Last season, Rei Kawakubo imagined the horrors of being on the frontline of a war for soldiers who are unwilling yet forced to fight. A direct reaction to the global context, Spring/Summer 2026 spawns from the same narrative. Now, instead of finding inspiration in the despair of its sufferers, Kawakubo projects the hope for a leader who will enact change.

Authority here is made a synonym of tailoring. Appropriately named Not Suits, But Suits, the collection is riddled with, well, suits that aren’t suits at all. Deconstructed and reconstructed to the edge of abstraction, the silhouettes evoke uniform without submission, structure without rigidity. The first section brought five patterned non-suits. The loud prints in bright colours distracted the eye, tricking us into believing what we saw were suits. A closer inspection revealed zippered legs, panniered hips, and draped backs.

The approach was carried on in black suits with white shirts. Here, jackets extended beyond the knees, as if weighted by gravity. Zippers in trousers revealed amalgamations of ruffles blooming through the side seams. Bombers and knit capes broke up the non-suits, only for them to return in jackets with protruding lapels in contrasting coloured jersey.

All looks were styled with oversized baseball caps, their brims extending far beyond the models’ heads. Their hair, long, thick braided wigs that, on most, reached at least the waist, rendered the models faceless, anonymous. Kawakubo’s vision of power is not rooted in hierarchy, but in individuality.

Words by Pedro Vasconcelos

COMME DES GARÇONS HOMME PLUS SS26

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