Louis Vuitton's Home On The Range

While the collection did not move me (I do however like the rainwear spotted with little paillettes and crystals to look like it is repelling the rain), the impressive theatrical stage set for Louis Vuitton's Fall Winter '26-'27 men's collection at Paris Fashion Week looks incredible. A complete home was built on a plot of land which the models traversed among the audience members. Called DROPHAUS, the home is a prefabricated architectural environment conceived by Creative Director Pharrell Williams in collaboration with the Japanese hospitality firm NOT A HOTEL. Watch the video below!

https://us.louisvuitton.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Giorgio Armani

It was a sad day last September when we learned of the death of a legend, Giorgio Armani. He had just celebrated his 91st birthday in July but had been ill in hospital for a bit. While it is not a surprise when someone of an advanced age dies (a dear friend of mine who checked out at 92 asked me a few days before she died, "How much longer do I think I'm going to live?"), it is still a loss. But Sig. Armani lived a full life of creativity and left behind a legacy of true beauty.

It is impossible to exaggerate his achievements and contribution to culture, to design (not only of clothing, but of home furnishings and architecture), and to fashion history during his fifty year career. Along with names who changed silhouettes and shapes and ushered in new cuts and styles and materials, Armani takes his place in the pantheon. He deconstructed the men's suit in the 80s, turning it into something soft and sensual, something sexy and flowing, without altering the basic concept of what it was. He removed layers of felting inside suits, making them relaxed and able to behave like thin silk. Just take a look at the iconic clothing from the film "American Gigolo" and you will see what I mean. It was soft and casual with a sense of effortless power. This revolution rippled out into the industry and we see its waves even now: designers still grapple with ways to make suiting less stiff, to make clothing more luxe without being precious, and to make pieces with more innate ease without being sloppy. In short, to make clothes more Armani. But no one does Armani like Armani. Clean lined and impeccably tailored, Armani's sensibility is about luxe fabrics and the way a garment hangs and drapes on the body (of both men and women). But there is something else that I really respond to in each Armani collection and that is a vague sense, a shadow, an echo of historical fashion. The way a jacket or coat is cut or its stance, the inclusion of waistcoats, belted outerwear, loose cut and high waisted trousers...it all reminds me of...what, the 1920s and 30s? The 1880s and 1890s? The 1940s and 50s? Yes to all of it.

So this Fall Winter '26-'27 collection shown at Milano Moda Uomo, is the first to exist without any direct input from the master himself. Armani's partner in business and in life, Leo Dell'Orco (the two had worked together for nearly forty-five years, and became romantic partners after the death of Armani's first love, Sergio Galeotti) assumed the title of Creative Director for menswear and created a solo debut collection that was a relieving continuation of the DNA of the house Armani built over fifty years. Although with some personal touches.

The show was held in Giorgio Armani’s house (shared for decades with Dell’Orco) which features a basement theatre for runway shows and Dell'Orco said, "He wrote an important chapter in the history of fashion, and we feel this responsibility. It’s scary, yes. No one will be able to replicate what he did; no one will be able to become him... It’s impossible to try and even get close to him. But I tried to add something: maybe I was a bit more eccentric with certain colors; the purples, the greens, and the iridescence. Maybe Giorgio would have cut them, or had them a little darker, but I wanted a little shine. And I wanted to bring the proportions back just a little bit, more close to the body. So yes, shapes that caress the body... I certainly don’t want to make a revolution. But I will try and be a little bit more personal, expressing what I know and I like, with lightness."

https://www.armani.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Etro

Let's just get it out of the way: I still miss Kean Etro, the son of Gimmo Etro, founder of the house. Kean started the menswear division in 1990 and was the Creative Director until four years ago when he stepped down. I miss his enthusiasm, his vision, but most of all, his daring with the DNA of the family house: the paisley. Current Creative Director of menswear Marco De Vincenzo has done a nice job but he is not Kean.

