Patricio Campillo‘s fall 2026 collection took a turn for the conceptual.
The designer, who often mines his own Mexican heritage and artisanal techniques for his collections, also factored in a more abstract inspiration this season. “The idea was to work with the idea of how your identity, your style and your body build upon each other,” Campillo said. “The approach was to see clothing as an extension of identity, but also a possibility of restraining yourself physically. The idea that women wear such uncomfortable stuff, I wanted to put that into a more masculine context and aesthetic.”
If that sounds cerebral, it manifested pretty clearly. Corsetry definitely got its due, layered under outerwear or over shirting. Structure was the clear through-line. “This regular shirt has padding on the inside and a jacket-like structure on the shoulders,” Campillo said in a nod to what would show in his first look. “The corset has some foam on the inside; it creates a shape in your body. We tried separating the structure of the garment versus the fabric that covers it.”
That’s the technique synonymous with Charro suiting, which was the jumping-off point for the brand’s founding. “We wanted to play with codes that were quintessentially masculine with these very traditional fabrics and put them in dialogue with very feminine or more restrictive pieces,” he said.
Much like the suiting, the focus on craftsmanship also reappeared, such as with a collaboration with an onyx mine in northern Mexico for buttons, brooches and other earthy touches. Horse mane hair kept cropping up — on necklines, on corsets, and on the brand’s most recent expansion into handbags. And as the brand is planting its flag commercially, Campillo is thinking about his clientele more than ever.
“There’s a cultural element to it,” he said. “This season was much more about an internal and intimate process within your own path of thinking. A big part of the evolution of fashion within society has to do with the fact that, for a long time, we were dressing for different situations. And now we’re dressing to feel a certain way.”