10 Trends Set to Define Spring 2026 Fashion
Explore our deep dive into the top trends from the runways.
Spring/summer 2026 was the season of creative-director debuts and new ideas. There were upward of 15 new designers who took the helm at some of the biggest houses across the industry during the spring/summer 2026 shows with highly anticipated debut collections, including Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Jonathan Anderson at Christian Dior, and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, and brought the most high-impact moments. This went in tandem with strong sophomore collections, where designers such as Michael Rider at Celine and Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford continued to carefully construct and refine their visions.
Conversations in the months since have centered on the wave of change that is thrusting us into the future of fashion. It was a season about newness and challenging old ideas as designers presented collections that were doing something fresh and different. It was a palpable shift that ushered in shows that were cinematic, disruptive, bold, and optimistic. Sex appeal returned to the runway with seductive and provocative looks, off-kilter silhouettes reimagined femininity in fashion, and inventive styling—including bold color clashing and advanced layering—went on to influence editorial moments, red carpet looks, and how the fashion set is currently getting dressed. It will go down as one of the biggest fashion months ever, marking an unprecedented moment that kick-started a new chapter in fashion. Ahead, read more on the 10 spring 2026 trends that are dominating fashion.
The Great Debut
Debuts! Debuts! Debuts! There was an undeniable sense of newness on the runways that stemmed from the fresh creative leadership. At Chanel, Blazy took this head-on. "We can go two ways," Blazy told Tim Blanks in an interview for Business of Fashion. "Either we do a clean, modern, by the codes, by the book Chanel show, and it's a first step. Or we do this show as if it was our last. I took the last option." The collection he unveiled was confident, including the finale look that embodied the joy and renewed energy we've been eager to see unfold. Though it infused the heritage and house codes from Coco Chanel, it was distinctly Blazy. This was mirrored at other debut shows too, including Anderson at Dior, Dario Vitale at Versace, Trotter at Bottega Veneta, Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe, who each brought their distinct visions to the runways.
Sexually Explicit
If there were one collection from the entirety of the spring/summer 2026 runway season that proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that sex is back in fashion, it was Hermès, a brand known for its modest, sophisticated approach to dressing. The French house strayed from the norm this season, and Creative Director Nadège Vanhée embraced tighter and more revealing silhouettes made almost exclusively out of supple leather. Hermès wasn't the only brand to err on the risqué side this season, though. Mugler's new creative director, Miguel Castro Freitas, used his debut as a chance to do what the house has always done best: explicitly seductive tailoring. Meanwhile, Ackermann's second Tom Ford collection brought back the provocative look the brand's founder is known for introducing at Gucci when he took the helm in 1994. From the ambiance to the clothes, everything at Ackermann's sophomore show was daring and sensual, bringing sexy back in a way that fashion people were all too willing to give a blatant two thumbs up for.
Gone Bourgeois
A bourgeois aesthetic has been percolating in fashion. Rider kicked the aesthetic off for spring 2026 at his debut Celine show in July and doubled down on it for his summer 2026 sophomore show. Rider is distilling Left Bank Parisian style and American sportswear through a modern eye, making classic pieces like satin scarves, tailored trench coats, and colorful accessories feel cool and covetable once again. Rider has stated that his vision for Celine is built on "quality for timelessness and for style," and his designs emphasize well-crafted, collectible pieces that are meant to last and be worn for the long run over ephemeral trends. This attitude toward design was mirrored on the runways at more brands with a vision of the modern investment wardrobe. At Bottega Veneta, sumptuous pastel knits were styled with suiting. At Kallmeyer, printed satin scarves were draped over sleek navy jackets. At Tom Ford and Ralph Lauren, crisp white suiting interplayed with shirting and tied-up knits. It's peak good taste.
Optimism! Joy! Delight!
With so much happening in the world around us and our phones constantly buzzing with alerts about another piece of bad news, it felt like a welcome reprieve to see fashion that felt optimistic and full of joy instead of muted and minimalist. It wasn't just bright colors, either. Those certainly did show up at Tom Ford, Jacquemus, and Chloé. Better, however, was the fresh energy overall, and floral patterns big and small mimicked the start of a new season for top houses like Chanel, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga. This feeling of delight was perhaps best seen at Blazy's Chanel debut when he stepped out from behind the metaphorical curtain to receive his standing ovation from the awed crowd as well as an ear-to-ear smile and hug from his first Chanel bride—played beautifully by Awar Odhiang, who donned a skirt covered in a feathery mélange that met the moment immaculately.
Advanced Layering
While designers are presenting silhouettes and ideas that are entirely new this season, they're also challenging us to rethink how we're wearing the clothes that are already sitting in our closets. Inventive styling on the runways brought the most dialed-back staples—such as button-down shirts, pencil skirts, and gloves—together in fresh ways that breathe new life into them with layering. At Loewe, poplin shirts were worn one on top of the other in too many layers to count. At Prada, button-down shirts, sheer skirts, exposed underwear, and stackers were sandwiched together. At Versace, cardigans were tied around the waist, fanning open from where a single button was secured at the top. This will shake up personal style and open up an aspirational way to dress with advanced layering.
