DAGGER Spring/Summer 2026 - Luke Rainey

That’s Why DAGGER Spring Summer 2026 Feels Like a Love Letter to Skate Culture

written KLAAS HAMMER

Berlin-based brand DAGGER takes its name from the ceremonial blade used in pagan rituals, a symbol of endings, beginnings, and transformation. The brand was founded in 2020 by Luke Rainey after an unexpected job loss left him with nothing but €300 in government benefits and a dream.

DAGGER
Spring/Summer 2026

DAGGER
Spring/Summer 2026

The aesthetic was forged in Luke’s rebellious teenage years, growing up in a small Northern Irish town in the early 2000s, a place where money was tight but skate was currency. That era’s rough-edged, DIY spirit runs through every stitch: clothes that wear like scraped knees, cracked pavement, and midnight missions.

Luke describes the brand as “a queer-coded Tony Hawk Pro Skater character.” When people who don’t know the brand hear this, they immediately understand. “We show the scene through a queer lens, which is for sure sexy.”

DAGGER
Spring/Summer 2026

DROP OUT, the Spring/Summer 2026 collection, is inspired by misspent teenage years growing up in a skate town in the north of Ireland, as rough as it was beautiful. It is Luke’s love letter to the boys, the music, and the culture.

The label operates at the intersection of streetwear, subculture, and personal storytelling, deeply shaped by skate culture and an uncompromising DIY attitude. DAGGER has gained international recognition for its emotionally driven design language and is stocked globally, including at Dover Street Market Paris. Most recently, the brand presented its latest collection as part of INTERVENTION V during Berlin Fashion Week.

“Berlin has given me so much, and I want to give something back. It changed my creative approach because I wanted to fuck it up.”

DAGGER
Spring/Summer 2026 / making of

DAGGER
Spring/Summer 2026 / making of

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DAGGER SS26

Weekend Max Mara SS26 - A Weekend with an Artist

How WEEKEND MAX MARA Brings Contemporary Artists Into The Language Of The Trench Coat

written LE MILE

For Spring/Summer 2026, WEEKEND MAX MARA expands its ongoing “Signature” capsule initiative with A Weekend with an Artist, a project that places contemporary artists at the center of the design process. The collection focuses on a single garment — the trench coat — and invites five internationally recognized artists to reinterpret the house’s Canasta trench as an individual artwork. The artists involved are Victoria Kosheleva, Paola Pivi, Tschabalala Self, Tai Shani, and Shafei Xia.

Their contributions form a small series of artist-designed pieces presented within the WEEKEND MAX MARA collection. The project was curated by art critic and curator Francesco Bonami, whose career includes directing the Venice Biennale, curating the Whitney Biennial, and serving as artistic director of BYArtmatters in Hangzhou. The collaboration reflects a long-standing relationship between fashion and contemporary art, one that has repeatedly reshaped the cultural position of clothing. Since the late twentieth century, fashion houses have increasingly invited artists into their design processes. The reasons vary, visual experimentation, cultural relevance, and the possibility of placing garments within a wider artistic conversation. Projects of this type also blur the boundaries between exhibition culture and fashion production. Garments circulate in retail spaces and on bodies, while simultaneously operating as artworks or limited objects shaped by artistic authorship.

The Max Mara project builds on this tradition by focusing on a single archetypal garment. The trench coat functions here as both product and canvas. Bonami describes the aim as offering “through an iconic garment, the opportunity for individual and personal expression.” The selection of artists follows curatorial logic. Distinct visual languages, generational diversity, and independence from market trends were central to the choice of participants.

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Tai Shani

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Tai Shani

Each artist approaches the trench through their existing artistic vocabulary. Russian artist Victoria Kosheleva worked directly on a prototype coat, painting motifs that later became the basis for printed reproductions. Her visual language merges contemporary imagery with references to classical painting, a direction she has described as “cyber expressionism.” For the trench project she imagined the garment as a theatrical surface. Checkerboard patterns, swirling lines, flowers, and a stylized eye spread across the coat, producing an image that resembles stage costume design as much as clothing.

Italian artist Paola Pivi, known for installations that reframe everyday objects, introduced a palette influenced by the light and color of Hawaii, where she currently lives. Vertical rainbow stripes run across the coat, narrowing toward the waist and creating an hourglass structure. The pattern references the double rainbows frequently visible in the island’s sky, translating a natural optical phenomenon into a garment surface.

