Fashion houses showcase creations by Jakob Schlaepfer and Forster Willi
St.Gallen - Collections designed by the Swiss traditional ateliers Jakob Schlaepfer and Forster Willi have been shown at Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2026 and Paris Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026, as well as by Akris. Both fashion houses belong to the St.Gallen-based Forster Rohner Group.
(CONNECT) Creations designed by the two Swiss fashion houses Jakob Schlaepfer and Forster Willi, which both belong to the Forster Rohner Group, have been showcased on the runways at Paris Fashion Week (Prêt-à-Porter Fall/Winter 2026) and Paris Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2026.
For Prêt-à-Porter Fall/Winter, Jakob Schlaepfer developed six designs, including several fabric creations for Chanel. Three others were produced by the creative department at Forster Willi, among them an exclusive creation for the St.Gallen fashion house Akris. For Louis Vuitton, Jakob Schlaepfer developed a piece embellished with appliqués, its sleeves and front panel adorned with Swarovski stones. Forster Willi also created a design for the brand.
Championing Swiss design, the St.Gallen fashion house Akris too sent creations from both traditional design ateliers down the runway: Jakob Schlaepfer presented two looks combining “delicate craftsmanship with a clean, modern aesthetic”. Forster Willi’s piece was an exclusive design based on black stretch guipure lace that reinterprets a classic technique. The two fashion houses also worked creatively for Cecilie Bahnsen, while the Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta received fashion creations from Jakob Schlaepfer, embellished with sparkling sequins, knitted fringe, and Meadowbrook trim. For French fashion house Dior, Jakob Schlaepfer created two designs using an unusual technique consisting of “exquisitely crafted fringe bands, which are cut from the base foil of sequins using a precision plotter and then sewn together individually.”
Some of the fabric creations shown at Haute Couture Spring 2026 were also by Jakob Schlaepfer. For the first Chanel Haute Couture collection created by Chanel's creative director Matthieu Blazy, the Swiss house contributed two designs in which, according to the statement, five colors in three different sizes interact to create depth, structure, and vibrancy.
Jakob Schlaepfer has also brought seven creations to the fashion market for French designer Julie de Libran. These include double-sided embroidery on silk chiffon with gold foil application, laser-treated and washed denim, hand-embroidered silk muslin, lurex fabric, two-tone sequined guipure, and rhinestones. The finish took up to 25 hours of handwork per meter to achieve. ce/heg