I never thought I would hear house music blaring out of a church until I arrived at Casablanca’s SS26 show. As I took my place in a pew, the American Cathedral in Paris transformed into an unlikely nightclub. It was only 1pm, the show hadn’t even begun, and yet the thumping soundtrack already had me considering plans for later that night. When the collection finally unfolded, Grammy-winning DJ Louie Vega and an 18-member choir orchestrated a soundtrack that set the tone for a presentation pulsating with energy, freedom, and unbridled joy. From the outset, it was clear that the passion behind this season runs deep for creative director Charaf Tajer.
House music, born in Chicago’s counterculture in the 1980s, was a genre of inclusion, individuality, and community. Emerging from underground clubs and the vision of pioneering DJs, it created a space where identities could coexist. Casablanca channels this ethos, translating the vibrancy and egalitarianism of the dance floor into their garments.
SS26 thrives on contrasts and fluidity. Sportswear blends with tailoring, body-conscious silhouettes coexist with relaxed forms, and prints collide in vibrant, almost hallucinatory compositions. Gradients, which were reimagined in a glassine finish reminiscent of sweat-soaked club walls, map energy and motion across the body. Every piece felt designed to move, to live, and to be inhabited by personalities rather than posed on mannequins.
The show was made up by a series of archetypes. The Bourgeoise Raver Girl combined neon knits with feathers, chiffons, and sequinned embellishments, embodying nightlife glamour with playful irreverence. The Nightclub Proprietor stomped the runway in oversized tailoring and cyber-animalier prints, while the Dancing Crowd captured the energy of a cross-cultural floor, a fluid mix of casual and club-ready styles. Accessories ranged from strapped mules and oversized sunglasses to sleek evening bags and neon belts, each one reinforcing Casablanca’s commitment to a wardrobe of movement and versatility.
Prints and graphics drew on the rich visual language of House culture, collaging rave flyers, glitched florals, and club ephemera into jacquards. The palette consisted of acid neons, sun-soaked tones, and deep nocturnal shades. They oscillated like strobing lights, while the Del Mar and Stade sneakers carried the fluidity of skate culture and durability into a new, elevated context.
Presented in a cathedral yet grounded in the communal joy of the dance floor, the show was a delightful ode to creative worlds fusing. It translates the hedonism, inclusivity, and pulsating life of House music into clothes that are as exuberant as they are meticulously crafted.
