After days of scrolling through Instagram, trawling through Getty Images, and dissecting every runway from the Big Four fashion weeks, it feels safe to say: if fashion were a person, she’d be that friend who swears she’s healed, preaches therapy, and then turns up at the dinner party with the same ex who broke her heart a dozen times.
The skinny jeans are slinking back, florals are apparently a groundbreaking idea, and minimalism has quite predictably, “returned”. According to the Internet, this is all the ripple effect of an impending recession. But let’s pause the panic. Fashion, unlike finance, has always moved in circles, not collapses. The Y2K revival, the 1980s redux, the quiet-luxury renaissance — it’s all part of the industry’s most dependable trend: repetition with reinvention.
Six months ago, experts predicted a global economic cooldown in 2025, but as the IMF and Reuters have since reminded us, the world economy is currently “running hot”. So much for the recession chic. What we’re seeing on the runways this season — the return of polka dots, the persistence of leather, the clean lines of minimalism — isn’t panic dressing; it’s the age-old instinct of creative directors to pivot from the present. Fashion’s lifeblood has always been contrarianism. When everyone zigzags towards maximalism, someone somewhere (usually in Paris) will whisper, “What if we did beige?”
And yet, for all its dependable deja vu, Spring/Summer 2026 proved to be one of the hardest seasons to read. After years of charting, categorising, and predicting trends across London, New York, Milan, and Paris, I found myself — and several colleagues — squinting for coherence. The culprit? The great creative director shuffle. Jonathan Anderson making his much-anticipated debut at Dior, Pierpaolo Piccioli unveiling a new vision for Balenciaga, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez opening the chapter at Loewe, and Glenn Martens stepping into his tenure at Maison Margiela. And for the grand finale — the pièce de résistance of the season — Matthieu Blazy’s premiere at the monolithic house of Chanel. Houses swapped visionaries like collectible handbags, and in the process, many lost their visual signatures.
Take Balenciaga. With Demna’s dramatic exit and new stewardship at Gucci, what was once satire in silhouette has softened into structure — think fringes, ruffles, and boxy tailoring. But those same elements cropped up at Bottega Veneta, with some differences sprinkled like confetti. Chloe, and Emilia Wickstead, too, each executing minimalist looks with minor variations in palette or cut, and little that truly differentiated one house from another. The result: deja couture. Of course, creativity is not dead, with designers like Stella McCartney making bold and stunning statements on sustainability by debuting the world’s first ethical alternative to feathers (made from startup Fevvers) in dramatic dresses.
Across the four fashion capitals, the lines blurred further. London toyed with structured rebellion; New York chased mobility and polish; Milan leaned into pragmatic elegance; Paris staged its usual theatre, all smoke, mirrors, and a tapestry of firsts. But beneath the gloss, one couldn’t ignore the creative fatigue simmering under the surface — a kind of identity diffusion that made SS26 a tad more elusive than it was eclectic.
So this season’s story isn’t just about vibrant hues, exposed bras, or the power of sharp tailoring — though all of those were very much present. It’s about a fashion landscape in flux, an industry negotiating between reinvention and redundancy. SS26 wasn’t about a single defining trend — it was a quiet argument between houses, aesthetics, and the idea of originality itself.
Stella McCartney model in Paris, Prada, A model walks the runway at the AK|OK Anamika Khanna show during London Fashion Week
Perhaps that’s the point — fashion’s not confused, it’s conflicted. If there was a message this season, it was delivered in riddles. And somewhere between nostalgia and novelty lies the truth of Spring/Summer 2026. Time, then, to play fashion detective.
Mix, Match, and Messy Precision
If there is one dominant lesson from SS26, it is that chaos is carefully curated. Across continents, designers played with juxtaposition, texture, and tonal collisions to make the familiar feel startlingly new. Matthieu Blazy’s debut for Chanel in Paris, which pretty much did everything that Chanel has always been too elite to do, for instance, layered dramatic ball skirts with simple silk tees and cotton shirts, a deliberate nod to the fun of contradiction. Even the iconic 2.55 bag was equipped with moldable wire, allowing the wearer to scrunch and shape it at will — a literal invitation to bespoke chaos. Vivienne Westwood’s Boudoir celebrated real, extravagant living with Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony underscoring a riot of mismatched patterns, floral shirts, lace-trimmed shorts, silky suits, and opulent, key-adorned eveningwear.
Meanwhile, in Milan, Dolce & Gabbana demonstrated the daring of over-the-top mixology: lace pyjamas paired with striped blazers, halter-neck lace tops under mismatched jackets, and beige blazers with contrasting blue trousers. To top it all, D&G did the “groundbreaking” florals for spring but with a splash of chic mismatch. The effect was both theatrical and oddly wearable. Bottega Veneta took a subtler route, blending tactile textures with signature printed leathers, proving that SS26’s obsession wasn’t only with pattern but also with material interplay. London’s narrative leaned more romantic. Emilia Wickstead and Erdem doubled down on floral layering, producing bouquets of fabric that seemed plucked from an English garden, while Nanushka fused animal prints with florals, creating a dialogue between the natural and the abstract. Over in New York, Zankov and Coach embraced print collision with almost anarchic gusto, while Loewe in Paris married contrasting materials within single silhouettes, proving that the language of mix-and-match had officially entered the vocabulary of modern luxury.
