Caroline Hu AW25

Coco and I barely made it to this show due to the Casablanca after party the night before. But on our way to the show we walked behind another attendee and overheard him telling someone on the phone he was on his way to the "Carolina OoU" show. That heavy French accent had us rolling and snapped us out of our slumped morning demeanor.

The Palais de Tokyo may have been the official stage, but the true magic of Caroline Hú’s Reverie FW25 collection unfolded at 85 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, a fitting backdrop for a designer who thrives in the tension between reality and fantasy. This season, Hú wove a narrative of resilience, layering handcrafted florals and saturated hues against life’s invisible weights.

Hú’s signature romanticism took a defiant turn. Silk-ribbon flowers, padded by hand, bloomed across tulle sleeves and cocoon silhouettes, their embossed textures acting as armor. A clash of blue-green melancholy against bursts of sunlit warmth, mirroring her belief that beauty thrives in chaos.

In her show notes, Hú described the collection as a response to life’s "invisible strings", roles, expectations, global upheavals. Yet, she carved out room for daydreams; barefoot runs, wind-tossed hair, flowers defiantly pushing through cracks. The result were garments that felt both protective and vulnerable, like a whispered secret stitched into seams. Texture reigned supreme. Oil-painted textiles blurred into abstract gradients, while Sophie Hallette lace appliqués dissolved into sheer panels. For Hú, technique is emotion: every overlay, every distorted brushstroke echoed her theme of layered identities.

At a time when fashion oscillates between escapism and activism, Reverie struck a rare balance. Hú didn’t just design clothes; she built a world where fragility is strength, and romance is rebellion.