This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.How These First Runway Moments Define the Next Season in Fashion

Brooke BobbFri, March 13, 2026 at 10:10 PM UTC

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See All the First Looks From the Runways in Milan and ParisCourtesy the Brands

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For the last four-plus weeks, designers and their teams in New York, London, Milan, and Paris have worked tirelessly to execute their fall 2026 runway shows. They’ve built sets, organized seating charts, cast the models, sent invites (some made into jewelry or leather bodices or mini chairs), and worked with hair and makeup artists as well as stylists to put forth a vision for dressing next season. It is a monumental effort undertaken at least twice a year, and in some cases more. Behind all of this logistical and physical effort, there is also an incredible amount of creative fortitude that goes into designing a collection and telegraphing a message or a vibe or an aesthetic through a single 10–15-minute show.

This month in Milan and Paris, there was a particular excitement surrounding the collections, not only because many of the creative directors were only on their second go-arounds, but also because there is a noticeable shift happening in fashion—a bend back toward sartorial freedom, experimentation, and radical glamour, even if it’s steeped in heritage. At Gucci, Demna turned it out for his official runway debut, offering a hot and confident (some may add provocative and boundary-pushing) way forward for the brand. There were layers upon layers at Prada, and modern glamour at Ferragamo and Armani.

Later in Paris, Vaquera designers Patrick DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee gestured to the future of their born-in-New York label, while McQueen’s Seán McGirr begged us to examine our relationship to performance in the digital age.

There was a deeper meaning to almost every great collection this season, and despite all of the sets, the vibes, the celebrities, and the show choreography, each designer’s idea was ultimately crystallized by a single look: the first to appear on the runway. This first look can define a collection, cement it, and communicate something bigger. It is, among the many important elements of any new collection, a defining thing—a starting point for a sartorial whole.

Below, designers who showed in Milan and Paris explain the meaning behind their first looks.

Marni

Chloe Paredes / Next ManagementCourtesy of brand

“In the first three Marni collections, the color palette was brown, black, white, and grey; there were no prints, which we were really surprised to discover, and the first color came in 1995 with a little red floral, so that’s why this first look of the collection has this color palette. We really wanted the show to start from the roots, but also surprising, so it’s not a direct reference to the archive in a literal way, but in spirit. The Marni spirit is very particular.” —Merryl Rogge

Tod’s

Liu Wen / The Society ManagementCourtesy of brand

“While working on this collection, I felt a strong need to return to the body. To think of clothes not as something that exposes, but as something that protects. A physical protection made of volume, weight, texture, and the way a garment moves with the body and supports it.” —Matteo Tamburini

Prada

Julia Nobis / DNA Model ManagementCourtesy of brand

“It’s the idea of the complexity of layering … complexity, which exists in sentiment, in politics, in life, and that reflects in clothes. It’s about the necessity of changing for living all day. Different personalities, sentiments, sexualities, and this woman lives them together in a day or a life.” —Miuccia Prada

Moschino

Lia Marie Mielke / Next ManagementCourtesy of brand

“The Fall 2026 collection for me is distinctly personal and all about my roots. It’s an homage to my childhood home, Argentina. The memories and recollection and nostalgia. The collection charts a journey from the urbanity of Buenos Aires through the countryside.” —Adrian Appiolaza

Giorgio Armani

Lily Vander Meeden / Ford ModelsCourtesy of brand

“This look embodies my vision of the Armani woman: someone who is true to herself, yet with her vision fixed on uncharted horizons. She is a woman that dresses naturally, leaving room for spontaneity and rejecting contrived perfection. It is precisely this authenticity that reveals her charm and personality.” —Silvana Armani

Institution

Courtesy of brand

“In this collection, I’m sharing the story of my ancestors, the Azerbaijanis of Georgia, celebrating our centenary carpet-making traditions and their contributions to democracy and the independence of Muslim women in the Caucasus.” —Galib Gassanoff

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Jil Sander

Nyla Singleton / d’managementCourtesy of brand

“When I think about ‘home’, I realize it’s never just a place—it’s a set of rules, traditions, and expectations. A fashion house has its own version of these, its own inherited codes. So I ask myself: what am I meant to bring into this home? What should be shed at the door? And who, exactly, is writing the rules we’re meant to follow?” —Simone Bellotti

