TAAKK SS26

.new collection
TAAKK SS26
*The Quiet Confidence

written Malcolm Thomas

It's been five years since I attended Paris Fashion Week. In my absence, brands have come and gone, and the industry has crowned new creative directors yet TAKKK remains exactly how I remember it. Intentional. 

Intentional like the creation of a simple TAAKK Spring/Summer 2026 show tee, a gift to its guests. Made from recycled nylon resin, processed and spun from discarded fishing nets collected across Japan. The band in which the tee is wrapped and program both made of recycled materials.

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

Already a master of textiles, Taakk has now added a deeper dive into sculptural embroidery and gradients, for which they're known, first with colors, now with materials, i.e. shifting a shirt to a suit, to their oeuvre. Yes, they're magicians, too.

Yet, despite this, Taakk remains elusively under the radar with a quiet confidence that I can only attribute to the mores of Japanese culture. Humble, polite, and inconspicuous. But Creative Director Takuya Morikawa, in my humble opinion, has lots to brag about.

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

TAAKK
SS26 Show during PFW

Titled "The Common Baseline of Art and The Ordinary," the program mentions an evolving quest for "the essence of creation." A less lofty interpretation, "Everyday wear and art. Necessity and disruption." It's easy to wax poetic about the many processes and the impressive self-awareness of this small brand, but I'll let the clothes speak for themselves. So, I encourage you to have a look around, and maybe you'll see why Taakk remains one of my favorites.

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features for Le Mile Magazine, (or constantly hitting refresh on his wardrobe), Malcolm spends his time as Founder & Editorial Director of Malcolm + Friends Agency. A full-service agency powered by a global community of freelancers, consultants, and creative partners from leading brands and institutions. 

Wooyoungmi SS26

.new collection
Wooyoungmi SS26
*A Little Bit of Romance

written Malcolm Thomas

Enjoying a glass of cold champagne to the sounds of a violin rendition of Philip Glass in the beautiful stately courtyard of the Maison de la Chimie.

There is, quite frankly, no better way to end a very hot menswear season (and I'm not just talking about the shows). Mix in perfumed guests (many in Wooyoungmi themselves) with a discreet celebrity or two, and you have subtle cues that even before the runway music starts, you're in for something good.

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Then the moment comes. It begins with a sultry jazz melody and as soon as the first look is shown, a pulsating backbeat. Inspired by Seoul summers, which according to the program are equally hot, and the joys of dressing, the offerings this season are meant to be filled with "levity" and "elegance", of course. 

The collection—light on pants but heavy on sex appeal took to task many renditions of the men's Edwardian bathing suit. A once modest early 20th century essential subverted for the 21st century man. Another notch to add to the bedpost of menswear’s liberation.

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Wooyoungmi
SS26 Show during PFW

Most importantly, this is a man who has places to go and beaches to see. Lounging on a private beach in Monte Carlo by day and enjoying an old-fashioned or two in a members-only lounge, by night, perhaps. Think jumpers, vests, and knitted tops paired with oversized intarsia raffia bags and backpacks paired with silk viscose tailcoat button-ups. Did I mention he's also a multitasker?

Rooted in staples: smart tailoring, fine fabrics, and elevated colorways—Wooyoungmi is not here to tell you what to wear but to suggest it. Wooyoungmi is not here to tell you who you are but to remind you. 

Who said romance was dead?

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features for Le Mile Magazine, (or constantly hitting refresh on his wardrobe), Malcolm spends his time as Founder & Editorial Director of Malcolm + Friends Agency. A full-service agency powered by a global community of freelancers, consultants, and creative partners from leading brands and institutions. 

NYFW *Spring/Summer 2025 Shao New York

.new collection
Shao New York: For the Rebel in a Suit
*NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

written Malcolm Thomas

Shao New York's sophomore collection is a cut above.

Shao New York designer, Shao Yang is loosening up the seams of tradition. In fact, nothing about her calculated ascension in fashion is traditional at all, except for her clothing, sort of. (More on that later).

