Taakk - Fall/Winter 2026 Review

Taakk FW26 - Over 2,000 Years in the Making

A review of the Taakk Fall/Winter 2026 collection

written MALCOLM THOMAS

A rain of mist fell on La Tour d'Eiffel, its imposing presence seemed to devour the streets around it. Standing proud amongst its subjects, gazing in awe. Perhaps its purview extended to Taakk’s Fall/Winter 2026 show held at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine on January 25, for which anyone should certainly be proud. Undoubtedly, Japanese designer Takuya Morikawa, who delivered his strongest collection to date. 

Paris Fashion Week FW26
TAAKK Fall/Winter 2026 Menswear

Inspired by the Jōmon, an early Japanese hunter, gatherer, and agricultural society spanning 10,000 years (roughly 14,000-300 BCE), much like the Jomon themselves, Morikawa wanted to pay tribute to the land, “living in harmony with nature; the forest, ocean, rivers and all,” the designer wrote in his program. 

This started from an unlikely and controversial place—fur, which was collected from production byproduct and pieced together to create the most beautiful and ethical jackets, bags, and trimmings—a new offering for Taakk. To gradient fabrics and masterful embroidery techniques. Warping cotton on denim to imitate tree bark, raw and unpolished, is one of many Morikawa innovations over the years.

After the finale, models stood for guests to marvel. People cheered, took out their phones, ran their hands through the textiles, and wondered why they hadn’t discovered Taakk sooner. I imagine Morikawa must’ve felt this, too. Now it was time for people to pay tribute to him.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
TAAKK Fall/Winter 2026 Menswear, Final

Paris Fashion Week FW26
TAAKK Fall/Winter 2026 Menswear, Takuya Morikawa

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features, 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.


all images (c) TAAKK Press

Paris Fashion Week Streetstyles AW26

OUTSIDE THE SHOWS
*That’s Paris Fashion Week Menswear FW26

written LE MILE

Outside the official schedules and away from the controlled choreography of the runway, Paris Fashion Week Menswear FW26 revealed its most telling moments in motion, on the pavement, between shows, in passing glances and improvised silhouettes. This season unfolded against a backdrop of recalibration. Many houses leaned into clarity over spectacle, refining archetypes. Tailoring returned with sharper intent, volume was handled with restraint, and references to utility, workwear, and heritage were filtered through a more personal lens. Elsewhere, softness crept in through colour, texture, and gesture, suggesting a quieter confidence shaping contemporary menswear.

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
RICK OWENS

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
RICK OWENS

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
TAAKK

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
TAAKK

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
KIDSUPER

Captured by Ian Kobylanski, Outside the Shows turns its focus to the characters who animate this in-between space. Individuals assembling their own visual language from fragments of the season: elongated coats, experimental layering, archival gestures, subcultural echoes, and moments of playful disruption.

Shot during the final days of the Paris circuit in late January, the series reflects a city momentarily transformed into a moving archive of ideas. Outside the Shows shows how fashion is lived, negotiated, and reimagined in real time.

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
Michèle Lamy, COMME des GARÇONS

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
COMME des GARCONS

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
White Mountaineering

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
KIDSUPER

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
AMIRI

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
LOUIS VUITTON

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
HERMES

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
LOUIS VUITTON

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
DIOR

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
Pharell Williams, SACAI

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
JOON.J

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
JOON.J

Paris Fashion Week FALL-WINTER 2026
DOUBLET

all visuals
(c) IAN KOBYLANSKI

Paris Fashion Week Menswear FW26, January 2026

Celine - Inside the Fall/Winter 2026 Menswear Collection

How Michael Rider Is Reframing Celine Menswear for Fall/Winter 2026

A review of the Celine Fall/Winter 2026 menswear collection

written MALCOLM THOMAS

“We took the frame of menswear, and what Celine stands for, and then talked a lot about the energy of today, the here and now, the way people live and want to look,” said Celine Creative Director, Michael Rider.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Celine Fall/Winter 2026 Menswear

Officially, his second collection for the house. It appears Rider’s approach is more Phoebe Philo than Slimane, and entirely more down- to-earth, 16 Rue Vivienne, to be exact, the brand’s headquarters and showroom, where his under-the-radar second collection was presented. Unlike his debut, there was no runway show. No flashing lightbulbs, no V.I.P. wrangling or seating politics, this season. No pomp and circumstance. Instead, a well-merchandised presentation, a tower of American-style blue jeans, an S-curve footwear assortment, and a thoughtfully curated edit of key looks to peruse with champagne and hors d’oeuvres in hand. “Character over costume,” was the designer’s directive.

