How is craftmanship being reinvented for Spring–Summer 27?
Première Vision continues its commitment to know-how by placing it at the heart of its February 2026 edition. At the Prospective Forum, in the heart of the Première Vision show, discover the exceptional developments by 12 exhibiting designers from the Maison d’Exceptions sector or invited by the Première Vision Fashion team.
As key markers of a Spring–Summer 27 season breaking away from minimalism, savoir-faire practices are hybridizing, diverging and unfolding in their full expressive range. They are moving beyond the sole notion of tradition and becoming powerful vectors of expression and differentiation. Three themes have emerged from a forward-looking analysis of the evolution of craftsmanship, considering how these practices will be transformed, updated and reinvented in the future: LIVING LEGACY, ACTIVE KNOW-HOW and ORGANIC INTELLIGENCE.
Living Legacy : transmitting, transposing and projecting heritage
A first predictive reading of know-how reveals the continuation of an essential movement: the transposition of heritage into the contemporary world. This dynamic is built on the dialogue between generations and cultures, and on the richness of different perspectives. Today’s talents are appropriating traditional techniques to shift their uses, divert forms and reinvent gestures. These hybridizations between tradition and the avant-garde are propelling the ancestral towards the future, thereby opening up new fields of application.
Cécile Feilchenfeldt X Matières Fécales
Cécile Feilchenfeldt X Matières Fécales - Spring-Summer 26
Among the creators with exceptional savoir-faire who are highlighted at the Prospective Forum, Cécile Feilchenfeldt will be presenting a piece created in collaboration with the Matières Fécales fashion house. A designer specializing in experimental textiles, Cécile Feilchenfeldt stands out for her singular approach to knitting, which she pushes far beyond its traditional uses. Via an exploration of unexpected materials, her textile creations take on a sculptural and sensorial dimension.
The dress presented at Première Vision is the result of a collaboration between Cécile Feilchenfeldt and the duo Hannah Rose and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, who run Matières Fécales, for their Spring–Summer 2026 runway show.
Inspired by Hannah’s middle name, Rose, the piece was conceived to evoke “something deeply human, love.”
Created from silk flowers sourced from dormant stocks and knitted by the designer and her team at Knitlab, the piece embodies the search for beauty in imperfection, through its roses “in their most beautiful state, the moment they fade”, driven by a deeply poetic approach to the creative process. Additional works can also be discovered at Cécile Feilchenfeldt’s stand within the Maison d’Exceptions space.
Organic intelligence : the living world as a new creative material
A new path is opening up, one on which scientific advances are renewing our relationship with nature. For Spring–Summer 2027, a biomimetic axis has emerged, with materials, hand-feels, aesthetics and processes that draw inspiration from the mechanisms of the living world. Today, the most innovative developments are being created from approaches that are in symbiosis with nature, nourished by a fertile dialogue between technology and living systems.
Atelier Sumbiosis
Atelier Sumbiosis
This approach lies at the heart of the work by Atelier Sumbiosis, a textile research and creation laboratory founded by textile designer and master craftsman Tony Jouanneau, exhibiting in the Maison d’Exceptions Maison d’Exceptions sector.
At the crossroads of science and craftsmanship, his creations explore the links between material, color, gesture and the living world, through techniques such as pleating, natural dyeing and shibori, developed in collaboration with artisans and researchers in France and around the world.
The studio regularly collaborates with luxury houses, laboratories, cultural institutions and galleries. At the Prospective Forum, Atelier Sumbiosis will present its ECHIRO project, stemming from a patented pigment extraction process that uses sea urchin waste, developed in collaboration with Marie Albéric, a CNRS researcher affiliated with the Condensed Matter Chemistry Laboratory at the Sorbonne University. This research highlights the chromatic potential of marine pigments, while engaging in dialogue with Japanese textile craftsmanship, notably through techniques such as katazome and hikizome.
Active know-how : diverting styles and uses
Moreover, a strong playful and pop influence is positioning diversion as a key creative principle. Spring–Summer 27 is rooted in a creative freedom fueled by a taste for play, inspiring the rewriting of codes and the reinvention of everyday life with spirit and nonchalance. Beneath its apparent lightness, this approach carries a lucid counter-movement: a space to regain control over reality. Free expression in which playfulness, comfort and distinction naturally come together.
Valentine H. Despointes
Valentine H. Despointes – STUDIO VHD
In this spirit, the creations of Valentine H. Despointes presented at the Prospective Forum explore the diversion of styles and uses through a unique treatment of leather combined with a colorful, dreamlike aesthetic. Her abundant universe is populated by lush jungles or underwater worlds, stylized animals and reinterpreted everyday objects; it deploys a rich imagination in which playfulness converses with strong technical expertise.
Mastering the savoir-faire of leather marquetry and leather covering, she works with hides sourced from the finest French tanneries, as well as high-end leather offcuts.
From scenography to product development, her projects reflect both meticulous craftsmanship and a free approach that is capable of revealing the full versatility of leather.
On the Platinum Area, Valentine H. Despointes will offer a live demonstration of her craft, exploring leather marquetry and molding techniques.
Discover the savoir-faire of the future at the Première Vision show, at Paris Nord Villepinte, from 3 to 5 February 2025.
