Woody from Toy Story as your new sartorial pin-up? Men roaming the streets in their pyjamas? We pick the fashion trends coming to a high street near you…
The red carpet gown is dead, long live the red carpet skirt. Yes, a year of separation tactics awaits, as skirts so big and bold they come with their own personalities look poised to dominate photocalls. Skirting the issue started on the catwalks as a host of A-list favourites — Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Alaïa, Chanel — made a case for the main-character skirt in their collections.
Some came in shredded silk (see Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel), others were presented alongside sublimely crafted T-shirts (Louise Trotter’s Bottega). Rosalía and Elle Fanning are already fans and you can expect plenty more skirt posturing when awards season finally gets underway. After all, you’re only as big a star as the skirt you wear.
Beware! Crop tops are back
The spring-summer 2026 catwalks from houses like Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Chloé had midriffs exposed from bra line to hip
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Some fashion trends simply won’t die, and it’s the crop top that’s reanimating for 2026. The spring-summer catwalks from houses like Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga and Chloé had midriffs exposed from bra line to hip. Many designers gave their tops a structured, armour-like aesthetic, perfect for customers who have put blood, sweat and tears into perfecting their abdominal muscles (and want the world to know it). But while curvier figures weren’t much in evidence at the shows, let’s remember that nobody wears a crop top better than Winnie the Pooh. And for those of us less keen on the trend, there’s always the option of pretending it’s not happening … and perhaps, eventually, it will go away.
Go wild for Woody
Think check shirts and coats — as seen at Burberry (centre left) and Acne Studios
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Giddy-up, partner. The world’s least terrifying, and arguably best dressed, sheriff returns to our screens in June, with Tom Hanks reprising his role as Woody for the fifth (no, we’re not bored of it either) instalment of Disney’s Toy Story saga. This time the loveable dork Woody comes up against Lilypad, a tech tycoon in tablet form voiced by Greta Lee.
The fashion world is already very much Team Woody, however, with his unchanging aesthetic emerging as hot style inspiration. Think check shirts and coats — as seen at Burberry and Acne Studios — fused with lived-in denim and, of course, the re-emergence of the stetson, for which we have Louis Vuitton’s Pharrell Williams to thank. It’s the rise of the couture cowboy — with a side of Forky.
• Read more fashion advice and style inspiration from our experts
Meet Japan’s hottest style export
A rising fashion label that takes inspiration from an aesthetic honed during Japan’s booming baburu keiki (or bubble economy) era — think Italian power suits with an Eighties spin — is poised to go stratospheric. Taking a prestigious slot at the menswear shows in Florence in January, Soshi Otsuki, designer of the self-named brand Soshiotsuki, will cement his place as the latest great Japanese fashion export, with his aptitude for meticulous tailoring finally finding a global audience. The showcase comes months after Otsuki, 35, who describes his label as “a new kind of traditional Japanese style”, was awarded LVMH’s young designer prize.
Born in Chiba, Japan, Otsuki graduated from Bunka Fashion College, Tokyo, where he specialised in menswear, and attended the private fashion school Coconogacco, also in the Japanese capital, before starting out on his own. “I didn’t train under anyone, I gradually transitioned from being a student into starting my own brand,” says Otsuki, who remembers the streaming of a catwalk show when he was a teenager as a pivotal moment in his life. “I saw a Hedi Slimane show and was deeply moved.”
His work — Giorgio Armaniesque suits reinterpreted with Japanese techniques and carefully sourced fabrics (Otsuki works with repurposed kimono silk) — are likely to appeal to those seeking a new, polished kind of menswear that extends beyond sportswear. His influence has already made it to high street fashion shoppers too — not only with a capsule collection of womenswear for Zara, but also with wide-leg shapes and oversized jackets becoming big news. Search “successful Japanese businessman in the 1980s” on TikTok and you’ll understand the appeal.
Become a sleeping beauty
From left: Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and Zegna
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Men! In 2026 pyjamas are not only going to be acceptable outside the house but actively encouraged. Your poster boy? Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof meets Grandad from Only Fools and Horses. If you still need convincing, let the spring/summer catwalks shed a little (night) light on how to do it. Saint Laurent sharpened things up with a collection inspired by the label’s founder: stripy PJ-adjacent shirts were styled with ties and matching boxer briefs or smartened up with blazers.
Also in Paris, Louis Vuitton showed grandpa robes, while in Milan, Dolce & Gabbana went full straight-out-of-bed-core with fluffy sliders and dressing gowns as outerwear. If that’s a bit too literal for your liking, see Zegna’s textured tailoring for a lighter touch. Make like the Bananas in Pyjamas, then, and get down those stairs and out of the house.
• 15 of the best luxury pyjamas to shop now
Clienting: the new fashion buzzword
Do shop assistants know your name? How about your shoe size? Do you get calls about that jacket you were browsing, which has now come in and has been set aside for you? Then perhaps you already know about “clienting”, a fashion-biz buzzword for next year that is essentially customer service with bells on. This relationship-focused version of sales is important: squeezed brands prioritise big spenders, while AI opens up clienting opportunities at the lower end. At LVMH, for instance — the home of Dior, Louis Vuitton, Celine and many others — a training programme called Clienteling Fast Track has been rolled out to educate staff about the practice. For you it’s personal, but for them it’s big business.