An electric blue button-up paired with trousers and a camel coat first caught my glance; the same blue also made an appearance in a shirt jacket and matching sweater. Then there were the bolder pieces: the single shoulder button pin leather jacket, for instance, rock n’ garde remnants of Monsieur Slimane’s time at the house, featuring hippie hugger sayings like “Hugs Not Drugs,” and “It won’t be a party if I’m not invited.”  You know the saying, once a bad boy…

But while Slimane was more likely to rock the boat, Rider is more likely to steer it.

Who wants to get wet anyway?

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features, 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.


all images (c) CELINE Press, seen by Zoe Ghertner

Algieri - Paris Fall/Winter 2026 Show Review

Algieri Paris: Fashion and a Show

A review of the Algieri Paris Fall/Winter 2026 show

written MALCOLM THOMAS

Deep in the 14th arrondissement on a cold night, I sat inside the Chapelle Sainte Jeanne D’Arc, a Neo-Gothic church so remote even a Parisian taxi driver couldn’t find it. The grand darkness of the church, named after patron saint Joan of Arc (you know the one), was as much of a character as the performance itself.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Algieri Paris Fall/Winter 2026 Show

A ghoulish fog hung over the stage as a DJ appeared, and shortly after, a chanteuse unveiled her bejeweled-encrusted gown that shimmered as her voice soothed even the darkest corners of the church. Dancers in white enveloped her like a dying flower come back to life, then made their way to the tables populated with silver dishes in the center of the floor. They began staining their white uniforms black. One let out a scream, and the fashion part of the show began.

The collection, entirely in black, created (mostly) in deadstock fabric and exaggerated and restrictive structures and silhouettes in varying cashmere, leather, lace, feathers, metal, and stones, needed no such introduction.

Yet, the full-bodysuits, one made entirely of feathers, the voluminous floor-length fur, and the chainmail dress made of keys cling-clanging as it walked past to a melody of its own, were their own kind of show. 

Founded in 2022, Algieri Paris has a vested interest in the re-contextualization of gender and body norms, often collaborating with local drag queens and underground celebrities. Raphaël Algieri’s sex-positive avant-garde design language was honed at L’Institut Supérieur des Arts Appliqués (LISAA) and École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC). Nods to Louise Bourgeois and the sensuality of Robert Mapplethorpe’s famous black and white portraits can also be found in Algieri’s work. Named after the designer’s Italian great-grandmother, Filomena Algieri, who decided not to marry and to pass down her name instead. There is not an inch of Algieri that isn’t rich with subversion. 

When the show ended, I walked the eighteen minutes to the nearest metro in the rain. I laughed to myself. I almost missed this show. I’m glad I didn’t.

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features, 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.


all images (c) Algieri Paris Press

Christian Louboutin - Jaden Smith Debuts Menswear Collection FW26

Jaden Smith Debuts Menswear Collection For Christian Louboutin

A review of the Christian Louboutin Fall/Winter 2026 menswear collection

written MALCOLM THOMAS

When it was announced last September that Christian Louboutin had appointed its first-ever Men’s Creative Director, it marked a bold new chapter for the brand. A brand that, at that point, had already left its global footprint on one of fashion’s most lucrative categories.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

Emerging not just as another shoe brand, catered to women on the rise but as a sexy symbol of status, most notable for its blood red soles, known en masse as red bottoms, and framed in perpetuity as “bloody shoes” by Cardi B in her chart-topping smash, Bodak Yellow, a song that ironically did as much for her career as it did to cement Christian Louboutin in the culture.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

It was over 15 years ago that Louboutin launched its menswear line. A sub-category which now accounts for 24% of its business, and it was more than six years ago when the designer began a dialogue with then, 21-year-old, Jaden Smith. A child of parents who in their own right, had a part in shaping culture. A dialogue between the two seemed fitting— his appointment as a creative stakeholder seemed shocking—remember that bold new chapter?

