Mame Kurogouchi Spring/Summer 2026 at Paris Fashion Week

Mame Kurogouchi Spring/Summer 2026 / SS26 at Paris Fashion Week entitled “Reflection”.

Mame Kurogouchi SS26 / Spring/Summer 2026 collection traces back to the designer Malko Kurogouchi’s landscapes of memory, wandering through the blurred contours Fragmented visions-melting ice, views through a glass window-form an introspective narrative that drifts towards the history of Wa-glass, glass made in Japan, that flourished from 17th to 20th centuries (edo to taisho periods). From this lineage emerges a shared sensibility-transparency touched with tremour, the shimmer of the ephemeral, and the stillness of silence-woven gently into garments that breathe these qualities throughout the season’s collection.

Following the journey into “form” presented in the 2025 collection, this season dissolves and erases form itself, arriving instead at recollections of everyday sceneries from childhood. These fragmented images embody a fragile transparency and a gentle presence the icicles dripping with water, the surface of a river thawing under the spring sun, or the misty mountain ridges gated through the windowpanes of her grandmother’s home. Memories, wrapped in the warm, shimmering flicker of light streaming through frosted glass return Kurogouchi to those tranquil days, before merging with the world of wa-glass its precarious delicacy, evocative beauty, and unique artisanal character distinct from European methods.

Mame Kurogouchi SS26 / Spring/Summer 2026 collection centres around sheer pieces, where “translucence,” “radiance,” and “lightness” reminiscent of ice and glass are explored through a wide range of materials and techniques. The grandeur of Nagano’s snow-covered mountains and frost laden trees is sublimated into tailored suits and dress that glisten with crystalline transparency of countless thread raying on fabric. Nostalgia for pattern glass that uniquely flourished and disappeared in Shams-era (1926-1989) adorned with motifs of stars and foliage is reimagined in sheer jacquard jersey dresses and knits. Jacquard knits with trailing vine motifs glimmer in the light, bridging Japanese antique textiles with Western glass art, while marbled prints recall the wavering textures of flowing water beneath ice, reminiscent of beautiful skin of wa-glass. The brand’s underlying motif-a harmonious fusion of elegant cutting and relaxed silhouettes carries the soft bulge and dysthymic sensibility unique to wa-glass, converging nostalgia and modernity throughout.

The colour palette also evokes the delicate interplay of memory and glass. The morning skies of Nagano, dyed in down hoes intertwine with the fragile tones of wa-glass pale blur, violet, yellow, and milky white to guide the palette further towards pastel pinks and purples, colours tinged with the melancholy of time spent with her grandmother. The three-layered woven short jacket and skirt, hand-dyed in aurora hues at a factory in Kyoto, capture the glimmer of memory’s partied, while decorations crated with Stratasys 3D printing technology on the dress crystallise the subtle nuance of memory. Sheer setups in light grey and beige spark nylon wool, together with wool triacetate dresses, pay tribute to the elegance of her grandparents. The quiet density embodied by well-worn garments and the nostalgia for irretrievable moments are revived, honouring times gone by once more.

Like a thin veil, or frosted glass-like gazing through a film of ice at blurred memories. This recurring celebration of ambiguity crystallises in the accessories of the season. Earrings strung with flowers, three-dimensional embroidered silk belts, sheer boom, and floral-motif sandals, all evoke the fragility of frozen petals, the crystalline clarity of melting icicles, and the wistful warmth hidden within them.