Spring 2026 Haute Couture: Phan Huy’s Born of Gold and Jade

At 26, Phan Huy has become one of the youngest designers to join the Paris Haute Couture official calendar. The achievement would be remarkable on its own, but what makes his Spring–Summer 2026 debut compelling is how little it feels like a debut at all. Founded in 2023 by Phan Huy and stylist Steven Doan, the house already speaks with the confidence of an established atelier, its codes clearly defined.

“Cành Vàng Lá Ngọc” — The Golden Branch and Jade Leaf — takes the Nguyen dynasty as its starting point. Not as romantic fantasy, but as a precise historical moment of cultural exchange. “This was when East met West,” Phan Huy told Couture Notebook. “The royal family travelled to France, brought back influences, and reinterpreted them at home. That dialogue between tradition and modernity is what we wanted to explore.”

Hue, the former imperial capital, and its surviving artefacts provided much of the visual vocabulary. Ornamental plants and floral arrangements crafted from gold, jade, and precious stones informed the branching patterns and layered structures seen in embroidery and appliqué, while traditional court regalia worn by Emperor Khai Dinh inspired metallic surfaces and gemstone detailing.

Bodices are tightly corseted, hips are sculpted, and fan-like panels hang low from the shoulders, swinging from right to left with the model’s stride, giving the gowns a sense of measured architecture in motion. The palette — muted golds and soft pastels — draws from royal ceremonial dress, with Vietnamese silk forming the foundation. But it is the technique that most clearly signals Phan Huy’s ambition.

Tactility dominates the collection. A strapless gown is constructed from 3,200 laser-cut voile petals, unfolding sculpturally along the body before extending into a dramatic train, each petal individually embellished with golden beads and crystals. Elsewhere, hand-crafted blush-toned blossoms float en tremblant around a strapless silhouette, catching light with the slightest movement. A golden brooch glints on a bodice, referencing ceremonial command plates worn by Nguyen emperors.

In the atelier, Phan Huy worked extensively with horsehair thread and organza, deconstructing the fibres and layering them into motifs that read as structured yet weightless.

The result is couture that feels controlled rather than ornamental, expressive without excess. In Paris, this balance — between discipline and lightness — positions PHAN HUY not as a newcomer seeking attention, but as a house quietly defining its own language.