About the Coat
The best part about winter dressing is that you can basically wear anything underneath a really great (preferably really long) coat, and people will be none the wiser about its quality. Sweatsuit? No problem. Leggings and an oversize sweater? No one has to know. It's every fashion person's trick, one that's been in practice for years, but rarely do we see it put to use post-March. Once spring hits, our coats go into storage, and out come lighter layers and, eventually, no layers at all. For spring 2026, however, designers clearly wanted to change that, debuting hero coats with the power to become your entire outfit, even when temperatures are above freezing. At Tom Ford, apple-green and sleek burgundy trenches did the work of a whole ensemble entirely on their own, and Saint Laurent models strutted outside the Eiffel Tower in sporty yet sleek trench coats made of billowy nylon that spoke for themselves. Just add some ludicrously capacious earrings and an even larger pair of sunglasses. For a more laid-back approach, Fforme, Celine, and Bottega Veneta all served up options that had an elevated yet effortless look, all of which completely hide your outfit underneath.
'80s Rewind
It seems like the rest of fashion is finally picking up what Anthony Vaccarello's been putting down at Saint Laurent for the last few seasons, which is 1980s-inspired, well, everything. Think big shoulders, small waists, pussy bows, and punchy colors and patterns, ranging from loud florals to refined polka dots. The French house leaned into the era even further for spring 2026, and Vaccarello pulled from Rive Gauche archives, combining flowing fabrics and bold colors to dress "enigmatic women asserting their power," according to the show notes. Chemena Kamali and Vitale took a brighter, more optimistic approach to '80s dressing, with Kamali shifting from Chloé's signature '70s boho to '80s L.A. glam and Vitale marking his debut at Versace with a crowd-pleasing collection full of looks we can imagine a modern-day Fran Drescher wearing if she reprised her role in The Nanny all these years later.
Color Clash
Color was a through line this season, often appearing with the use of joyful, optimistic shades. There wasn't one standout color but rather a rainbow of contrasting hues that were paired together in unexpected ways. Versace had a "bourgeois '80s meets '90s Miami Beach" palette that brought together colors such as lilac, cherry red, and cobalt in one look. Other looks in the Versace collection had just as wild color pairings that shouldn't work on paper but simply made sense when brought together in the outfits on the runway. This theme continued across fashion month, including at brands such as Loewe, Fendi, Prada, and Proenza Schouler, where clashing shades infused color back into the runway in a way we haven't seen in many seasons. In collections from Valentino and Tory Burch, we also saw the addition of punchy hues in a subtler way. We tracked the rise of powerful color pairing throughout the season and expect it to make one of the biggest impacts on how people will be getting dressed in 2026.
Off-Kilter
After years of ready-to-wear collections being described as pretty, wearable, and hushed, spring/summer 2026 brought up a very different conversation. For the season, designers at Tory Burch, Prada, Khaite, and Dior appeared to be guided by the "so wrong it's right" mentality, drawing inspiration from imperfection and visual oddities as opposed to what's traditionally been considered beautiful by society. In Prada's show notes, Creative Directors Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada discussed their use of "unexpected and unanticipated" elements being united on the body. They focused on liberating pieces from "seemingly inherent hierarchies," using spring 2026 as an opportunity to make people think twice about how things have always been done. "There are radical reconsiderations of the fundamental properties of clothes. Skirts find their points of suspension from the shoulder. Brassieres have shape without structure," the show notes state.
Frankenstein skirts, or garments crafted out of various opposing fabrics and cuts, became a primary example of the off-kilter nature of fashion in future seasons. At Tory Burch, the designer shared another comparable vision, noting "the complexity of women and different facets of their style" and how both result in a mix of "precision and imperfection." Clashing styles and juxtaposed aesthetics on the runway went to show how fashion is changing its approach, moving away from what women are expected to wear and toward what feels the most natural to them, which isn't always clean lines, refined styling, and muted color palettes.
A+ Prep
Preppy dressing is back. Auralee has been linked with the preppy style resurgence for the past several seasons. Its take on pieces such as polos and cable-knit sweaters is bringing a refined and modern perspective to the classic styles. At Miu Miu, collared polo shirts in shades like tangerine were styled with midi skirts and printed scarves. At Loewe, polo shirts were also prevalent, often paired with V-neck sweaters on top in contrasting colors. Tory Burch, a brand closely connected to prep and American sportswear, brought an elegant and sophisticated spin on the aesthetic. The collection was infused with inventive styling, including sports jackets with pops of bold color and layers of beaded necklaces. Perhaps the most unexpected brand to highlight the aesthetic was Prada, which featured crest-detailed polo jackets in shades such as kelly green that are primed to be a cult buy next year. It's a new lens that is bringing preppy dressing back for 2026.