Tschabalala Self approaches the trench through her ongoing exploration of identity and symbolism. Born in Harlem, Self works across painting, sculpture, and installation. Her trench coat appears in lacquered pastel yellow and carries her recurring “Infinity Flower” motif. The flower refers to cyclical growth and transformation. The pattern is applied through a stamping technique inspired by batik dyeing processes, introducing a craft reference into the garment’s production.

British artist Tai Shani brings a different aesthetic register. Her multidisciplinary practice spans film, performance, writing, and installation, often exploring feminist histories and collective structures. For the collection she designed a glossy black vinyl trench decorated with hand-drawn cat illustrations. The imagery references mid-century pin-up iconography while playing with the trench coat’s cultural associations with secrecy and disguise.

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Shafei Xia

The youngest artist in the project, Bologna-based Chinese painter Shafei Xia, contributes a watercolor composition originally painted on sandalwood paper. Her image shows a woman merging with a white tiger, surrounded by floral forms that spread across the coat’s back. Xia’s work often draws on historical East Asian erotic painting traditions while incorporating references to European art figures such as Luigi Ontani. The trench translates this visual narrative into a wearable surface.

The campaign accompanying the project was photographed by Petra Collins, an artist and director whose photographic work helped define the visual language of the 2010s. Collins appears in the images herself, wearing the five trench coats in a studio environment that resembles a storage warehouse filled with artworks. The setting positions the garments within an exhibition-like space, reinforcing their identity as art objects as much as clothing pieces. Artist collaborations of this kind continue a broader pattern within fashion history. Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dresses of 1965 translated modernist painting into couture construction. Louis Vuitton’s partnerships with Takashi Murakami and Yayoi Kusama transformed accessories into mobile artworks. Prada has long worked with artists and architects across installations and runway environments. These examples demonstrate how art collaborations can operate as genuine exchanges when artists maintain their visual language rather than adapting to brand aesthetics.

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Paola Pivi

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Tschabalala Self

WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26 Signature Collection
A Weekend With An Artist, Shafei Xia

Projects like A Weekend with an Artist sit within this lineage, they highlight how garments can function as cultural surfaces where artistic practice and fashion design intersect. In this context, the trench coat becomes more than an outerwear staple. It carries the visual vocabulary of five different artists, each using the same garment to explore form, symbolism, or narrative. A small series of wearable works moves between fashion production, artistic authorship, and collector culture, positioning clothing simultaneously as design object and artistic medium.

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WEEKEND MAX MARA SS26

Christian Louboutin - Colorful Summer 2026 Collection

Christian Louboutin Unveils Colorful Summer 2026 Collection

A review of the Christian Louboutin Summer 2026 womenswear collection

written MALCOLM THOMAS

On Tuesday, Christian Louboutin unveiled its sunny summer 2026 collection. Inspired by Louboutin’s lifelong admiration for the stage—the set reminiscent of the interior of a René Magritte, supported models propped in playful poses in the candy-colored collection. 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

Debuting a new line of bags, dubbed the Venus after the Greek goddess of love, a range of styles from tote to mini-crossbody, with a focus on timeless luxury and pragmatic functionality, are sure to add a bit of excitement to the everyday.

Just in time for high summer, Christian Louboutin’s new footwear offerings are abundant. Meet Mulazee, a taffeta kitten-heel mule featuring a delicate ton-sur-ton bow that highlights the feminine décolleté. It’s high-heeled cousin Cassia, and its ankle-boot counterpart Pavolva will also be making their debuts in leather and crepe satin, both complementary additions to smart eveningwear. 

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN
Summer 2026 Collection

Finally, the classic Chambelimoc and Chambelimonk silhouettes return in embossed crocodile-style burgundy calf patina leather, rounding out a collection that promises bright days (and fun nights) ahead.  

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CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN SS26

A$AP Rocky x Ray-Ban - Presenting metal eyewear collection

Why A$AP Rocky expands Ray-Ban into Metal and Optical

A$AP Rocky has presented his debut metal eyewear collection for Ray-Ban, marking one year since he became the brand’s first Creative Director. The release introduces both sunglasses and, for the first time under his direction, optical frames. It arrives with a campaign film co-starring Nas, staged in a late-night New York diner and built around an exchange between two figures from different eras of American rap.

Ray-Ban, founded in 1937, remains one of the few eyewear brands whose silhouettes have consistently crossed military use, Hollywood cinema, and music culture. Styles such as the Aviator and Wayfarer shaped decades of visual identity. Rocky’s appointment formalised a longer-term creative role that moves beyond capsule collaborations. His first full collection therefore carries structural weight: it signals how a musician with established influence in fashion translates an archive into product.

