AW26

New York Chic. Tory Burch AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

You can always rely on Tory Burch – she never disappoints and consistently makes New York Fashion Week worthwhile. Her autumn-winter 2026 collection delves deeper into the interwar period she has been exploring of late, offering stunningly effortless drop-waist flapper dresses, elegantly contrasted with a subtle garçon-esque flamboyance in more utilitarian ensembles. Enter the meaty corduroy trousers – inspired by her father’s well-worn pair – and chunky sweaters layered over crisp shirts, collars peeking out from underneath. The strong lineup of highly wearable, unpretentious pieces was enlivened with silver fish pins and pendant necklaces. Woven raffia baskets for winter? Unexpected – and undeniably cool. This is a collection for the Leandra Medines of the world: women who dress eccentrically and instinctively, with wit, intelligence, and attitude.

ED’s SELECTION:


Tory Burch Pierced Pumps



Tory Burch Colorblock Wool Skirt

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Underwhelming. Proenza Schouler AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Proenza Schouler officially opened New York Fashion Week with Rachel Scott’s official debut (following last season’s “dialogue” with the studio). On the positive side, the Proenza woman no longer resembles a hybrid of Philo’s Céline, the Meiers’ Jil Sander, and Lee’s Bottega Veneta, as she often did in the later years of Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough. The downside? The collection left you feeling somewhat underwhelmed. It was proper and prim – there was nothing wrong with the gray sleeveless dress featuring a sculptural roundness in the skirt, nor the neat midi-length skirt suits that followed – but it makes you wonder: will this be remembered a week from now?

This is a brand that needs to exit the stale “quiet luxury” jargon and reclaim a spark of excitement (which was actually present last season). Rachel Scott is the designer behind Diotima, a brand admired for its exquisite crochet and knitwear; I wish she were more confident about infusing that special, upbeat energy she transmits so well there. Debuts are never easy, and they don’t always land exactly as the designer intended. Scott certainly has a thing or two to reflect on.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Mischievous. Saint Laurent AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Mischievous, horny, kinky – and chic – this is the ultimate Saint Laurent man as seen by Anthony Vaccarello. He’s the kind of guy Yves would have fallen in love with on a night out at Le Sept. He also makes women go crazy – in the same charged, homoerotic way “Heated Rivalry” does. Inspired by James Baldwin’s seminal novel “Giovanni’s Room“, Vaccarello was intrigued by the inner tension experienced by its protagonist. “I like the idea of being in contraction between something very conventional and something very sensual.” That tension was omnipresent in his autumn–winter 2026 collection, from printed silk ascots peeking out from the collars of crisp shirts to semi-sheer vinyl trench coats appearing in the latter half of the lineup. Stretch patent boots extending up the thighs? Corrado De Biase, Saint Laurent’s design director of shoes, knows exactly what he’s doing – and how to get the boys talking.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Defiance. Yohji Yamamoto AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Yohji Yamamoto, a designer so often – and so productively – faithful to black, detonated expectations this season. Guests entering the show space were met by two suspended speed bags, hovering between the ceiling and the runway. When the models emerged, some punched the bags, others barely brushed them; one kissed one, while a few simply stared. It was a telling prelude to a collection about confrontation and restraint, aggression and dignity – about how clothing can act as a kind of moral armor.

On the runway, that armor took tangible form. Yamamoto delivered one of his most colorful collections in years, though “colorful” here still meant disciplined, weighted, serious. The opening looks carried militaristic undertones: camouflage patterns coated double-breasted jackets and padded boilersuits, establishing a mood of readiness. Voluminous overcoats were paired with trousers cut from meaty corduroy and utilitarian jumpsuits in thick cotton, many printed with paint-like marks that looked less decorative than combative.

Elsewhere, padded coats arrived in stony beige; hair was teased into frizzy, defiant bouffants; and crushed beer cans were reassembled into a waistcoat and headgear – wry, César Baldaccini–inspired gestures that felt like survivalist poetry. In a fashion system obsessed with novelty and noise, Yamamoto continues to propose something rarer: clothes as stance, as shield, as a way of moving through the world with controlled defiance. It is precisely this posture – sharp, slightly arrogant, unyielding – that makes him not just relevant, but essential, one of the last designers of his generation for whom dressing remains an ethical act.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Long Game. Hermès AW26

| Design & Culture by Ed

Hermès’s Véronique Nichanian has always insisted that luxury is not a spectacle but a system, and in her final season, that conviction crystallized into a collection that elegantly distills her 37 years at the maison. This was Nichanian’s long game, and she won. Her celebrated détails égoïstes – those “selfish” refinements that reward only the wearer – were everywhere: the interior of a jacket as considered as its exterior, a zip as impeccably functional as it is beautiful, off-center bellows pockets, étrivière stitching, double lambskin lapels. These are clothes that recognize one another instantly, like old friends reunited, hand and eye aligned through private signals of craft.

A crocodile-leather coat in the inkiest shade of black, a reversible cashmere-and-wool travel jacket, a double-breasted suit in pinstriped leather: each piece stands on its own yet remains quietly mobile, designed for lives in motion rather than moments of display. Nothing feels “too much”. Instead, the collection moves with assurance through a season conceived to endure far beyond itself. Nichanian’s departure – serene,but grand – opens space for the impending arrival of Grace Wales Bonner, whose debut remains a year away. Yet this collection resists the tone of farewell. It plays more like a manifesto: a reminder that at Hermès, innovation has always emerged from renewing the bond between body, garment, and time. Clothes for now, and – stubbornly – for forever.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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