Coco Chanel once commented that Paco Rabanne was the “metalworker of fashion”. Known for pushing the limits on wearable fashion, Rabanne constantly questioned the conventions of clothing design.

Rabanne started his own fashion house in 1966 and retired in 1999 after his final collection. Since then, the house has been in the hands of multiple directors. Now 29-year-old designer Lydia Maurer is the creative director. In a recent interview, Maurer said, “This is not a fashion house that’s purely about style, but mostly about handwork and craftsmanship, and texture and material.”

This past fall, when we were in Paris, we had the honor of stepping inside the studio of this historic French fashion house the week before Paris Fashion Week. Watching the workers meticulously craft every garment by hand (especially considering most of the pieces are made of metal!) was really astonishing… and I hope you’ll gather that from the images below.

Welcome to the studio of an always-modern Paco Rabanne.