Vivienne Westwood brings beauty from chaos and dying sunflowers in Paris

PARIS (AP) — Light streamed through the stained glass of the Institut de France onto a surreal stage: a lone cellist playing a melancholy air, next to an upside-down umbrella and a rotating tableau of dying sunflowers. It was a theatrical overture for Saturday's Paris Fashion Week. This was spring — Vivienne Westwood style.

Andreas Kronthaler, who has helmed the house since Westwood’s death in 2022 and whose name joined the label in 2016, leaned hard into the madhat energy that made the brand a legend. Leopard-print men’s underwear sat alongside sheer, ribbed tunics with a medieval air. Punk flashed in a jeweled veil and glittered lapels. Models strode in floppy, swashbuckling ’70s boots that turned the grand academic setting into a carnival.

The lineup spoke fluent Westwood: draped and deconstructed silhouettes, gathered dresses with double skirts, tailoring cut just off balance. Colors clashed on purpose, with sour greens near reds — until the eye adjusted and chaos clicked into order. One jeweled necklace made it literal: “CHAOS.”

Westwood made her name on King’s Road in the 1970s, wiring tartan, corsetry and ripped tees into the grammar of punk. That outsider spirit still drives the house, even as its reach has gone mainstream. Since Sarah Jessica Parker’s iconic Westwood bridal gown in “ Sex and the City,” the label’s wedding business has boomed — a point underscored by the hundreds of noisy fans thronging the Institut de France on Saturday, jostling for a glimpse.

Kronthaler has long thrived on turning bourgeois classics inside out — warping jackets, loading corsetry into knits, twisting tartan into punk romance. That maximalist urge can tip into excess, yet it is also the house’s lifeblood, keeping Westwood’s language loud and elastic rather than embalmed.

Much of Westwood’s power has historically come from mining and mutating the archive — the ’80s corset legacy, Napoleonic swagger, Shakespearean drama. Since Westwood’s passing, Kronthaler has shifted from careful custodian to provocateur, forging new hybrids instead of simply quoting the past. Saturday’s show advanced that shift: historic tunics, technical fabrics and second-skin underwear collided by design, not accident.

The finale gave the collection a human punch. Heidi Klum closed the runway to loud cheers. Kronthaler stepped out with a bouquet of sunflowers so heavy he had to rest it on the floor before handing it over — a wry echo of the revolving sunflower still life and a tender nod to the house’s stubborn romanticism.

If the collection lacked order, it didn’t lack conviction. Few labels turn visual discord into persuasive beauty. Westwood still can — under stained glass and that glinting necklace, it did.

Heidi Klum wears a creation as part of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Designer Andreas Kronthaler, left, accepts applause as he holds the hand of Heidi Klum as part of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Designer Andreas Kronthaler, left, kisses Heidi Klum after the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

A model wears a creation as part of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Petr Yan stunned Merab Dvalishvili with a dominating effort to capture the bantamweight championship by unanimous decision at UFC 323 on Saturday night.

With punishing strikes and several crushing kicks to the rib cage, Yan (20-5) ended Dvalishvili’s 14-match winning streak.

“I’m very happy to stand here with the championship belt, thank you to all the fans,” Yan said, through an interpreter. “I worked so hard, I prepared so hard for this moment.”

Dvalishvili (21-5) hadn’t lost since April 21, 2018, when Ricky Simon won by submission. It was his fourth title match of 2025.

Yan exacted revenge for his last loss when Dvalishvili defeated the 32-year-old by unanimous decision on a UFC Fight Night card on March 11, 2023.

Dvalishvili, 34, closed a -425 favorite, which meant a bettor laid $425 to $100 at BetMGM. Anyone wagering $100 on Yan would have won $320.

“I lost today,” Dvalishvili said. “Congratulations to him.”

In the co-main event, challenger Joshua Van won the flyweight belt from former champion Alexandre Pantoja with a TKO just 26 seconds into the first round after a quirky finish.

In what appeared to be a freak accident, Pantoja (30-6) injured his left shoulder just after throwing a right roundkick to Van’s head. But as Van (16-2) blocked the kick, Pantoja used his left arm to brace his fall, but his arm buckled, and he immediately grabbed it and waved to referee Herb Dean to stop the bout at 26 seconds.

In a display of sportsmanship, Van immediately joined Pantoja on the canvas to check on him once the bout was called.

Also from the main card:

In what was a scheduled three-round flyweight bout, No. 5 Tatsuro Taira (18-1-0) earned the biggest victory of his career, a first-round stoppage over No. 2 Brandon Moreno (23-9-2) at the 2:24 mark of the second round after capitalizing on a rear-mount ground-and-pound.

In a three-round bantamweight match, unranked rising star Payton Talbott (11-1-0) dominated 10th-ranked Henry Cejudo (16-6-0) to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision over the former two-division champion. Cejudo, who fought for the last time, was honored with a tribute video after the bout.

In a three-round light heavyweight bout, fifth-ranked Jan Blachowicz (29-11-2) and 11th-ranked Bogdan Guskov (18-3-1) fought to a majority draw. Blachowicz was given the 29-28 edge by one judge, while two others had it 28-28.

It marked the last UFC pay-per-view fight after the organization agreed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Plus under which future bouts will be on the streaming service. The partnership, which includes the two popular series Dana White’s Contender Series and The Ultimate Fighter, begins Jan. 24 with UFC 324 in Las Vegas.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Jan Blachowicz, left, takes a punch from Bogdan Guskov, right, in a light heavyweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Henry Cejudo, left, is hit with an elbow by Payton Talbott, right, in a bantamweight mixed martial arts bout during UFC 323, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Tatsuro Taira, of Japan, celebrates after defeating Brandon Moreno in a flyweight bout during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, right, is injured as he falls to the canvas away from Joshua Van during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)

Petr Yan celebrates with a member of his team after defeating UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili during UFC 323 Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)