Gucci

Charlie Jones / The Lions ManagementCourtesy of brand

“It’s not easy always, but feeling attractive, feeling seductive, it’s part of being a human, it’s something that I want to put out there as something that we need, especially in the world in which we live right now. The beauty and love we see in ourselves are an important part of the show. It can be read as sex appeal, but there is much more to that, and it’s more about being good with yourself in general, not only your body. We told each of them [the models] to be themselves, but exaggerated to really not hide their personality and to really go for it to see what the limit is, to exaggerate who they are. It’s part of Gucci to celebrate yourself.” —Demna

Ferragamo

Penelope Ternes / Women Management MilanCourtesy of brand

“The clothing of sailors offers a foundational motif: those who would go to sea to build better lives for their families. That’s something that both Salvatore and my own family experienced—he left his home in Italy for America before returning home, and my family moved from Trinidad and Jamaica to Manchester. They all crossed the water to discover new beginnings.” —Maximilian Davis

Diesel

Mariana Goncalves / Elite MilanCourtesy of brand

“It’s about disruptive pieces that are pure Diesel. It’s all the pieces we love, but they are twisted and wrapped, and seemingly wrong yet so right. The opening look is a white jersey top that looks like it’s been thrown on wrongly, all twisted up. Actually, it’s a double-layer jersey, which holds the twist perfectly in place—it can never be straightened. There’s a whole series of pieces that follow this idea, like skirts that look rucked up, but are held that way, and there are little trompe l’oeil jumpsuits of destroyed T-shirts with twisted skirts wrapped into it.” —Glenn Martins

Max Mara

Awar Odhiang / Fabbrica MilanoCourtesy of brand

“Sage as a serpent and as graceful as a dove - that was the expression used to describe Matilde di Canossa in the first millennium, and it may just as well apply to the Max Mara woman in the third millennium.” —Ian Griffiths

Etro

Luiza Perote / The AgencyCourtesy of brand

“The first look draws from Etro’s more formal heritage, from the masculine world of uniforms. It features a tobacco‑colored coat borrowed from Corto Maltese—the ultimate traveler—worn over a textured cotton shirt and rust‑colored leather trousers. The Scottish tartan scarf, embellished with metal fringes, wraps around the hips like a belt in the front and like a martingale in the back, transforming itself into a new element of femininity.” —Marco Di Vincenzo

McQueen

Bebe Parnell / Next ManagementCourtesy of brand

“The opening look establishes the collection’s core tension. We subverted the razor-sharp structural rigour of a tailored coat with the fluidity of an archival waterfall collar. That exterior is contrasted with a tactile, faux-feather knit—something textural and visceral against the skin. Not just an emphasis on form, but how the clothing feels against the body.” —Seán McGirr

Gabriela Hearst

Lily Van der Meeden / Oui ManagementCourtesy of brand

“The first look is a cashmere lace. We’re the only people in the world who have perfected that technique. It’s 100% cashmere and lace, that’s why it has that weight, and the flowers are all South American flowers. It’s an illustration that we’ve been working on for a few seasons, and they’re the same flowers that closed the show in a deconstructed organza embroidery.” —Gabriela Hearst

Courrèges

Reagan Lee / IMG ModelsCourtesy of brand

“The first look of the ‘24 hours in the life of a Courrèges woman’ is a simple, almost instinctive gesture: a white satin dress, reminding us of a sheet draped around the body, at the moment you get out of bed.” —Nicolas DiFelice

Vaquera

MAYACourtesy of brand

“Look one was our bride! Most collections end with a bride, and we thought, why not start with a bride and see what happens after the wedding? She represented both the past and future of Vaquera. The theatricality and strong conceptual nature of our early collections, and also an aesthetic shift towards our future.” —Bryn Taubensee and Patric DiCaprio

Isabel Marant

ANGELINA KENDALL / Ford ModelsCourtesy of brand

“I chose Angelina to open the show most of all because she’s authentically herself. She enjoys living her life, being with friends, she’s bubbly, I feel she’s the IM girl. This look captures that authenticity. The distressed Denim with embroidery, the fluffy silk washed bomber, it’s about being cozy yet cool and chic.” - Kim Bekker

Dior

Courtesy of brand

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