Is Men’s Fashion OK? Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Homme F/W 2026 Got Me Wondering

Earlier this week, Alexander Skarsgård stepped onto the red carpet wearing an ill-fitting grape purple paillette top—it was hideous. His stylist, Harry Lambert (who also works with Harry Styles), paired it with slim-fit black trousers and black boots. Although the tops plunging V-neck, which revealed a pattern, and the roundels at its bottom, recall Belle Epoque forms, my overall feel of the garment was ‘picked out of a discount bin at the local Goodwill.’  Worn baggier with the front lightly tucked into a belted pair of stone straight legged stone washed jeans–the black leather belt’s buckle oval, gold colored, and crowned, with a little crown. and paired with a slouchy-looking canvas messenger bag, the top was part of Jonathan Anderson’s Dior Homme Fall/Winter 2026 collection, which he premiered on the runway in Paris in January. It all looked like it came from the same bin—at a time when fashion is gender-bending and experimental, this look is more lazy than anything else. Anderson’s tagline, “Today’s Aristocracy,” suggests that modern elites are just playing dress-up in their family’s old clothes. Another look, a bar jacket cut into a cropped, double-breasted houndstooth blazer, also looks like something vintage but dated. A pair of baggy blue jeans with pockets on the side, side brass button closures, and punctuated distressing or paint stains is giving Y2K meets sailor core meets art handler. Here, there is too much going on.

In addition to aristocracy, Anderson was inspired by Paul Poiret (1879-1944), who freed the women’s body in his designs by skipping the corset and working with draping, harem pants, and pantaloons. Poiret famously designed the lampshade tunic, characterized by an exaggerated spherical bottom, worn with a skirt, and opera coats. The Metropolitan Museum staged a survey show of his work, Poiret: King of Fashion, in 2007, which charted his interest in non-Western ornamentation and likened his influence to that of Coco Chanel. Poiret’s abstract shapes have inspired great designs by Rei Kawakubo, Hussein Chalayan, and Andrea Zittel. Anderson, however, focused on ornamentation rather than shape. In his collection, there are polo shirts with beaded epaulets that dangle. Again, too much and too little all at once. The floral-patterned silk pants are quite beautiful. Then there’s a jacket with a cape (a direct reference to Poiret’s opera coat), which also fails to hit the mark. The fabric looks cheap, as if it were sewn on by a volunteer for a small town theater production. Some are lined with fur. There’s a long military green canvas coat with a high sheepskin-lined collar, which was not so offensive. But it is nothing special. Tie on collars, again, look like tired thrifts. The punk-style yellow mullet Guido Palau-designed wigs were fine, but alongside the grown-in bleach frizz, they did not make sense. The show was less innovative and more cut-and-paste.

 Who will wear these garments? Anne Sisterone, a Beverly Hills-based Danish jewelry designer and my favorite fashion rant-er on Instagram, asked as she called the collection ‘rage bait.’ Skarsgård was on a press tour for his new dom-rom film Pillion—about a man who becomes a biker’s submissive. Clearly, by wearing the top, he is poking fun at himself, proving Sisterone’s point. Not only is Anderson’s collection sad, but, sadly, a man wearing a piece is doing so to achieve an unserious rather than playful or stylish look. Pharell Williams’ Louis Vuitton show was another spectacle. Presented within a modern piece of architecture, models walked through the garden, a dining room, a walk-in closet in a labyrinthian pattern to a live orchestra and music by John Legend, Pusha T, A$AP Rocky, and Quavo. The clothes were slightly oversized suits, comfort fits, a lot of LV signature—special special really. Commenting on the heads of the Kering Group (Luca de Meo) and LVMH group (Bernauld Arnault), Sisterone said: “They are men, they hire men, everyone is men. There are so few female creative directors, it’s a shame.” Go off, girl. Not that women always succeed; Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons’ Prada collection this season heavily featured stained cuffs. Did they run out of ideas? Cuff detailing can be adventurous, but this was underwhelming in its execution.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, forward thinking, detail-oriented, and boundary pushing was Issey Miyake’s collection, designed by Yuki Itakura, Sen Kawahara, and Nobutaka Kobayashi. Formless Form is a collection of beautiful materials and sculptural silhouettes. Flowing wide-legged pants, draped coats, and oversized scarves lend the looks an air of sophistication, especially given many of their dark black, blue, white, and beige tones. Yet, the designer trio played with colors, including gradient garments and block color accents that add lightness to the mix. Details like long patterned ties, some thrown over a shoulder, achieved the same effect. These looks were breathtaking in their compositions. And, presented at New York Fashion Week, as actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II narrated the show, reading passages from Dante’s Inferno, both male and female models walked wearing gorgeous proportionately tailored sack jackets, pleated skirts of various lengths, and kilts, for Thom Browne’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection. Many skirts were styled over a variety of shorts. knee-high socks and V-neck knits. Given the focus on Anderson, rather than Thom Browne, these skirts will probably not make as big of a splash as Kurt Cobain’s and Rick Owens’ did in the 1990s, but if they do I am here for it. These disciplined silhouettes revealed a gender neutral approach to tailoring that fluidly moved between preppy and fun to more austere and serious. Abdul-Mateen presided over the show, sitting at a desk, narrating passages as he wrote them down. It’s kind of crazy that my highlight collections are dominated by abstract shapes and gray tones paired with preppy accents, not sequins. But, where Anderson’s show was a chaotic hodgepodge, Browne and Issey Miyake’s were tight and deliberate. Their design direction nods to a new uniform for the visionary man.

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