Anya Taylor-Joy has worn plenty of memorable fashion over the years, but her latest V Magazine September 2026 editorial takes the idea of couture somewhere far more unexpected.
For V162, photographed by Nick Knight and styled by Anna Trevelyan, the actor is dressed almost entirely in paper creations made specially for the shoot. Not paper prints. Not paper inspired textures. Actual paper, folded, layered, pleated, wired, sculpted and draped into gowns, suits, coats and headpieces.
The result feels less like a conventional celebrity fashion story and more like wearable architecture.
When Paper Stops Looking Fragile
Paper normally feels temporary. You fold it, write on it, tear it, throw it away. That is exactly why it becomes so interesting here.
Across the shoot, designers treat the material as if it were silk, organza or couture tulle. In one frame, it becomes crisp and sculptural. In another, it floats around Anya like smoke. Some pieces look almost weightless, while others have enough structure to completely reshape the body.
The most beautiful part is that the paper still looks like paper.
The creases are visible. The edges are not always perfectly smooth. The material reacts to movement in a way traditional fabric would not. That slight sense of fragility gives the entire editorial its tension.
Gaurav Gupta Turns Paper Into Sculpture
One of the strongest looks comes from Gaurav Gupta Couture, who created a custom gown using engineered paper panels layered over a tulle base. The silhouette immediately feels recognisable as Gupta. Large sculptural forms sweep around Anya’s body, creating almost wing like volume, while the white paper gives the construction a surprisingly soft finish.
It is dramatic without looking heavy. In the photograph, Anya stretches through the garment rather than simply standing inside it, which allows the paper panels to become part of the movement. That interaction between body and structure is what makes the look so powerful.
Matthew David Andrews Makes Tracing Paper Feel Romantic
Another standout comes from Matthew David Andrews, with a crinoline corset dress draped in tracing paper.
This look feels much softer and more chaotic. Sheets of translucent white paper gather around the body in loose, irregular layers, almost like unfinished dressmaking patterns suddenly caught in motion. A wire and powder mesh hat by Jenny Beattie, decorated with tracing paper, pushes the look even further into surreal territory.
Rather than hiding the construction, the styling celebrates it. You can almost imagine the garment still being made while Anya is wearing it.
Mugler Gives Paper a Sharper Edge
Then the mood changes. For the Mugler look, paper becomes tailoring.
Anya wears a custom paper coat and skirt, paired with pumps, creating one of the cleanest silhouettes in the editorial. The sharper construction feels more controlled than some of the other looks, proving that paper can hold a strong tailored shape just as convincingly as it can create volume.
The styling is completed with Tiffany & Co. HardWear jewellery, bringing real gold against the temporary quality of paper. That contrast is particularly clever. Precious jewellery meeting something as ordinary as paper suddenly makes both feel more noticeable.
THEVXLLEY Keeps It Minimal
The paper suit by THEVXLLEY takes the experiment in a quieter direction. Instead of pushing the material into exaggerated volume, the look keeps a familiar tailored shape, which makes the paper construction feel even more unexpected.
Anya wears the suit with Tiffany & Co. gold jewellery, adding a little warmth to the otherwise pale look.
But the real emotional detail comes from what she is holding. In the image, Anya reads a message from her mother, Jennifer Marina Joy-Morancho, written using a Montblanc Meisterstück Gold-Coated LeGrand Fountain Pen.
That small moment gives the fashion story a more personal layer. In an editorial built around paper, it suddenly becomes more than just a material. It becomes something that carries words, memory and emotion.
AGRO Studios Plays With Transparency
AGRO Studios created a jacket using crinoline and tracing paper with a matching tracing paper skirt.
Here, the transparency becomes part of the design. The clothes reveal and hide the body at the same time, creating a delicate balance between structure and exposure. The result feels more conceptual than glamorous, but that is exactly what makes it interesting.
It looks less like an outfit and more like a fashion sketch that somehow escaped the page and became three dimensional.
Macy Grimshaw Makes Paper Feel Almost Weightless
A custom piece by Macy Grimshaw turns tracing paper into something much more fluid.
In the image, the material wraps and moves around Anya rather than sitting rigidly against her body. The edges catch the light beautifully, making the paper look almost translucent.
This is where Nick Knight’s photography really matters. The dramatic light and movement allow the paper to shift between solid and transparent, so the garment seems to change depending on where you look.
Zac Posen Goes Full Paper Princess
Perhaps the most instantly theatrical look is the GAPSTUDIO by Zac Posen geometric paper gown, made from bonded tissue paper.
The pale blue gown has a huge couture silhouette, with structured folds and exaggerated volume that make it look surprisingly substantial for something made from paper.
Above it sits a dramatic tracing paper headpiece by Noel Stewart, which almost becomes architecture of its own.
This is the look that most clearly proves the point of the editorial. Paper can look precious.
A Fashion Story That Actually Matches Anya
The concept also makes sense for Anya Taylor-Joy personally.
In her accompanying V Magazine conversation with Miley Cyrus, she talks about her love of journals, physical books and writing. She says she travels with so many books that they can nearly fill an entire suitcase, and describes writing as a kind of sanctuary.
Her mother, Jennifer Marina Joy-Morancho, even visited the set and wrote her a personal message using a Montblanc Meisterstück fountain pen, creating a small emotional link between the editorial’s paper theme and Anya’s own life.
That detail gives the shoot more meaning than a simple material experiment. Paper here is not only something to wear. It is where scripts begin, where memories are written down, where ideas start and where stories take shape.
Imperfection Is Part of the Beauty
There is another reason paper works so well in this shoot. It cannot really hide what has happened to it. Every fold stays. Every crease records movement.
And once it is bent, it never returns completely to its original state. That idea connects beautifully with Anya’s comments about perfection. She tells V that she has extremely high personal standards, but has gradually learned that sometimes perfection comes from letting go.
The clothes almost illustrate that thought. They are beautiful precisely because they are not perfectly smooth.
Glamcheck Take
This is the kind of fashion editorial that reminds you why magazine shoots can still feel exciting. There is a concept. There is craftsmanship. There is movement. And every designer interprets the same simple material differently.
Gaurav Gupta makes paper sculptural. Matthew David Andrews makes it romantic. Mugler makes it sharp. Zac Posen turns it into a full couture fantasy.
And Anya Taylor-Joy somehow makes all of it look completely believable.
Paperwork has officially never looked this good.