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION
A$AP Rocky

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION

The metal collection draws directly from historic Ray-Ban shapes while adjusting proportion and construction. Soft oval frames sit alongside narrow rectangles, each rendered in classic metallic finishes. Several designs adopt rimless engineering, emphasising lens shape and reducing visible structure. A wraparound silhouette, available exclusively in selected stores, introduces a more futuristic line and extends the range into sport-informed territory. Material focus defines the collection. Metal frames replace acetate as the primary structural element, shifting the visual language toward sharper contours and lighter builds. In the rimless models, thick lenses heighten the geometry of the silhouette, creating a pronounced edge around otherwise minimal hardware. Across the line, the emphasis rests on proportion, lens thickness, and the tension between archival reference and present-day styling.

The campaign situates Rocky and Nas inside a New York diner, visually echoing 1990s iconography without turning the setting into nostalgia. Nas represents a generation that shaped East Coast rap’s visual and lyrical codes; Rocky has consistently revisited that era in his own fashion vocabulary. Placing both figures in dialogue positions the collection within a broader cultural lineage that connects Ray-Ban’s long-standing ties to music with contemporary authorship.

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION
A$AP Rocky + Nas

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION

RAY-BAN / A$AP ROCKY METAL COLLECTION

The inclusion of optical frames expands the scope of Rocky’s direction. Prescription eyewear functions as a daily object, extending beyond seasonal styling into routine wear. Integrating optical designs signals that the collection is embedded in Ray-Ban’s ongoing catalogue rather than framed as a limited collaboration.
After a year in the role, Rocky’s first metal line establishes a clear trajectory. It engages the brand’s archive through material and proportion, anchors itself in music history through casting, and extends into optical territory with practical intent. The result is a collection that operates inside Ray-Ban’s legacy while marking a distinct authorial imprint.

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RAY-BAN SS26

LV Tilted Sneaker - Louis Vuitton’s Spring Summer 2026

This Is the LV Tilted Sneaker Leading Louis Vuitton’s Spring Summer 2026

At Louis Vuitton’s Men’s Spring Summer 2026 show, the silhouette defined the atmosphere from the first look. Jackets carried volume through the shoulder, trousers moved with controlled ease, and the overall line of the collection held a steady, deliberate rhythm. Attention was placed on proportion and stance, on the way fabric settles on the body and how that body advances through space. Within this framework, the LV Tilted Sneaker anchored the season at ground level, shaping the posture of each look and reinforcing the calibrated balance that ran throughout the show.

The LV Tilted entered the season during the Men’s Spring Summer 2026 Pre collection preview before taking its place on the runway as part of the collection’s full silhouette. Its reference to classic skate culture is visible in the padded tongue and overall profile, while the construction reflects the house’s attention to proportion and balance. The sole is widened and engineered so that right and left are dimensionally equal, making the pair initially interchangeable. This calibration shifts the stance of the wearer in motion, as the foot meets the ground evenly and the body settles into a more centered posture. Beneath the elongated tailoring and controlled volume of the Men’s Spring Summer 2026 collection, the LV Tilted subtly reshapes how the look carries itself from the ankle upward, influencing the way fabric falls and how the silhouette reads across the runway.

LV Tilted Sneaker
MEN SS26 Campaign

LV Tilted Sneaker

The LV Tilted carries its identity through a few deliberate gestures. The angled LV on the padded tongue introduces a slight visual shift that breaks the symmetry of the form, while the upper’s defined stitching keeps the construction clean and controlled. Underfoot, the sole carries Monogram and Damier codes in relief, making the house signature visible in motion. The materials feel considered and lightweight, giving the sneaker a composed presence that aligns naturally with the direction of the Men’s Spring Summer 2026 season.

LV Tilted Sneaker
MEN SS26 Show

LV Tilted Sneaker
MEN SS26 Show

LV Tilted Sneaker

LV Tilted Sneaker
MEN SS26 Show

The LV Tilted appears in multiple treatments this season, moving through worn denim, calf suede, woven Damier, plaid canvas and embroidered finishes with ease. Each material brings a different tone to the same silhouette, shifting its mood from understated to expressive while keeping its outline consistent. On the runway, those variations registered almost like subtle edits within the same sentence, small adjustments that altered the feel of the look without disturbing its balance.

Within Men’s Spring Summer 2026, the sneaker sits comfortably inside the collection’s language of controlled proportion and steady line. It feels resolved, considered, fully absorbed into the way the season presents itself on foot, giving the show a quiet coherence that holds from the first exit to the final walk.

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LOUIS VUITTON SS26