Gentle Masculinity. Giorgio Armani AW26

January 19, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

Leo dell’Orco saved Milan Men’s Fashion Week with his gently masculine Giorgio Armani collection. As the passing of the Italian maestro still feels absolutely shocking – and I remain in denial – the brand is clearly in very good hands, guided by his protégé and a rigorously disciplined team. After seeing today’s show, I truly don’t want to hear the Hedi Slimane rumors anymore. What was sent down the runway was a genuinely aspirational vision of menswear – one that is neither performative nor toxically pumped up.

This was pure Armani: elegance, solidity, timelessness. It’s impossible to count all the menswear staples I loved in this line-up – from Giorgio’s signature bombers, first introduced in the 1980s, to a cropped trench coat; from heavy-duty reversible shearling coats (buttoned only at the neck, a quintessentially Armani gesture) to tailored jackets in fluid velvet (the colours – ah!). It truly felt like a candy store – only this one offers extra-fine dark chocolate, with no sugar added.

Giorgio Armani has always stood for continuity – something designers like Phoebe Philo and Hed Mayner have clearly taken up – serving excellence, quietly and consistently. That tradition is beautifully nurtured.

ED’s SELECTION:

Giorgio Armani Men’s Herringbone Cashmere and Wool Bomber Jacket

Giorgio Armani Men’s Silk Denim Effect Button-Down Shirt

Giorgio Armani Men’s Woven Leather Tassel Loafers

Giorgio Armani Men’s Silk Stripe Neck Scarf

Giorgio Armani Men’s Stripe Chenille Double-Breasted Shawl-Lapel Sport Coat

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

Melancholy. Prada AW26

January 19, 2026 | Design & Culture by Ed

Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’s joint effort at Prada may not have been conservative in concept, but it unmistakably foreshadowed recession – economic, political, cultural. The show venue at Fondazione Prada resembled a ruined palace or temple constructed from spolia. The clothes sent down the runway – on models decidedly less hunky than those seen at other houses – bore visible signs of distress. Slender, waist-cinched jackets were deliberately creased, their worn wool appearing raw and coarse. A beige leather coat was frayed at the edges, as though it had been worn – and lived in – for decades.

There was something deeply melancholic about the collection as a whole, something distinctly 1930s in its sense that the good days were coming to an end. Prada’s runway tailoring felt resolutely anti-Bezos, anti-Vance. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.

ED’s SELECTION:

Prada Men’s Wool Knit Stripe Crewneck Sweater

Prada Men’s Poplin Chest Logo Full-Zip Shirt Jacket

Prada Men’s Hawaiian-Print Short-Sleeve Shirt

Prada Men’s Collapse Nylon and Suede Low-Top Sneakers

Prada Men’s Solid Short-Sleeve Sweater

Prada Men’s Re-Nylon Snap-Front Jacket

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

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.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

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.
Don’t forget to follow Design & Culture by Ed on Instagram.

Hey, did you know about my newsletter – Ed’s Dispatch? Click here to subscribe.

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.