Having wrapped her second show (her first made headlines on the roof of Anna Delvey’s apartment), it’s clear that the emerging label is more than just hype. She proved that Wednesday evening, as she closed out the Spring/Summer 2025 season of New York Fashion Week with a show that her publicist, Kelly Cutrone, proudly coined over a microphone before it began, “from rooftop to runway.”    

The actual title is Class of 98: Rebellion Remastered. The program was printed on thick stock paper, and it felt and read like a cleverly written manifesto rather than show notes. However, Yang’s point of view is clearly laser focused. Yang described the collection as an antidote to the Instagram nostalgia social media is currently trapped in and more as a tribute to old-school teen angst before we spent more time curating our brand image on our phones than spending it at the park or driving around town with our friends. A simpler time, one could argue.

What’s not up for debate—Shao New York’s mastery of tailoring. She also owns another business, The Tailory, which designs bespoke suiting aimed at the LGBTQIA+ community, probably one if not the first of its kind. The thirty-five look collection—rooted in leather, denim, and cashmere, also has some really impressive trompe l’oeil shirting because as Yao states in the program, “let’s face it, the ’90s were all about illusion”. Of course, there was a lot of statement suiting, too. Call it a redux of the boss bitch energy archetype Donna Karan created in the 80s but bejeweled.

While inspired by the youth culture of the '90s, these were the kind of clothes that make you want to grow up fast. The kind of clothes a young Carrie Bradshaw might wear on a night out with Big, perhaps, as he rolls down the window of his town car, takes one last look at her and says, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

also read Private Policy at Work *NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

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(c) SHAO New York seen by Randy Brooke, NYFW 2025 - Spring/Summer 2025

NYFW *Spring/Summer 2025 Private Policy

.new collection
Private Policy at Work
*NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

written Malcolm Thomas

This season Private Policy tries to tackle AI and corporate oppression with a pop culture twist.

Everyone knows Theodore Shapiro’s now infamous compositions from the fashion classic, The Devil Wears Prada and can’t help but feel a certain wide-eyed excitement when they hear it. That’s probably precisely why it was playing over the speakers at The Altman Building before the Private Policy show on Wednesday, and certainly one of the reasons for the collection’s title, The Devil Is Here.

It was also one of many inspirations for the brand’s most recent collection. Iconic easter eggs like the famous Miranda Priestly line, “Everybody wants to be us,” was printed across a polo, and another line, “Florals, for spring?” inspired the brand’s signature checker prints to be updated with, you guessed it, florals.

However, the Private Policy designers, Haoran Li and Siying Qu’s sole intention was not to take us on a trip down memory lane, but to try to tackle a daunting conversation, one that has caused widespread fear in the heart of many creatives, AI. Where is it going? How will it impact us? Whether that question was answered was debatable, but it segued into another fear, going to the office.

The show opened with two employees clocking in, the daily rhythm most of us are slaves to and have dreaded even more post-pandemic, complete with disembodied ringing phones, computer clacking, Mac desktops, and even cubicles where the two performers pretended to type away as models burst through the seemingly corporate drudgery, key fobs dangled from pockets with empty plastic ID sleeves, work shirts were styled with combo jersey shorts and mini-skirts and even glittering hot pants made an appearance at the office. For context, this was a fashion office.

According to the program, the takeaway is this, “Perhaps what today’s generation truly seeks is not a return to the rigid hierarchies of Y2K corporate life, but the unapologetic ambition and dream-big energy of the Y2K era, reimagined for a future that prioritizes creativity and self-expression over outdated notions of obedience and submission.”

Then suddenly the performers promptly strutted down and off the runway. I guess it’s time to clock out.

also read Shao New York: For the Rebel in Suit *NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

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(c) Private Policy New York seen by Adriana Kaegi / NYFW 2025 - Spring/Summer 2025

NYFW *Spring/Summer 2025 Aknvas

.new collection
Aknvas With a View
*NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

written Malcolm Thomas

Office chic, camp, and fluidity were the themes at Aknvas.

