Strong, Feminine, and Red Carpet-Ready: Sarah Burton Has Hit Her Stride at Givenchy

After her highly-anticipated and acclaimed debut Givenchy show, Sarah Burton presented her sophomore collection for the storied French house and the follow-up was somehow even stronger and more distinct than we could have hoped. Titled "powerful femininity", the collection was an ode to the strengths of women and it explored traditional archetypes and tropes of female dressing, from bold bejeweling to bra tops that actually function as bras to delicate, frothy dresses made from mesh and sheer fabrics.

What made the show especially noteworthy, however, was the celebrity turnout, both on and off the runway. The front row read like the roll call at the Oscars or Emmys, with Jenna Ortega, Charlize Theron, and Cynthia Erivo in attendance and while it's standard practice to dress celebrities in looks from the brand, Givenchy took it one step further and dressed a number of its A-list guests in the very looks about to be staged. Models, too, featured a cast of both O.G. and modern heavyweights, from Naomi Campbell to Kaia Gerber. Here, discover everything to know about the Givenchy spring 2026 show during Paris Fashion Week.

Celebs Wore It First

The first looks at Givenchy's spring/summer 2026 collection didn't come as models stepped foot on the runway, but before the show even began. Celebrities in attendance arrived in variations on the looks that would, just moments later, appear on the runway. Jenna Ortega wore look 43, a heavily ruffled sheer dress in a deep shade of crimson and Charlize Theron appeared in an armor of large beads showing through from underneath a crisp white pantsuit. Why wait until award season to see the collected interpreted IRL when you can glance over at the front row?

Powerful Femininity

"I wanted to explore the strengths of women through feminine archetypes," Burton writes in the show notes to her sophomore collection titled Powerful femininity. "It started with peeling back the structure of tailoring to reveal skin and a sense of lightness and ease—then exploring the female vocabulary of dress and undress," continues. Her idea best comes through in look 18's a bra top and leather maxi skirt, but can also be seen in the way a trench coat or simple shirt dress are manipulated to reveal more décolletage. Burton's point? That power need not always come through masculine silhouettes like sharp suiting (although the collection did feature several remarkably strong suits) but instead that traditionally feminine silhouettes have their own innate sense of strength and force.

Bejeweled

Burton has clearly hit her stride at Givenchy with a spring collection that continues to evolve the ideas she put forth in her debut last season. The jewelry arrived in bold costume-like strings of rhinestones as necklaces, drop earrings, and in some cases, even body armor. They're a clear throughline from the found objects and craft-like assemblage of the fall 2025 collection.

An A-List Casting

The front row may have featured an impressive star power, but it was rivaled only by that of the model casting. Superstars Naomi Campbell, Liu Wen, and Eva Herzigová were accompanied by the new guard of supers that included Alex Consani, Vittoria Ceretti, and Kaia Gerber who closed out the show.

Hollywood Stylists On Speed Dial

The new era of Givenchy is working overtime to make its mark on Hollywood and based on how the debut collection made its way onto the red carpet this year, there's no question that this runway will be an automatic pipeline from the atelier to celebrity stylists' offices. If I were the betting type, I'd put my money on the mesh dresses and babydoll numbers as the frontrunners for red carpet appearances. I'd even venture to guess that stylists are already texting to secure their top picks as we speak.