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In Paris, Michael Rider’s sophomore collection for Celine was unveiled beneath the manicured canopy of Parc de Saint-Cloud, confirming what his July debut suggested: the American designer has found a steady rhythm.
“We saw this collection as a continuation, as if the July show never really ended,” Rider said. Indeed, it felt like a seamless reprise, a languid strut through changing seasons.
For Spring/Summer 2026, Rider honed his preppy-bourgeois lexicon with newfound confidence and lightness. The satin scarves that became the instant icons of his debut returned, knotted over shoulders and threaded through belts and other accessories. Navy blazers and equestrian chinos mingled with printed minidresses, layered jewellery and belts that could speak to both polish and play. It was a wardrobe for the woman who can be the life of the party just as well as she can host one.
References to the French Maison’s storied past were also handled with care. There were whispers of Phoebe Philo’s era in the artful prints, a Slimane-style edge in the skinny and sharper silhouettes, but this was distinctly Rider’s Celine, where collegiate refinement is softened by a Parisian insouciance. The palette had its own commanding energy—red, cobalt, yellow—woven through florals, miniskirts, and even the linings of coats, radiating the joy of a sun-soaked season.
“We were thinking about good times, about lightness, and about summer heat,” the creative director wrote in the show notes. And that’s precisely what he delivered—a vision of enduring style in motion, filled with optimism, vitality, and the promise that good times and moods deserve to be preserved.