This Fall-Winter '26-'27 collection shown for Milano Moda Uomo—not nearly as lush as past collections under Kean—gets as close to Kean's sensibility as I have seen so far. Which makes sense since De Vincenzo based it on an archival collection Kean created that explored the idea of human physiognomy often mirroring that of animals. Called "Ani-men," the collection was shown to the public on mannequins with Venetian-made papier-mâché animal heads—foxes, owls, rams, bears. But for the official lookbook, we see the collection here on a model. And animal imagery mixes nicely with some subtle paisleys that show up, pleasingly, on all garments. I particularly like the effect of tooled leather stags and owls on a motorcycle jacket (final look)!

BEAUTY: Clothing--Pronounce

It's hard to believe that the duo of Yushan Li and Jun Zhou, known as the brand Pronounce, have only been showing at Milano Moda Uomo for two y ears...I recall seeing and loving their creations long before, when they showed as part of London Fashion Week. Maybe it all blurs together for me and I feel as if their imaginations have always been here.

Their FW '26-'27 collection was all about volume and cut. It seems that many--or maybe even most--designers now regularly play with volume, cut, and silhouette as part of their vocabulary. But Pronounce have always been so adept at trying out concepts that this current offering feels sort of proprietary. Take a look at the shoulders on every jacket and coat. And those belts that nip the waists...I love the super large grommets and extra hardware on them. Pronounce have always been interested in mixing East and West...mixing their Chinese heritage with Western elements...and you can see that present in this collection.

MLK 2026

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

“It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.”

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

--Martin Luthr King Jr.

BEAUTY: Clothing--Dolce and Gabbana

At Milano Moda Uomo, Dolce and Gabbana showed a collection of 100 looks (!) for Fall-Winter '26-'27 and they are all, of course, sumptuous.

Domenico Dolce and Stafano Gabbana traditionally use some sort of Italian cultural or historical reference as an inspiration for their collections. And while not a specific place in Italy or an era in Italian history, this collection celebrated their usual sartorial magic: it is an ode to Italian tailoring and quality. The collection is titled "Portrait of Man" and is about individuality in style. All the garments shown are intended to shuffled, layered, changed, swapped... personalized for each wearer.

"There are no trends in today’s fashion; everything is so fragmented," they commented before the show. "We wanted to celebrate individuality, the stories and singularities behind every man, the complexities of his inner world, his memories, his humanity. There’s no single way to be a man... There are as many possibilities as there are men, and each one deserves its own portrait."

Loose tailoring, tight tailoring, casual, formal (I love the cummerbunds worn more as corsets on tuxedoes), voluminous sweaters and jackets and coats, even pajamas, I love it all, especially the faux-fur coats and jackets (thank you D&G for avoiding real fur!). But something else I see here, something subtle, is a cut and silhouette I see often and love in Armani collections: a shadow, an echo of historical fashion. The way a jacket or coat is cut or its stance, the inclusion of waistcoats, belted outerwear, loose cut and high waisted trousers...it all reminds me of the 1920's, 30s, and 40s. Some pieces even have a Romantic reference about them, evoking the 1880s and 1890s...it is all supremely elegant, capturing the Italian style of dressing with that remarkable sense of sprezzatura.

https://www.dolcegabbana.com/

The Peacocks of Pitti Uomo, January 2026

Pitti Uomo, the twice-a-year international clothing trade show in Florence wrapped up today and the buyers, fashion journalists, and industry figures who attend are often as interestingly dressed (sometimes more so) as the clothing inside the Fortezza da Basso. The courtyard outside provides a perfect spot for watching these peacocks come and go...and this year we see that classic Italian suiting never goes out of style (along with a healthy does of eccentric accessories), but a rather dapper, Film Noir 1940s look appeared, complete with fedoras and neck ties sporting beautiful 40's patterns. I love the style from that period so it is a welcome sight, an antidote to the silly cowboy look and American military wear that seems to stubbornly hang on amongst some of these fashion devotees.

All images below from Acielle | Style du Monde for Vogue

All images below from the official Pitti Uomo site

All images below from Kuba Dabrowski for WWD