And just like that – Chanel is back on track, baby. Matthieu Blazy’s sophomore collection for the French maison – and his first Métiers d’Art outing – is a confident step forward compared to the escapist debut we saw back in October. Blazy took New York’s subway by storm yesterday, orchestrating a life-affirming, uplifting, Lagerfeldian mise-en-scène. Yes, this one felt like one of the great Karl shows, pre–Grand Palais galore: simple, swift, witty. Real. READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE.
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Samuel Guì Yang is a brand you should keep your eyes wide open for – and it has already been around for a decade. Founded in London by Samuel Guidong Yang and Erik Litzén, yet showing in Shanghai, the label continues to redefine the East-meets-West aesthetic with both nuance and novelty. Their clothes are best described as “flowing“: they move smoothly around the body, appear light and billowy, and carry an instinctive quality, as if they were born from the classical elements – earth, air, fire, and water. The duo’s spring–summer 2026 collection focuses on volumes that envelop the wearer in a poetic gesture: a ballgown-like apron, a grand shoulder drape, dramatic wraps, and even a veil cascading down from a baseball cap. It’s become something of a tradition that the models on Samuel Guì Yang’s runway are always carrying something – a pillow-like XXL clutch, a transparent shopping bag, a fringed shawl, a beautifully wrapped bundle. This is a woman who lives a real life, and she runs errands. The designers also offer a distinctive interpretation of the cheongsam, the traditional Chinese figure-hugging dress that instantly evokes Wong Kar-wai’s “In the Mood for Love“. In Samuel and Erik’s hands, the dress’s construction is reimagined most notably through oversized sleeves, with its influence also echoed in parachute-like blousons and jackets.
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Stefan Cooke and his partner, Jake Burt, have a way of uncovering the contemporary within the vintage. For spring–summer 2026, they merged references to New Wave with echoes of Princess Diana’s personal style, creating looks that feel sensual, clubby, and undeniably cool. A centerpiece of their collection was a replica of an American flying jacket they discovered on one of their trips to secondhand and army-surplus stores. In their hands, the jacket appears in an unexpected canary yellow, reimagined with updated proportions and a flamboyant flair. When worn with a hip-length sweater and a knife-pleated skirt, the look feels familiar yet intriguingly different. The same applies to the reworked grey sweatpants with a leather buckle strap (very Lederhosen), and the sweatshirt fitted with a sewn-in cummerbund and finished with a very British silk foulard. As for accessories, the London-based label has us covered with a pair of utterly charming opera shoes topped with a bow. Not a want – a need.
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Loro Piana is a brand that isn’t about fashion per se – but it is unmistakably about (wealthy) style. The Loro Piana client doesn’t care about fads; rather, they are entirely confident investing a fortune in a wardrobe that is at once timeless, durable, and subtly nonchalant.
For spring–summer 2026, the Italian house’s design team delivered precisely that: tailoring in gentle muesli tones, elongated silhouettes with an aristocratic air (reminiscent of Marella Agnelli’s swan-like neck in Richard Avedon’s photograph), and a poised balance of countryside statesmanship and Milanese sophistication. There is also a touch of playfulness, captured in exaggerated cone-shaped hats that lend a light-hearted quirk to the cashmere empire. Those moments of wit make Loro so compelling – and standout from all the other “beige” minimalism that suffocates the industry at the moment.
You know, I’m rather on the fence about Pieter Mulier’s Alaïa. The brand’s contemporary creative director has a tendency to cover women in overworked constructions – something Azzedine himself avoided at all costs in his masterful work. Mulier did exactly that with the Gaudí-esque forms and alien-like tubes in his autumn collection, but for spring he shifted toward a more “less is more” approach.
The resort 2026 collection – his first “official” pre-collection, titled “Archetypes” and conceived as a more accessible entry into the Alaïa wardrobe – lands somewhere between these two extremes. There are moments of uplifting lightness, like a truly fabulous vivid-pink, long double-satin bias-cut dress that is “very easy to look at, extremely difficult to make.” There’s also an architectural, high-necked tiger-print coat that’s pure chic. But then come the heavy-looking jackets with armadillo hoods and over-styled layering that somewhat disturb the sense of zen. Meanwhile, the shearling jacket with a peplum recalls Phoebe Philo’s instantly sold-out piece from last season (not the first time Mulier has been seen taking notes from other designers).
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