Men’s fashion week for Fall/Winter 2026 started with a worry and ended with a wig. Milan’s schedule had thinned as more Italian houses moved to the February co-ed shows, and InsideHook said the uncertainty going in was “palpable.” By the time the circus reached Paris, it was a week of returns, guest stars and one very yellow hairdo. Here are the shows that mattered, in the order they happened.
Milan: Ralph Lauren comes back
Ralph Lauren presented in Milan for the first time in two decades, with roughly 70 looks of prep, westernwear and Old Hollywood tailoring, per InsideHook. Colman Domingo and Henry Golding sat with the house’s ambassadors, and longtime muse Tyson Beckford closed. It was the show of the Milan week that most people were waiting for, and the brand showed again a month later in New York, where Lana Del Rey sat in the front row.
Milan: Prada flips the familiar
Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons titled their men’s show Before and Next and staged it in a Fondazione Prada room that looked like a stately home gutted to its bones, with doors and fireplaces floating on the walls. Dazed described extra-long double-breasted suits, hats attached to the backs of mini ponchos and overcoats, and cuffs that burst out of sleeves and hid the models’ hands. “We wanted to focus on important things, beautiful things that feel familiar but can be reconsidered,” Simons said. Some pieces were deliberately stained or decayed, which fit the show’s journey from “before” to “next.” Troye Sivan, in the front row with Damson Idris, Nicholas Hoult, Jack Harlow and aespa’s Karina, told Dazed: “It was one of my favourites ever.”
Milan: Hudson Williams hits the slopes at Dsquared2
Dsquared2 turned a Friday night (Jan. 16) at Rubattino56 into a ski resort, with snow across the runway, fog, and an original AI-composed soundtrack. The casting stunt was Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams, who opened the show in a denim jacket, per Dazed, and InsideHook says he closed it too. Oversized parkas went over suits, hockey jerseys sat next to après-ski knits, and the designers’ Canadian roots did the rest.
Milan: the rest of the week
The Milan calendar also held a few quieter statements. Zegna’s “A Family Closet” leaned on boxy, 1970s-style tri-button jackets and marled mohair, and Brunello Cucinelli paired soft-shouldered blazers with utility trousers under the title “Ars Imitatur Naturam.” At Dolce & Gabbana, the question posed by “The Portrait of Man” was what a man, or backflipping pop star Benson Boone, should wear, and the answer was flashy suiting and plunging necklines. Giorgio Armani’s label, still without a named creative director after the founder’s death in September, showed a collection led by longtime collaborator Leo Dell’Orco, with slouched tailoring, silk shirting and a whole lot of gray.
Paris: Louis Vuitton makes it a listening party
Pharrell’s show kicked off Paris on Jan. 20 with a glass house on the lawn and four unreleased songs from John Legend, Jackson Wang with Pusha T, A$AP Rocky and Quavo. Highsnobiety called the clothes “an understated Louis Vuitton.” Complex’s verdict was that they were “very safe.”
Paris: Dior’s yellow wigs
Jonathan Anderson’s second menswear show for Dior, held Jan. 21 in an annex of the Rodin Museum, put neon-yellow wigs on more than a third of the models. Highsnobiety said some insiders read them as a tribute to the Scottish designer Pam Hogg. Once your eyes left the hair, the AP found a collection that tightened the story: elongated jackets, cropped Bar jackets, tailcoats and bombers flowing into brocade capes, anchored by small-heeled lace-ups. “Dior is back. It’s a good day for fashion,” one person in the front row told the AP.
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The music tie came from an unexpected place. Highsnobiety reports that a fur-lined parka was inspired by Mk.gee, who appeared on the moodboard and in the front row. Robert Pattinson, Lewis Hamilton and SZA were there too.
Paris: Rick Owens goes Dune meets The Matrix
Owens stripped back the spectacle at the Palais de Tokyo and filled the room with smoke and light beams. Models emerged to ambient music in heavy leather jackets, mini boleros and floor-length headdresses, which they sometimes had to part with their hands to see. Dazed summed it up as “Dune meets The Matrix,” with Dune: Part Three due in cinemas later this year.
Paris: Willy Chavarria stages a live movie
Chavarria’s Jan. 23 show at the Dojo de Paris was the week’s biggest production, and the one that put music on the runway. Complex says the set was modeled on a New York street, with a phone booth, a vintage Cadillac and white road lines, and the performers ran from Mon Laferte through Lunay and Santos Bravos to Feid. Usher, Thundercat, Davido and Arlo Parks sat front row. Chavarria told Complex:
I've always believed that I am the designer that will bridge the music industry and the fashion industry and capture that moment where the two intersect.
Willy Chavarria, Complex
Complex’s critic thought the clothes were sometimes overshadowed by the production, but called it the week’s best show anyway.
Paris: Kai Cenat does his homework
The week’s best celebrity moment, according to Complex, belonged to a guest rather than a designer. Kai Cenat went to his first fashion show at 424, told designer Guillermo Andrade so backstage, and then watched the runways at Louis Vuitton and KidSuper in a black hoodie, cargo pants and cap. Complex’s read was that the streamer, who has announced a clothing brand called Vivet, was there as “designer-in-training” rather than celebrity, not to create a spectacle.
Worth knowing
Highsnobiety singled out NIGO’s Kenzo show, staged in Kenzo Takada’s former home, Junya Watanabe’s unexpected Stüssy reunion, Kiko Kostadinov’s Crocs partnership and Dries Van Noten’s Julian Klausner, who clashed prints with confidence. The week also produced a debut from Jaden Smith, who showed his first collection as men’s creative director of Christian Louboutin and told Complex he is mixing “my African American Dadaist perspective with the heritage of a historical French maison.” Dior then moved straight into couture, with Rihanna in the front row, which our January style guide picks up.
Sources
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
