This is called breathing. In the paths of a park, lovers pass by without seeing one another, watched by an old woman whose gaze guards more than it judges. The world may not be so harsh; it simply takes detours from time to time. One must never despair, and never hope either. One must be there, present, available.

It is precisely within this in-between that Dries Van Noten’s Autumn–Winter 2026–2027 collection takes shape. A season conceived as a moment of gentle transition, when one stops observing oneself from afar and finally begins to inhabit oneself fully. The preppy codes, reinterpreted, become less an armor than a testing ground. Structured yet never rigid jackets, instinctive layering, colors that murmur rather than proclaim; the garment accompanies the body without assigning it.

For his second menswear show, the fourth since his appointment in December 2024, Julian Klausner continues the house’s legacy with rare precision. Without heavy-handed nostalgia, without a desire for spectacular rupture. He is learning, and it shows. “I wanted to explore the idea of coming of age. Not in a dramatic or romantic way, but by celebrating the joy of new beginnings,” he explains in the show notes. Naivety here is not a weakness, but a quiet strength. That of first times, of honesty with oneself, of stepping sideways out of the comfort zone.

When one begins to stop loving oneself, one ends up hating the world. This collection does exactly the opposite. It invites reconciliation with who one is becoming, without haste, without posturing. It promises nothing. It is simply there. And sometimes, that is all one needs.

FM