So. Many. Toes. Unless you’re new here, you know that the spring 2026 menswear collections offered up flip-flops galore. We should have known when pastel thong sandals hit the Prada runway in Milan that fashion had found its new It-shoe. It was certainly undeniable after the Paris collections, where they were seen at Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Lemaire, and menswear fan-favorite Auralee. But the rise of foot cleavage was far from the only headline at the men’s shows.
Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior sparked much conversation, even before it happened. Would it still be called Dior Men or just Dior, sans “men”? Who actually got one of the 600 golden tickets to attend? (Shows like this one make the fashion hierarchy painfully evident, which we all like to discuss ad nauseum.) And, of course, what would it look like? Unequivocally Anderson-esque, as it turns out, from his own interpretation of the Bar jacket, which he paired with 16-meter pannier cargo shorts all the way down to the utterly wearable—and buyable—ready-to-wear.
For those who expected an esoteric, concept-driven opening statement, it was the opposite: a how-to-get-dressed tutorial for men featuring an entirely new, yet familiar formula of formality: tuxedo shirts and jeans, cravats without shirts, and loosened ties. “For me, style is how you put things together,” Anderson told Sarah Mower. “Over the next period, that’s what I want to work on.” What we didn’t foresee was just how American the whole thing looked. In fact, the boy next door was a key motif this season, Dior to Paul Smith to (yes) Hed Mayner.
Julian Klausner’s debut men’s collection for Dries Van Noten was also on everyone’s lips. It was the designer’s first shot at menswear ever, which makes this proposition all the more impressive. On top of those wonderful, and very Dries-y, sarongs—every inch as sexy as that photo of Matthew McConaughey the internet is obsessed with—Klausner proposed tiny shorts, biker shorts, and boxer shorts to wear with jersey cummerbunds and the most beautifully zesty coats. The thigh is the erogenous zone of the season: hemlines were higher than ever at Wales Bonner, Magliano, and Prada, who did actual bloomers. Sex does sell in menswear, it just needs to be truly sexy. Or kooky, like the many nip slips that winked on the runways, from Rick Owens to Saul Nash.
In other news, boho-chic has made its way to menswear in the form of frilly skirts, ruffly blouses, and long necklaces worn over tees or bare chests. Athleisure made a reappearance too; see all those wispy windbreakers at Saint Laurent and the many cinched parkas that followed. These two developments epitomize menswear today: It’s not a suit, but not not a suit (which was not not the title of Rei Kawakubo’s latest for CDG Homme Plus: Not Suits, But Suits). Men may not be as formal as they once were, but they’re not as casual as they were three years ago, either. Except when they’re wearing pajamas outside, that is. From Dolce Gabbana to Amiri to Kiko Kostadinov, jammies were trending, and it wasn’t the snooze fest that it sounds like. But I do have a question: Are all of us really that tired?
Maybe just tired of the same-old, same-old. Instead of standard-issue runway shows, Louis Gabriel Nouchi and Luca Magliano both hosted screenings. Chitose Abe presented her collections on mannequins at Sacai HQ, hosting a karaoke night later that day. Courrèges’ Nicolas Di Felice opted to launch his menswear lookbook in advance and threw a summer rave outside of Paris instead. Who was there and just how fun it was became one of the big stories of the week.
While the mega-brands take over museums (Louis Vuitton at Centre Pompidou) or bring museum pieces to their runways (Dior), making their shows effectively bigger and buzzier, others are recalibrating. Nouchi moved his date on the calendar to align with LGBTQ+ Pride, merging his after-party with one of the largest Pride celebrations in Paris. The lesson: There is more than one way to reach your people. Plus, when the vibe is right—and at menswear in June it so often is—there’s always room in the schedule for a great party.
