Paris was in the grip of summer heat when Celia Kritharioti sent models into a couture landscape covered in snow. Yet the most memorable ice was not confined to the set. It appeared on the models' lashes, in their hair and beneath their eyes as crystal-like tears.
Presented July 9 during Paris Haute Couture Week, Kritharioti's Fall/Winter 2026–2027 collection, titled "Frozen Eden," transformed Galerie Vendôme into a white landscape of sculpted walls, frosted pathways and hanging icicles. The setting introduced a fantasy of paradise frozen at the moment innocence gives way to temptation.
The Greek designer imagined the Garden of Eden immediately after the forbidden fruit had been taken. According to the house's collection statement, time stands still as flowers, leaves and forbidden desires become an "empire of white and silver ice." The clothes explored the resulting tension through contrasts between light and shadow, concealment and exposure.
Makeup was essential to making that story visible.
Created by makeup artist Val Garland, some of the most striking looks featured lashes painted opaque white and separated into sharp, frost-like points. Long translucent ornaments extended beneath the eyes like tears caught in the act of freezing. Other models wore pale blue liner or clusters of silver and gold embellishment around their eyes, allowing the beauty look to shift with the colors and surfaces of the clothes.
Rather than functioning as decoration applied after the garments were finished, the makeup appeared to continue their surfaces. The frozen tears echoed the reflective stones sewn across white and gold gowns. Blue eye makeup picked up the icy edges of tiered black tulle, while gold details around the face mirrored metallic embroidery below. Eugene Souleiman completed the illusion by working artificial snow into loose braids and softly arranged hair.
This connection between face and fabric was especially clear in a sheer nude gown traced with branching white embellishment. Its crystals appeared to climb the body like frost spreading across glass, meeting similarly reflective details around the model's eyes. On another look, a gold gown radiated outward from the waist in lines of crystals while matching gold pieces surrounded the eyes, turning the model into an extension of the embroidery.
White and silver established the collection's frozen world, but Kritharioti did not remain inside a purely wintry palette. Black velvet gowns introduced visual weight against the pale setting. Oversized bows transformed several looks into sculptural silhouettes, while black corsetry, transparent tulle and crystal-studded skirts brought darkness into the imagined garden.
Red supplied the clearest suggestion of temptation. A fitted crimson skirt suit, a sheer lace dress and a dramatically gathered ball gown stood out against the artificial snow like flashes of forbidden fruit. Seen beside fitted white tailoring, the red gowns made the collection's opposing ideas—innocence and desire—immediately legible without requiring a literal interpretation of Eden.
The strongest looks balanced Kritharioti's love of spectacle with controlled construction. A black velvet gown built around an enormous bow created volume without losing the body beneath it. A pale gown placed crystal branches over nearly invisible tulle, while a black ball gown scattered reflective embellishments across its surface like a night sky during snowfall.
Texture kept the frozen setting from feeling visually flat. Velvet absorbed the light, crystals reflected it and sheer layers allowed it to pass through. Feathers and fringe moved with the models, creating softness within a show otherwise defined by the suggestion of ice, stillness and suspended time.
The runway occasionally resisted the fantasy. Reports from the presentation noted that the artificial snow was deep enough for several models to lose their shoes as they walked. But the difficulty also made the environment feel less like a decorative backdrop and more like a physical part of the show. Snow fell over the assembled cast during the finale, completing the illusion of a garden trapped in winter.
Jennifer Lopez brought the presentation its most visible celebrity moment. Seated in the front row, she complemented the collection's icy setting with a crystal-embellished Celia Kritharioti look, a pale feathered wrap and cool-toned eye makeup. The designer later thanked Lopez for attending in an official Instagram post, extending the show's combination of shimmer, softness and frost beyond the runway.
Kritharioti appeared on the official Haute Couture Week calendar as a guest house. "Frozen Eden" may not have received the scale of attention commanded by Paris's biggest couture names, but its imagery was unusually cohesive. The clothes, faces and frozen surroundings all told the same story: paradise suspended just after temptation, with even its tears preserved as couture.
