Burc Akyol’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, presented on the top floor of Paris’ Institut du monde arabe, celebrates the moment when a woman chooses to be seen. Titled La Collectionneuse, the designer’s latest output is built on obsession, repetition, and Parisian mythology. Clothes become codes, and codes become muscle memory – sharp tailoring that carries nostalgia in its seams, or silhouettes that flirt with cliché only to outgrow it. It’s Paris as fantasy and discipline at once: Éric Rohmer mornings, Agnès Varda afternoons, and cigarette-lit walks home at dawn.
But don’t mistake this romantic sensibility for softness. The offering is a character study in accumulation: of lovers, memories, references, and power. A double-breasted cape in sturdy navy wool demands authority with its wide shoulders and high collar. Later on, its shorter jacket iteration in cream is twisted in the front, showcasing high-waisted jodhpurs paired with ultra-spiky, ultra-high heels. A dress-coat hybrid in black silk creates an equally effective and comfortable uniform for the long night ahead. Each piece feels lived in before it’s worn, as if the fabric already remembers something juicy, scandalous. The eroticism here isn’t obvious – it’s structural, in the tension between restraint and collapse, pocketed hands and barely-held shapes. Cocktail dresses in jersey feature dramatic side openings, showcasing legs clad in sheer tights with black dots – a classic Parisian staple that always creates a moment.
Words by Martin Onufrowicz
