What We'll Be Wearing in SS26

There’s always been something kind of authoritative about vertical stripes, but SS26 made them feel distinctly new. Think less Wall Street banker stripe, more art school student who inherited a nice shirt from his grandad.

Saint Laurent’s variated striped shirting was flowy but sharply-shouldered and wonderfully gaunt. Louis Vuitton took a softer approach to a classic thin pinstripe, emblazoning roomy shirts and slouchy trousers that felt lived-in, not corporate.

Precise but not uptight, nostalgic but not costume. Vertical stripes shook off their commute and started dressing for right now.

Headwear was everywhere. Deftly placed berets, floppy crowns, soft structured bucket shapes. Not just the afterthought of a stylist trying to finish a look, but fully integrated pieces that held their own. Prada leaned into sculptural, almost pastoral straw toppers, while Paul Smith offered low-key unstructured berets that felt one part Brit-Pop, one part military.

The energy isn’t costume, it’s character. The right hat isn’t just functional — it says something. Like you’re dressing for a scene, not just the weather.

Neutrals this season weren’t just basics. The palette across collections leaned into the earthy, with soft browns, ochres, and olives being a prominent throughline, frequently interrupted by bold spikes of saturated color. A butter yellow jacket here, a deep red knit there, splashes of soft blue in a jackets lining.

Auralee paired stone and sand shades with vivid saffron and green, playing on what the more expressive side of what ‘earth-tone’ can mean — the tones that we see scattered through a sun-drenched wildflower field. This wasn’t about clashing, but more about lifting.

Shorts this season sat in an interesting place: shorter in length, but bigger in cut. Voluminous, boxy, mid-thigh. Saint Laurent presented sculpted shorts — structured yet swingy — pairing pleated styles with sheer shirts and boots in a way that made them feel effortlessly unprecious.

Prada, on the other hand, had shorts that were so barely there you’d be hard pressed to call them shorts at all, taking the inseam-reducing progression to its almost inevitable conclusion.

Call it a silhouette refresh, or a daring exploration of what a seasonal essential can be — it’s undeniable that menswear is embracing the opportunity to have some fun.

Tailoring keeps getting more interesting. Brands have been playing with proportion for SS26 — deep Vs, cropped jackets, stiff pleats — refining silhouettes to feel more wrapped-up than buttoned-up. Paul Smith’s suits were relaxed but graphic, worn with bold neck scarves and sharp lapels that nodded to Mod-era elegance and structure without feeling trapped in it. Lemaire delivered its requisite louche tailoring, styled not overly precise, but allowed to be cinched-in, worn big and with rugged, juxtaposing footwear.

Tailoring is becoming less about conformity and more about personality. The fit, the fabric, the styling — it’s all in service of expressing something, not suppressing it.

SS26 shows marked a visible resurgence of a divisive sandal. This new iteration, seen at the likes of Dries Van Noten, Prada and Armani, is minimalist, bordering on elegant, and bringing elevated materials like thick leather or matte rubber to a traditionally ultra-affordable style. Worn with full trousers or wide shorts, they read more relaxed and refined, as opposed to casual. It's a fine line to tread, but when done right, they’re surprisingly chic, and admittedly comfortable.

From belts to bags, charms were everywhere, but in a considered, slightly off-kilter way. Little silver trinkets and leather tassels dangled from belt loops or crossbody zips, adding a sense of movement and mischief to otherwise clean looks. It’s a micro-detail, yes, but a personal one. A way to add character to the kind of clothes that are increasingly defined by their restraint. Think of it as personality via hardware.