Paris Fashion Week 2026: Trends That Will Define the Year
Paris Fashion Week never just shows clothes; it sets the visual vocabulary for the year ahead. For fashion illustrators, these runway trends translate directly into the silhouettes, textures, and palettes we'll be drawing for months. Here's what stood out and how to capture it on paper.
1. Architectural Volume
The biggest visual story from PFW 2026 is structured volume: garments that create their own geometry rather than following the body underneath. Think sculptural shoulders at Balenciaga, cocoon coats at Loewe, and origami-folded bodices across multiple collections.
How to illustrate it:
- Draw the garment silhouette first, body second. These pieces define their own shape; the figure is secondary to the form.
- Emphasize shadow pockets. Architectural volume creates deep shadows where fabric folds in on itself. Use your darkest values inside these sculptural folds.
- Keep lines clean and decisive. This trend is about precision; wobbly lines undercut the architectural intent. Use a ruler for geometric edges if needed.
- Minimize body detail under voluminous pieces. If a cocoon coat hides the waist, don't draw it. Let the garment speak.
2. Sheer Layering
Transparency isn't new, but PFW 2026 pushed it further: multiple sheer layers stacked over each other, creating depth through opacity rather than fabric weight. Valentino showed this beautifully, three or four layers of organza creating a color-depth effect.
How to illustrate it:
- Work in layers, literally. Draw the innermost layer first (body or base garment), then add each sheer layer on top with progressively lighter strokes.
- Use watercolor or very light markers. Winsor & Newton watercolors are ideal, you can build up transparent washes that mimic the real layering effect.
- Where layers overlap, darken slightly. Two layers of pale pink = a slightly deeper pink where they cross. This is what gives the illustration dimensional depth.
- Don't over-define the body underneath. Suggest it with very light contour lines. The body should look like it's emerging from mist.
3. The Return of the Power Shoulder
Broader, sharper, more exaggerated than anything we've seen since the late '80s. But the 2026 version is refined, think sharp shoulder lines paired with softly draped bodies, creating a deliberate contrast between structure up top and fluidity below.
How to illustrate it:
- Widen the shoulder line to 2+ head-widths. In regular fashion illustration, shoulders sit at about 1.5 heads. For this trend, push wider.
- Use straight, horizontal lines for the shoulder edge. The visual impact comes from that sharp, uncompromising horizontal.
- Contrast with the lower body. Below the shoulder, let everything soften, draped skirts, flowing pants, gentle curves. The tension between sharp top and soft bottom is the whole point.
4. Liquid Metallics
Gold, silver, and copper fabrics appeared everywhere, but not the stiff, crinkly metallics of past decades. The 2026 metallic is liquid: fluid fabrics with mirror-like reflection that move like mercury. Paco Rabanne (now Rabanne) has always owned this space, but Chloé and Saint Laurent both brought metallic fluidity to their collections.
How to illustrate it:
- High contrast is essential. Metallic fabric is all about reflection: brilliant highlights next to deep shadows, similar to rendering silk but even more extreme.
- Use metallic markers or gold/silver ink. If you have metallic Copics or a Kuretake gold ink pen, this is their moment.
- Leave a lot of white paper. Nothing says "reflective" like allowing the white of the paper to serve as highlight. Don't fill everything in.
- Flow, not fold. These fabrics move like liquid. Your fold lines should be long, continuous S-curves with no sharp breaks.
5. Maximalist Color Blocking
The muted palette of previous seasons is dead. PFW 2026 is bold, saturated, and unapologetic about color. We're seeing electric blue next to hot pink, emerald green paired with tangerine, and deep purple against canary yellow, often in a single outfit.
How to illustrate it:
- Plan your colors before you start. With color blocking, there's no room for muddy transitions. Know exactly where each color begins and ends.
- Use markers, not watercolors. Copic markers deliver the saturated, flat color that color blocking demands. Watercolors are too soft for this.
- Clean edges between colors. The power of color blocking is in the sharp boundary. Use a fine-tip Micron pen to define where one color ends and the next begins.
- Simplify the figure. When color is doing the heavy lifting, the figure can be more gestural. Let the palette be the star.
What This Means for Your Sketchbook
Every trend season is an invitation to practice new techniques. This season pushes illustrators toward:
- Bolder value contrast (metallics, sheer layering)
- Exaggerated silhouettes (architectural volume, power shoulders)
- Confident color use (maximalist blocking)
The best way to internalize these trends? Draw them. Pick one trend, one silhouette, and sketch it five different ways. Use a croquis template to skip the figure work and go straight to the design.