Exposing What Lies Beneath
If mix-and-match was the intellectual exercise, SS26 also asked us to consider the ethics of exposure. Lingerie-inspired dressing has graduated from boudoir to runway with elegance and cheek in equal measure. Dolce & Gabbana’s Milanese spectacle saw models strolling in striped men’s pyjamas adorned with strass, opened to reveal sequined bras, tulle tops, and lace knickers, turning undergarments into intentional outerwear. London opted for a subtler take: Simone Rocha’s torn tops and bandeau-style bras suggested intimacy without the spectacle, reminding us that revealing can also be quietly empowering. In Milan, Prada and Jil Sander followed suit as the bra was exposed from underneath shirts, blazers and sometimes nothing. In New York Christian Cowan sent models strutting down in leopard-print bikini tops. Across these cities, the bra-as-accessory trend was not shock dressing; it was strategic, playful, and modern. Even AK|OK by Anamika Khanna’s lineup in London focused on it in some ensembles, and honestly, out from under seems to be one of the unique trends this season, across borders.
Leather and Lace, like Fire and Ice
Leather and lace, once polar opposites in the sartorial spectrum, now share catwalks with surprising ease. Paris embraced this marriage wholeheartedly. Valentino, Isabel Marant, and Chloé showcased ethereal lace dresses with ruffles and layered pendants, while Acne Studios married leather, suede, and lace to produce looks that were simultaneously romantic and rebellious. Tom Ford used both the materials evoking a sultry image on the runway. Haider Ackerman showed a string of skirt suits and trenches finished with glistening, lacquard effect. Glenn Martens’s debut for Maison Margiela, even though ghastly with the eerie Four Stitch mouthpieces, played with leather keeping up to the brand’s gothic inspiration.
In New York, Coach reaffirmed leather’s versatility with biker jackets, structured outerwear, and denims, while Hermès played with shades of olive and caramel, reaffirming that leather is an investment as well as a statement. Victoria Beckham’s Parisian fantasy, through which she looked back on her growing-up, years saw lace-edged slip dresses crumpled up like they were borrowed from the mother and thrown out by the end of the night.
Across London, Burberry delivered leather in all its glorious permutations — paisley laser-cut trench coats, buttery suede, and shimmering finishes. Italian label Tod’s and Ferrari experimented with leather as a fluid medium, rendering it light and versatile, akin to jersey or silk, while still retaining its inherent structural authority. This season, leather was both armour and accessory, and lace was no longer delicate, but daring.
Sharp Tailoring: No More Slouch
At a time when luxury fashion is striving to appear more relatable, many brands are reintroducing suits, shirts, and officewear into collections that wouldn’t have featured them a decade ago. Models walked the runway with hands tucked casually into pockets, trench coats grazing their ankles — evoking the easy and affordable stride of a city passerby. Naturally, power dressing returned with architectural rigour. Across capitals, designers rejected slouch for defined shoulders, precise pleats, and cinched waists. Gabriela Hearst in Paris favoured clean lines, while Jil Sander served futuristic office-ready silhouettes in Milan, pairing slim but occasionally boxy tailoring with exposed bras and leather detailing. Tod’s treated tailoring with classic sophistication — long-line blazers, stripe-detailed shirts, and elegant shirtdresses — while New York’s Bibhu Mohapatra injected neon embellishments and exaggerated shoulders into eveningwear, giving a theatrical punch to formalwear.
Power shoulders also dominated Paris: Victoria Beckham, Chanel, and Balenciaga collectively redefined feminine authority, stacking layers, structured jackets, and textured knits into silhouettes that were both bold and architecturally precise. Mugler’s pantsuits and dresses continued to power through with defined shoulders. Acne Studios blurred old definitions of femininity, pairing slashed flannels with mesh skirts, coiled leather jackets with glossy bottoms, and topping it off with statement Camero bags and oversized glass earrings — a wardrobe both intimate and untamed.
Fringe, Flow, and the Art of Movement
Flowy silhouettes and fringe returned as SS26’s answer to kinetic energy. Olivier Rousteing at Balmain abandoned much of his body-conscious tailoring in favour of beach-inspired opulence, dressing models in fringed open-knit dresses, wide pants, and shell-adorned flowing garments. LaQuan Smith in New York incorporated delicate flowy fragments, while Roberto Cavalli in Milan prioritised alluring, backless silhouettes over skin-tight exaggeration. Moschino’s asymmetrical pieces combined fringe and fur with spring hues, and Etro’s flounce pants embraced maximalist energy, completing the parade of movement.
