After a decade-long hiatus from Paris Couture Fashion Week, Charlie Le Mindu is back. The designer-hairdresser-provocateur returned with a show that was loud, outrageous, and out of step with couture’s obsession with polish. Featuring barely-there constructions that push fashion toward the absurd, there is nothing remotely ready-to-wear about Le Mindu’s designs—and that’s exactly the point.
His Spring 2026 couture collection, Skins, collapses the boundaries between fashion and hair, merging Le Mindu’s dual background as a designer and a hairstylist. “I called it Skins because hair is our second skin,” he explains. “We’re hiding behind our hair, and it’s really protection. It’s like human fur.”
Dubbed the pioneer of “haute coiffure,” Charlie Le Mindu first made his name in the late 2000s with hair-heavy shows that felt closer to performance art than fashion presentations. During his ten-year break from designing couture, that instinct only deepened. While continuing to work as a hairstylist for celebrities and major fashion shows—most recently featured in i-D’s Beta issue for his work on Paris Hilton—Le Mindu shifted toward costume design for stage and ballet. This period allowed him to further develop the complex techniques that now inform his couture work.
After the show, we caught up with the designer to talk about his return to couture and the hardcore women who inspire him.
Marley Wendt: This is your comeback couture presentation in Paris. Did you approach your work differently after all this time?
Charlie Le Mindu: There’s a whole new generation that doesn’t know me, so it was great to get their feedback on the show. I’ve been working with so many ballets and ateliers, creating costumes for the Paris Opera for instance, and that has taught me a lot–even the name of certain fabrics that I wouldn’t know before. So I felt ready to come back with better techniques and new things to show.
How long did it take to develop this collection, and what was the most challenging part of the process?
It took about eight months. I thought I knew how to do a collection, but after ten years of pausing, it was really hard to get back into it. I think the most challenging part was sourcing the hair. We first designed the looks, and then we had to find the hair from different parts of the world.
What intrigues you most about performance?
Performance is always on my mind because movement is so important for me. I stopped showing during couture because what was most amazing for me was the element of human error and the quality that it brings to choreography. For example, when I created something for Doja Cat for Coachella, we worked with Parris Goebel, who really understands the movement of human hair and the way it works.
Obviously, as a designer, you need sponsors in order to make things happen, and in this case you’re a couturier presenting in Paris with sponsorship from Pornhub. How does that fit into your universe?
Well, I come from the porn industry too, and it’s an industry that I really respect. Right now there’s a woman in charge of Pornhub, and that changes a lot of things politically. I have so many friends in the industry, and they’re so powerful and comfortable in their bodies. I don’t want to speak for them, because I’m not a woman, but I think it’s about body visibility, not body positivity. They have so much confidence and nothing to prove to the world, which I think is amazing.
Who are your muses?
There’s my friend, Asa Akira. She’s a porn star. I also love Dominique and Queenie who were in the show. It’s just the energy they give me. I have so many icons, like Peaches or Grace Jones. I feel more comfortable around women because, as a kid, I was completely bullied by guys, and I still don’t feel comfortable around straight men. My mom was a really strong woman as well. It’s important for me to be surrounded by powerful women, because they’re the ones who have supported me throughout my life.
