The Coolest. Ralph Lauren AW26

January 17, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

I suppose Ralph Lauren had a good laugh watching the resurgence of preppy style. It’s everywhere: from Bode to Michael Rider’s Celine, from ERL to Jonathan Anderson’s Dior. This season, the American king of cool – and of all things preppy – was essentially saying, “hold my cup.”

John Wrazej, the brand’s senior creative director for men’s Polo, RLX, and Purple Label, arrived in Milan to show how it’s done. The collection felt both familiar and sensational, as if all your Bruce Weber dreams had finally come true. A fascinatingly recut remix of the lodestone mid-century navy blazer and grey flannel Ivy League uniform – seasoned with Bengal-striped shirts and wide paisley ties – has rarely looked this hot.

Tailoring was characteristically cut in a carefully baggy silhouette: the Hayworth, designed to echo the inclination Lauren’s team observed among young collectors of the brand’s vintage pieces. The collection then shifted into a gentleman-adventurer mode, with highlights including a cream shearling utility parka and a tuxedo-black airman’s jumpsuit worn over an evening shirt and tie, cinched with a hand-tooled Western belt. And my personal favorite? A British Army–inspired red coat worn with ripped jeans and opera shoes.

ED’s SELECTION:

Ralph Lauren Men’s Stewart Leather Single-Breasted Sport Coat

Ralph Lauren Men’s Merino Wool Maxi-Check Overshirt

Ralph Lauren Men’s Cashmere and Silk Polka Dot Handkerchief

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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EXCLUSIVE: Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel Resort 2026

January 17, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

Even though Chanel presented its resort 2026 collection last spring at a fashion show staged on the shores of Lake Como, the brand has now released an updated, tightly edited lookbook—one clearly marked by Matthieu Blazy’s very visible touch. It is a far cry from the post–Virginie Viard studio work: no more dorky-looking dresses that dominated the brand over the past few years. What emerges instead is a vision of a truly contemporary woman wearing Chanel.

Relaxed styles, conceived from morning to evening, revolve around the eternal little black jacket, worn either with a matching tweed mini-skirt or with flared jeans – naturally, with flats. Although the look is instantly familiar, the jacket’s lines feel sharper and cooler. A creased velvet slip dress, finished with a camellia brooch, appears easy and chic when paired with mid-heeled two-toned pumps. The super-soft cardigan-jacket in the creamiest shade of ecru? It recalls the best of Karl Lagerfeld’s finest collections, like the spring 1999 couture line-up where he did similar fitted styles with plunging necklines.

This lookbook, arriving under Blazy’s creative direction, reads as a smooth foretaste of his debut runway collection, soon to hit stores. The pajama shirt hints at the forthcoming Charvet collaboration, while the boxy grey suit feels like a simpler, more day-appropriate version of the show’s opening look. It is refreshing to see Matthieu Blazy’s vision of the Chanel woman outside the context of runway spectacle – just highly-aspirational ideas for how to wear the brand in 2026.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Shape-Shifter. Hed Mayner AW26

January 17, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

If you’ve been reading for a while, you already know I’m a Hed Mayner fan. My admiration for the Paris-based designer was fully cemented after visiting his showroom last year and trying on some of his unbelievably well-made garments. Many people associate him solely with oversized silhouettes, but Mayner’s world extends far beyond that. His clothes are charged with gesture – they quite literally enhance the wearer: their mood, their attitude, their presence.

Mayner is also a master at exploring the possibilities of silhouette. In an hourglass-shaped Hed Mayner coat, you command true presence – and look striking while doing so. The same can be said for an overscaled leather jacket, reworked suit trousers with exaggerated pleats, or a perfectly judged vintage-inspired bomber.

This season, the designer officially welcomes women into his world, offering meaty velvet dresses and sequinned silver frocks that somehow fit seamlessly into his universe. But what I loved most about the autumn–winter 2026 collection is its sense of continuity. You can spot echoes of last winter’s offering – fringed scarves, utilitarian blousons – reminding us: why change something that’s already great?

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Swaggering. Soshiotsuki SS26

January 16, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

Menswear fashion month kicked off with its brightest emerging star: Soshiotsuki, the Tokyo-based brand rooted in 1980s-inspired sartorial craftsmanship, recalling the glamour and prosperity of Japan’s Bubble Era. Back in September, following Giorgio Armani’s still-unbelievable passing, I wrote that Soshi Otsuki was the designer the Italian mega-brand should consider in the near future. With his guest show at Pitti Uomo and his autumn–winter 2026 collection, he confirms that belief.

The LVMH Prize winner delivered a line-up that sharpened his tailoring ideas while expanding the vision of who the Soshiotsuki man is. One look featured a trompe l’œil jumpsuit combining a button-up shirt and trousers – a moment that recalled Phoebe Philo’s early Céline collections and sparked a question: why has no one adapted this idea to menswear sooner? Another highlight was the sashiko suit and jeans, created in collaboration with Proleta Re Art, a Japanese brand known for its painstakingly hand-stitched fabrics reinterpreted through streetwear. The silver-fox model seemed to gaze beyond in that grey, distressed-looking suit.

Then there are the details that make Soshiotsuki stand out even among affluent-men favorites such as Zegna or Berluti. Extra fabric is built into the inside placket of a shirt to suggest a tucked-in necktie, while trousers are given reams of belt loops or draped with so many pleats that they hang like curtains. The effect? A dapper, swaggering handsomeness – intoxicating, like the smell of smoke in a high-end izakaya.

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Mumbo-Jumbo. Balenciaga Pre-Fall 2026

January 15, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

The more I live, the more I understand that compromise isn’t a good thing. And that becomes evident in Pierpaolo Piccioli’s second attempt at Balenciaga. You might remember that I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw at his debut. Yet I thought, with sincere hope, that first tries are difficult and that the next season would be better. And here we are with the brand’s co-ed pre-fall 2026 lookbook: a collection that once again feels like a chaotic mash-up of Demna, Nicolas Ghesquière, and – oh lord – Alexander Wang’s era at the house. The merchandise floor was far too involved in designing this collection, seemingly trying to please everyone at Kering. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.