From the 37th floor of Tapestry at 10 Hudson Yards, Danish designer Christian Juul Nielsen, the designer behind Aknvas (a Danish play on “canvas”) proved that he knows all about strong points of view with an impressive resume that spans stints at John Galliano for Dior to Oscar de la Renta, Nielsen’s work under the tutelage of fashion’s modern masters gives him major bragging rights. However, Aknvas doesn’t promise the same kind of pointed perfection of his predecessors but something much more inviting—freedom.

The freedom lies not just in the designers’ clothes but the people wearing them. The type of genderless and youthful fluidity that acts as an honest reflection of the mirepoix of talent working in the industry and those inspired by it. These clothes are pretty but not delicate, tough but not mean, these clothes are for everyone.

The official title of the collection was Nordic Midsummer Camp, and Aknvas inventive takes on denim and his liberal use of floral appliques, his vegan leather peplum jackets, and shimmering sequin ensembles seemed loud enough to make this a camp of dreams and speaking of the office, Nielsen’s pinstripe shirt dress and pinstripe padded shoulder cropped shirt with matching skirt will definitely fight off any Sunday scaries, indeed. Gen Z eat your heart out.

There is also great skill in choosing the right venue for your show, as is the right fabric for a collection, and no one would argue an office building might not be the most summery choice, especially when competing against a panoramic backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Think about it: there is something inherently imposing. The sharp cornered edges, the machine-cut glass, the sound the ground makes when you tiptoe down the lacquered lobby, yet Nielsen’s collection shone through like I imagine it always does.

also read Bad Binch Tong Tong Goes to Church (and Space) *NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

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(c) Aknvas, NYFW 2025 - Spring/Summer 2025

NYFW *Spring/Summer 2025 Bad Binch Tong Tong

.new collection
Bad Binch Tong Tong Goes to Church (and Space)
*NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

written Malcolm Thomas

Aliens, divinity, and love were at the heart of Bad Binch Tong Tong’s latest collection.

Like a great roll of spandex, the crowd stretched outside St. Bartholomew’s Church and around the corner of 325 Park Avenue on a balmy Saturday afternoon. At first glance, a passerby might be more curious as to how a church had managed to attract such an unlikely crowd and such blatant attention from the public in a city that has quite literally seen it all, that was until Bad Binch Tong Tong took over one of Manhattan’s most exclusive zip codes for a fashion show, of course. Let me set the scene: the front steps of the church were filled with news cameras and paparazzi; the guests: the famous and the infamous, including America’s favorite bad girl, Anna Delvey (who was working the door) and the ringleader responsible for gathering up such a double-take-worthy group of fashion counter culturists no other than the Queen of New York PR, Kelly Cutrone. In short, a time would not only be had but ordained.

Now let’s talk about the show because the Forbes 30 under 30 designer, Terrence Zhou, whose label’s moniker is a combination of a childhood nickname and his birth name, did not only give us a collection, he gave us a show! Much like the designer’s fashion persona that lives somewhere between satire and mad genius, his Spring/Summer 2025 collection, Whisper Across Dimensions was unequivocally out of this world.

Inspired by aliens, think The Day The Earth Stood Still meets The Fifth Element, Zhou imagined a reality where aliens finally make contact with the earth, culminating into a cautious trek, the alien’s shimmering air membranes protecting them from the harshness of our world communicated through what can only be described as pumpkin-shaped pods turned into sculptural improbabilities in the many shapes and sizes of sci-fi dresses and even wearable flowers.

Told through music composed by Katie Jenkins that belonged in a blockbuster epic and led by dancers choreographed by Stefanie Nelson, the Parsons and Central Saint Martins alum ended his Iliad with a dance of his own, unsurprisingly with fabric, before inviting the cast onto the stage which erupted the audience into applause and then to their feet as they rushed for a second chance to marvel at the collection up close.

I went into Bad Binch Tong Tong with no expectations but was thrilled to be allowed to escape the worries and fears of these times, if even just for a moment; to sum it up best, there was one particular line from the program that I found quite poignant. It reads, “The show is not just a display of fashion but a sacred communion, a place where we can feel the presence of higher beings, where the dimensions overlap, and where love is the only truth that matters.”

also read Aknvas With a View *NYFW Spring/Summer 2025

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(c) Bad Binch Tong Tong, NYFW 2025 - Spring/Summer 2025