Menswear took centre-stage in June. The season kicked off with the Pitti Uomo show in Florence, continued with Milan Fashion Week, and ended with the Jacquemus runway show that brought Paris Fashion Week to a close at the Orangery in the Palace of Versailles, on June 29. Two weeks during which the spotlight was on the men’s collections for Spring/Summer 2026. What were the takeaways of fashion buyers after this intense fortnight? FashionNetwork.com has discussed some of them with Alice Feillard, head of menswear purchasing at Galeries Lafayette.

Feillard has always regarded Pitti Uomo as a key occasion for scrutinising different product categories and positioning segments.

“The Pitti session was extremely positive, full of energy and quality,” she said. “We always discover new labels [at Pitti] and enjoy meeting with labels we’re working with, like Homme Plissé, the show’s guest of honour, which presented a very fine collection in the garden of a sublime Medici palazzo. Pitti sets the tone for the season, both in terms of trends and business. Milan was quieter, some big names that will show in September were missing, but this enabled younger, more niche labels to emerge and enjoy better visibility, like Umit Benan, Setchu and Vivienne Westwood,” she added.

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Feillard observed that the French capital remains the world’s key fashion hub, the main venue for runway shows and showrooms by both established and emerging labels. “The latest Paris Fashion Week was a declaration of love for fashion, an ode to optimism and creativity with a very high standard of execution,” she said, underlining that this applied both to major labels and independent designers.

“While the market situation is tough, labels have decided to push the envelope of creativity, which was what the industry needed: renewed desirability, emotional appeal and perceived value as a way of restoring customer confidence,” she added. 

It was a decision to invest that, according to Feillard, was apparent in the setting of many of the shows. She cited “Louis Vuitton’s grandiose setting on the Beaubourg forecourt,” as well as Rick Owens’s spectacular performance in the fountain of the Palais de Tokyo, at once punk, poetic and primitive; the very Parisian, filmic setting created by Ami in place des Victoires; Y-3’s choice of a dance performance; and manga aficionado Louis Gabriel Nouchi, who screened an animation film during his discreet presentation at the Silencio club.” 

Feillard reckons that the season’s main events took place in Paris, including Jonathan Anderson’s highly anticipated debut at Dior Homme. “Dior is writing an exciting new chapter in its history, spearheaded by one of the most talented designers of his generation. Adopting his well-known conceptual approach, Jonathan Anderson cleverly tapped into Dior’s heritage and archives to propel the house into the future, presenting a decidedly avant-garde, rather intellectual collection,” she said.

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Ranking in Feilllard’s top five, there was another debut, Julian Klausner’s at Dries Van Noten. “All of Dries’s codes where there, but younger silhouettes, clearer cuts, and sharper colours gave the collection a strong hint of modernity,” she said.

Feillard also mentioned Lemaire which, “season after season, keeps showcasing a virtually perfect wardrobe, anchored in reality and highly desirable,” Saint Laurent for its “sensuality and fluidity and a magnificent colour palette,” and media-savvy Jacquemus, which “presented a beautiful highly individual collection rooted in its DNA. The icing on the cake of a very successful fashion week.”

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Feillard also appreciated some lesser-known creative talents, like Hed Mayner, Auralee, 3.Paradis, KidSuper and Louis Gabriel Nouchi, and believes that “Willy Chavarria and Kartik Research were the revelations of Paris Fashion Week, staging extremely convincing shows.” She added that AlainPaul, the Andam Prize’s latest winner, will be available at Galeries Lafayette next season.

Overall, Feillard was positive about the prospects for Spring/Summer 2026. She observed that most of next summer’s collections featured lightweight, almost ethereal natural materials, placing the accent on fluid, sophisticated tailoring. She is also expecting “an injection of vibrant colours, after several seasons of monochrome hues, although taupe and chocolate brown will still be ubiquitous.”

Feillard’s favourite items were “an ample double-breasted jacket worn over trousers with generous darts, a taupe suede jacket, a loose-fitting striped shirt, an elegant striped pyjama set, darted shorts and micro shorts.” For the early part of the season, she liked “a cotton or light nylon coat.” To complete their looks, men will wear “soft leather moccasins and, for the summer, a pair of minimalist leather flip-flops.”