spot. This was the decade during which Schiaparelli collaborated with Salvador Dalí to create the lobster dress, famously worn by Wallis Simpson in Vogue in 1937.

While to modern audiences, the pairing of an artist and fashion designer is a relatively regular occurrence, back then it was groundbreaking. Greta Garbo, no less, was a fan.

Karl Lagerfeld’s first Chanel show (1983)

Karl Lagerfeld presided over Chanel as creative director for more than three decades, remaining one of the world’s most revered (and recognisable) figures in fashion right up until his death in 2019. In 1983, when the designer was first charged with bringing the house into the modern era, he admitted he initially found couture a frustratingly slow process. While Lagerfeld’s Chanel would quickly come to epitomise what audiences around the world love about couture – quintessential fashion escapism – back in the early ’80s, Karl’s Chanel couture debut (which focused on the spirit of Chanel’s ’20s and ’30s oeuvre) was met with more than a few raised eyebrows from critics.

All that glitters is Gianni (1995)

While once upon a time, couture presentations were a polite shopping expedition for well-heeled upper-class women, Gianni Versace’s high-voltage shows at Atelier Versace in the ’90s were a noisy, starry affair. Audiences jostled for a front-row view of the Versace experience, and applause broke out after every shimmering look of the autumn/winter 1995 couture collection – a masterclass in fashion history, capturing the era’s hedonism in every twinkling rhinestone. Deservedly so. The Versace couture woman was undoubtedly flashbulb-ready, primed for Hollywood’s red carpets rather than Paris’s Bal des Débutantes.

Kate Moss blooms (1993)

The year 1993 was a big one for supermodel-in-the-making Kate Moss. The star’s first Vogue cover (for British Vogue) was the March issue, by which time she’d already graced the Yves Saint Laurent couture spring/summer 1993 catwalk wearing a romantic bouquet of floral prints that were nothing short of intoxicating.

Chanel’s couture LBD (1994)

While an enormous dress isn’t mandatory for a Vogue-worthy couture moment, an enormous hat is. Naomi Campbell’s Chanel couture LBD, styled with sheer gloves and an oversized marabou hat, was a game-changer back in 1994.

Thierry Mugler’s robot woman (1995)

The cyborg suit created by Thierry Mugler for his autumn/winter 1995 couture show was received as “a frightening and tantalising image for the dawn of the internet age” by Vogue. Later that year, the one-of-a-kind piece was immortalised by Helmut Newton for US Vogue’s November 1995 issue, in the magazine’s cult “Machine Age” fashion story.

Alexander McQueen’s mythology (1997)

Shortly after the late Alexander McQueen unveiled his debut couture collection for Givenchy, he revealed he felt the show had not lived up to his own expectations. History, on the other hand, remembers a couture debut that was a startlingly elegant and mythological play on the house codes.

Renegade denim (1999)

In his eponymous spring/summer 1999 couture show, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier bucked convention to send a single patchwork denim gown (complete with feathered train) down his runway, a look markedly different from the other gilded pieces in the collection. Gaultier’s secret to standing out at the ball? Flout the dress code.

Larger than life (2003)

In the Noughties, John Galliano’s Christian Dior catwalk became the epicentre of theatricality. The British designer, who took the helm at Dior in 1996, emboldened his atelier and it showed in the clothes. Nowhere more so than the spring/summer 2003 couture collection: “In Galliano’s hands, the vivid colours and patterns of Chinese costume and Japanese kimonos got transformed into some of the hugest clothes ever invented,” Sarah Mower reported for American Vogue. “Models, almost completely submerged in cocooning swaths of brocade, taffeta and exploding chiffon flounces, teetered along on vertiginous platforms.”

Linda as the Chanel bride (2003)

It wouldn’t be a couture greatest hits list if we didn’t include a bride. Enter Linda Evangelista, the woman behind countless iconic Chanel catwalk moments, seen here closing the house’s autumn/winter 2003 couture show in true supermodel style.

Going dotty for Armani (2014)

When Mr Armani’s atelier turns its hand to polka dots, the results are nothing short of spectacular. No big back story here, just a perfect moment of dream-like beauty.

Birds of (internet) paradise (2018)

You’ve no doubt already seen pictures of the pink feathery Valentino couture gown that broke the internet twice in 2018. Model of the moment Kaia Gerber was the first to sport Pierpaolo Piccioli’s masterpiece during Valentino’s autumn/winter 2018 couture show, leaving even hardened fashion editors in awe (and in some cases teary-eyed). Lady Gaga’s people were quick to leap on the look, securing the gown for the A Star is Born red carpet at the Venice Film Festival. Cue internet meltdown number two.

Valentino’s vision for every body (2022)

Pierpaolo Piccioli topped that fantasy feather moment during the spring/summer 2022 show season when he outlined an inclusive couture vision, modelled by grey-haired beauties Lynne Koester and Hannelore Knuts, and midsize models Levie Hsieh, Devyn Garcia and Angeer Amol. The boundary-pushing creative wanted to imbue all the women wearing his work with “the same magic; the same emotion; the feeling of couture”, he told Vogue in his lesson to the industry at large. A much-needed step in the right direction.

Off with their (faux) heads (2023)

Daniel Roseberry stole the spotlight during the spring/summer 2023 season with his remarkable innovation at Schiaparelli: the introduction of “faux taxidermy”. Drawing inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, Roseberry challenged his atelier to craft remarkably lifelike animal heads using foam, resin and faux fur. These brilliant creations popped up on the front row care of Kylie Jenner (a sneak peek of the collection ahead of the show), and on Naomi Campbell, Shalom Harlow and Irina Shayk on the runway. The lion, wolf, and snow leopard heads sparked intense debates across social media – but then, isn’t fantasy fashion supposed to get people talking?

A white shirt and jeans – but make it couture (2023)

It wasn’t a gown (not even close), but Pierpaolo Piccioli’s flawlessly executed take on a timeless everyday outfit nonetheless became the standout look of the autumn/winter 2023 couture shows. Kaia Gerber’s slouchy, vintage-inspired jeans were actually made of silk gazar, and embroidered with minuscule pearlescent beads dyed in 80 different shades of indigo to reproduce that “denim” texture. Coupled with a perfect white shirt and a shimmering (but equally wearable) party shoe, Piccioli’s ballgown alternative was a compelling proposition.

John Galliano’s Maison Margiela masterclass (2024)

It’s near impossible to pick just one dress from John Galliano’s widely celebrated underground show for Maison Margiela for spring/summer 2024. It saw a return to the spine-tingling spectacles of decades past, as models strutted down the runway in extreme corsets and sheer tulle, all while sporting oversized wigs and porcelain doll-like make-up. Fittingly, Gwendoline Christie closed the show in a corseted silk-taffeta confection, featuring a translucent latex-like overlay. As Hamish Bowles wrote after the show, it was “indescribably magic”.

The JPG naked-dress bride (2024)

The naked dress trend shows no sign of waning, but Jean Paul Gaultier’s guest designer for autumn/winter 2024, Nicolas Di Felice, took it to the next level via a nude chainmail dress made from a staggering 40,000 interconnected hooks and eyes. Paired with a matching veil, we can see this couture look being snapped up by a daring bride-to-be, or being worn on the red carpet by one Kylie Jenner.

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