Even Giorgio Armani, in the first posthumous collection bearing his influence, celebrated flowy tulle skirts, shimmery dresses, and Mediterranean blue tones, while Stella McCartney in Paris exaggerated scale with oversized ruffles and sequinned minis. London wasn’t immune: Burberry’s kinetic blazer fringe told us that even British restraint can be playful when necessary. Erdem and Simone Rocha brought in the flair with pannier skirts which gave a flashback of Mary Antoinette. Valentino also inclined towards poetic movement by using materials like impalpable silks, organza, chiffon, liquid lamé in colours like white, sand, gold, powdery hues and muted pinks. SS26 confirmed that movement, whether in fringe, floaty silhouettes, or organza, remains central to the language of contemporary dressing.
Layering: Chaos Made Chic
Layering, traditionally reserved for practicality, evolved into a stylistic language. You wouldn’t wear a dress over pants but London and Paris streetstyle this SS is begging you to! Dolce & Gabbana in Milan combined lace, stripes, fur, and lace tops, often exposing bras beneath — a mix of functionality and spectacle. London embraced versatility: Chopova Lowena stacked skirts at multiple waistlines, Erdem layered corsets, ruffs, and pyjama-like trousers, and Parisian street style was equally experimental, with celebrities like Kendall Jenner arriving in chaotic layers of skirts, pants, and blazers, turning the concept of layering into a personal performance.
Hips in the Spotlight
Interestingly, while recent seasons prioritised the bust — a nod to Dolce & Gabbana’s cone bra revival — SS26 shifted the focus downwards. London championed exaggerated hips: Simone Rocha sculpted architectural silhouettes, while Erdem balanced structure with romance. Roksanda and Pauline Dujancourt at NYFW preferred softer, layered lace and tulle, offering expansion without aggression. Even Paris didn’t stay away: Jonathan Anderson emphasised hips for Dior, and Mugler stayed faithful to its iconic shapes. Across capitals, hips weren’t just curves; they were statements, commanding the same attention traditionally reserved for shoulders and décolletage.
Colour Chaos
If the Big Four fashion weeks were a mood board this season, it would look like a designer accidentally knocked over the most luxurious paint set in the world — and somehow, it worked. Colour took centre stage, louder and cheekier than it’s been in years. Chartreuse green led the parade, making early appearances at Alaïa, Tibi, and then flooding London’s runways at Burberry and Erdem, before waltzing through Saint Laurent, Valentino, Balenciaga and Maison Margiela. Even Bibhu Mohapatra had a dizzying splash of chartreuse. It was the shade that was zesty enough to banish pastels and florals to the archives, yet oddly wearable when paired with neutrals, as Erdem proved through dresses, shrugs and evening gowns.
Then came the unapologetic pop of red — the kind that could stop traffic, or at least silence a front row. Ralph Lauren opened with cherry-coated coats, bows, and flowing dresses topped with cowboy hats (of course, America), while Ferrari and Fendi made sure the tone leaned towards “supercar meets sophistication”. At Prada and Chanel, Matthieu Blazy’s take on red was a theatrical flourish of tulle, ruffles, skirts, and bags — a crimson rebellion against the maison’s usual restraint. Simone Rocha, ever the romantic, snuck it into ballerinas, belts and trenches — the kind of scarlet that blushed, not shouted.
Milan’s contribution came with a cinematic wink: cerulean and its blue-tinted cousins. Dolce & Gabbana dressed models in cerulean stripes and pyjama, while Meryl Streep, seated front row, reminded us “not just any shade of blue”. Fendi layered cerulean jumpers and shirts with greys and browns, proving that the shade can still play it cool without losing its confidence.
Meanwhile, Paris softened the palette with ballerina pink — the kind of hue that’s sweet, but not saccharine. Chloé’s take was airy, Stella McCartney paired pink minis with red pumps, while Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton went full fantasy with shimmery silk and draped dresses that made pink feel positively grown-up.
And finally, grounding the colour chaos came burnt sienna — that rusty brown tone reminiscent of sun-baked clay and late-summer calm. It was less about shouting and more about breathing, a reminder that amidst all the chartreuse vibrancy and crimson drama, nature still has the last word.
Together, these shades told the story of a season in technicolour — bold, unfiltered, and refreshingly unserious.
SS26: A Season of Confusion and Contrasts
Spring/Summer 2026 isn’t a story of a single, defining trend. It is, instead, a conversation between cities, creative directors, and aesthetics. Knee-high boots, exposed bras, fringed movement, flowing silhouettes, layered chaos, leather and lace, and structural tailoring all speak in different tongues. Some whisper, some shout, some tease; all remind us that fashion is not merely reactive — it is interpretive, playful, and critically self-aware.
SS26 also confirmed that luxury has become negotiation, not proclamation. Designers are balancing risk and comfort, contrarianism and tradition, and spectacle and restraint. This is fashion at its most modern: contradictory, provocative, and unafraid to be messy — the kind of season that rewards close observation and punishing scrolling alike. Fashion is no more supposed to be pain and now the bigwigs are making sure of that.
One thing is clear: Spring/Summer 2026 proved that fashion is both a mirror and a mischief-maker. It reflects society’s contradictions — economic anxieties, sustainability debates, and the endless shuffle of creative directors — all while insisting you look fabulous doing it. If politics has taught us anything, it’s that chaos is inevitable; in fashion, at least, it comes with fringe, chartreuse, and the occasional ethical feather substitute.