Unveiled Wednesday at an elaborate exhibition in Paris, somewhere between cinema and mythology, the Fall/Winter 2026 menswear collection was displayed. Heroed by shoes, of course, merchandized on antiquity-inspired columns throughout, with accompanying wall placards, the same kind you might find in a gallery or museum. The positioning was clear. Less status. More art.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

From the virality of the campaign imagery, projected full screen on the wall and in a viewing area, Smith’s bare-chested body, painted in red, also on display—a kind of nod to the rapper’s full creative immersion, to the role itself, these were made for see and be seen moments. Some moments, bolder than others, fur boots for instance, worn by Jaden Smith, himself in the video, certainly not made for wallflowers, but rather a temperature check of how far Christian and Jaden are willing to go. Wax-dripped boots were another editorial moment, which I think may also have a retail moment too, as well as logo-ed belts and a utility bag with titled pockets and compartments, stone masons and scribes among Smith’s inspiration and romanticization of the working man.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

Next: a full collection slated for runway and sale next season, and the capsule collection in select boutiques and on christianlouboutin.com. Available now.

Paris Fashion Week FW26
Jaden Smith Menswear Collection for Christian Louboutin

about the editor
When not reviewing shows or writing features, 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.


all images (c) Christian Louboutin Press

Valentino *Vain Bag Campaign by Alessandro Michele

*The Vain Campaign
The Room Holds Her, The Bag Remains

written Monica de Luna

Light falls through the room in fragments. Two women move through it slowly, inhabiting space like breath. The Valentino Garavani Vain Bag is there, quiet and near, suspended in the atmosphere between them.

This is the second chapter of a visual journey led by Creative Director Alessandro Michele. The campaign, photographed by Sharna Osborne, unfolds through the texture of film grain, softened edges, and an emotional stillness that settles across every surface.

(c) VALENTINO
Vain Campaign

(c) VALENTINO
Vain Campaign

Each image holds time gently. Nothing presses forward. Isabella and Vera sit and reach without performance. The gestures are spare, deliberate, present. A hand resting on leather. A glance that lingers. A bag placed near the skin, absorbing the moment around it.

The Vain Bag enters this sequence with composure. No introduction, no demand. It exists as part of the room, part of the ritual. Surfaces tell the story—calfskin, glossy finishes, velvet, raffia, florals rendered in embroidery. Shape follows material. The new top-handle silhouette, the oval vanity box, the updated shoulder bags with prints from the ready-to-wear collection. The new Soft Vain clutch. Each element appears with continuity, held in the same tonal frequency.

The bag never moves to the center. It remains constant—alongside a figure, against fabric, beside a pillow. Always within reach. Always aligned with the rhythm of the body.

There is no staging but only observation. Osborne’s lens hovers with intimacy. Grain dissolves outlines. Skin meets shadow, and the bag rests in this gentle complexity.

Within the campaign, silence shapes the narrative. There are no declarations. The feeling builds through repetition and through the choice to let a moment hold.

Every surface speaks. The choice of beading, the way karung skin traces the handle, the way embroidered lines thread memory into form. The Vain Bag holds these decisions with clarity.

(c) VALENTINO
Vain Campaign

(c) VALENTINO
Vain Campaign

Nothing separates the object from the setting. The room, the body, the bag—each functions within the same visual sentence. There are no events here. No climax as well. Just a mood that accumulates. Time folds. Every frame brings a shift in posture, a shift in light, a continuation.

Alessandro Michele expands the vocabulary of Maison Valentino through rhythm and emotion. Each gesture within the campaign exists with intention. Every visual element supports the same atmosphere. There is no need for introduction. The women are already there. The bag is already held. The story is already in motion.

This collection of images does not guide. It allows. It creates the condition for presence. Within this setting, the Vain Bag is not defined by function. It becomes a participant in a private world. Its presence carries weight through detail—how it is made, where it is placed, what it reflects. The softness in the photographs is deliberate. Light moves through grain and color like thought. Osborne captures more than appearance. She gives space to texture and to the intimacy that unfolds when nothing is forced.

Each version of the bag exists within this visual tone. Whether resting in velvet or opening from a curved lid, the design remains grounded in its own material language. There is consistency without repetition. No element of the campaign moves toward resolution. Instead everything continues, open-ended. The gaze is held, not answered. The story lingers.

The Valentino Garavani Vain Bag campaign invites observation. Just attention. Within the codes of Valentino, this moment adds another layer. A new gesture, a pause, a softness drawn from craft. Everything remains close to the skin. Nothing speaks louder than it must. Nothing steps forward. Every element stays within reach.

The result is a composition of presence. A study in proximity, shaped by light, held by surface, made visible through rhythm. The Vain Bag becomes part of that rhythm. Not as symbol. Not as metaphor. But as presence.

And presence remains.