The Elephant Princess presented its Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Wings of Ganesha, during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week at the Hôtel Le Marois – Butard Enescot in Paris, France.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
ELEPHANT PRINCESS: An Exploration of Contemporary Elegance
In an era where elegance often feels fleeting and sophistication is too easily mistaken for excess, Elephant Princess stands as a clear expression of timeless grace and contemporary femininity. Rooted in devotion to craftsmanship and guided by a deep understanding of the modern woman’s need for both refinement and ease, the brand reinterprets classic silhouettes through meticulous construction, structural clarity, and quiet strength.
From the first stitch, Elephant Princess builds a dialogue between past and present, blending the poetry of vintage couture with a modern, confident femininity. Each piece is designed to move with the body, acting as a second skin that enhances rather than constrains, and empowers without excess.
Vivian Lee is a contemporary designer who redefines the context of couture from an Eastern female perspective, emerging as a rising force connecting Asian aesthetics with the international haute couture scene. Before founding Elephant Princess, she was deeply active within China’s leading fashion media and content fields, recognized as a highly influential aesthetic thought leader who closely participated in and observed the evolution of contemporary female aesthetics. Though not traditionally trained as a designer, she has developed, through instinctive sensibility and years of study, practice, and refinement, an independent and coherent aesthetic system and design logic. For her, couture is not a display of technical spectacle, but a precise structure that relates to the body, culture, and emotion.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
The Collection
This season, the collection explores the timeless contrast of black and gold. Black expresses depth, elegance, and quiet strength through sculptural draping and precise tailoring, while subtle gold accents introduce warmth and luminosity. The signature black dress returns as a central element: balanced, sophisticated, and designed to transcend seasons.
Craftsmanship remains at the core of the brand. Fluid silk crepe, structured wool, and delicate lace are carefully combined to create silhouettes that balance softness and structure. These contrasts reflect the complexity of contemporary femininity: strong yet sensitive, classic yet forward-looking.
More than a collection, Elephant Princess proposes a wardrobe rooted in discreet luxury and thoughtful design. Each garment tells a story of precision, care, and refined detail, offering timeless pieces intended to endure beyond trends. In a fast-moving fashion landscape, the brand stands for restraint, elegance, and authenticity, where true luxury is found in balance, craftsmanship, and timeless style.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
Wings of Ganesha
Wings of Ganesha does not emerge from mythology, but from lived experience.
In the founder’s earliest memories, Ganesha represented protection, wisdom, and the quiet reassurance that obstacles could be overcome without force. It was a presence associated not with grandeur, but with continuity: the sense that even in moments of uncertainty, dreams were allowed to move forward gently and without fear.
Years later, as Elephant Princess took shape between devotion to craftsmanship and the realities of the Paris runway, that sense of protection resurfaced in a tangible way. At a pivotal moment, a trusted figure chose to believe in the vision, offering confidence rather than direction, continuity rather than control. Like invisible wings, that belief allowed the creative journey to continue and expand.
The Paris Fashion Week 2026 collection, Wings of Ganesha, is a contemporary expression of this experience.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
Gentle Protection, Translated into Ease
Within the language of Elephant Princess, protection is not an external structure imposed on women, but an internal foundation that allows them to stand freely as themselves.
Motifs associated with Ganesha wings, butterflies, talismanic elements, and symbolic patterns are translated through a precise design vocabulary. Feathered constructions softly frame the shoulders, embroidered butterflies appear as subtle points of light, and lace textures evoke a sense of gentle protection.
Modular silhouettes and detachable skirts allow couture to shift seamlessly between ceremonial elegance and lived reality. Each cut is informed by an understanding of the body, where structure supports movement and refinement enhances comfort.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
Design Language: The Forms of Protection
The palette unfolds in nude, black, soft grey, and muted gold. Nude tones convey intimacy and warmth; black expresses composure and depth; grey introduces clarity and calm; gold appears as a restrained glow, an echo of trust, recognition, and enduring support.
Craftsmanship reveals itself through precision rather than spectacle. Lightweight feathers, delicate gold embroidery, and carefully balanced constructions create garments that feel intentional, respectful, and wearable.
Designer Vivian Lee at the Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha, Runway Finale
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
From Being Protected to Becoming Light
Wings of Ganesha is not a retelling of myth, but a passage. When a woman is understood, supported, and gently upheld, she begins to develop her own sense of lightness and strength. Elephant Princess envisions a couture wardrobe that does not require tension, nor asks its wearer to carry ambition alone. A dream that has been protected does not end with itself; it becomes light capable of lifting others in return.
Elephant Princess Spring/Summer 2026 Collection: Wings of Ganesha, Runway Finale
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
Designer Portrait
Vivian Lee is a contemporary designer redefining couture through an Eastern female perspective, emerging as a distinctive voice bridging Asian aesthetics with the international haute couture scene. Before founding Elephant Princess, she was deeply immersed in China’s leading fashion media and content platforms, where she became a highly influential aesthetic voice, closely observing and shaping the evolution of contemporary femininity.
Designer Vivian Lee
Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
Years of hands-on experience across key digital platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu gave her an acute, first-hand understanding of the Asian female body its proportions, sensibilities, and unspoken needs. This intimate knowledge of real women, rather than abstract ideals, became the foundation of her transition into design.
Though not classically trained in fashion design, Vivian Lee has developed an independent and coherent aesthetic language through instinctive sensibility, rigorous self-study, and years of refinement. For her, couture is not a demonstration of flashy technical display, but a precise and thoughtful structure, one that engages the body, cultural identity, and emotional resonance in equal measure.
Elephant Princess was born from a dream involving the elephant-headed god Ganesha. The vision, imbued with ideas of wisdom, protection, and auspicious energy, sparked a fundamental question: could couture for Asian women be both ceremonial and effortless, structured yet free? To deepen her understanding, Vivian Lee conducted extensive research into Southeast and South Asian interpretations of elephant-god mythology, translating its symbolism, wisdom, abundance, and power to overcome obstacles into a contemporary design vision. This process was never decorative; rather, it aligned naturally with her enduring focus on femininity as something to be understood, supported, and gently upheld.
In her design practice, Vivian Lee weaves together personal aesthetics and the spiritual essence of Ganesha, offering a renewed vision of couture for Asian women rooted in confidence, grace, and inner strength. A dream-maker in practice, she transforms poetic, utopian ideas into tangible, wearable realities.
In 2026, she makes her Paris haute couture debut with the collection Wings of Ganesha. Through an Eastern lens, she reinterprets spiritual symbolism into contemporary couture structures, presenting to the international fashion scene a vision of Asian femininity that is poised, self-possessed, and quietly powerful.
Runway Photography by Luca Tombolini @lucatombolini
All images courtesy of Elephant Princess.
Tags: apparel, artisanal, collection, Couture, couture dresses, craftsmanship, cultural, culture, design, designer spotlight, designers, dresses, Elephant Princess, fashion, fashion design, fashion designers, femininity, gold embroidery, Haute Couture, Luxury, Paris, Paris Fashion Week, Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, runway, runway show, silk crepe, sophisticated, sophistication, style, timeless elegance, timeless silhouettes, timeless style, Top, vintage couture
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