Report from Paris: Men’s Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2026

Paris has a particular electricity in January. We love it even though the city is dark and cold and rainy. It is a specific cadence of menswear enthusiasts peacocking their way from one arrondisment to another. We arrived a little early to get organized, and halfway through our third day, BAM! Fashion Week had begun. The sidewalks, just moments ago full of families carrying baguettes and market baskets, were now crowded with men huddled around cigarettes, wearing benchmade boots and double-faced cashmere overcoats; the quiet cafés now overflowed with groups of guys in their impossible-to-find sneakers and designer hoodies, linking and building – so many accents, so much enthusiasm. Men’s fashion week, especially in the winter, is really its own fraternity, and the energy is infectious. 

This season, one theme was unmistakable: refinement without rigidity.

Designers are softening the idea of structure. Tailoring remains, but it’s looser, more personal. Coats wrap rather than restrict. Trousers fall with ease. Layers feel lived in, not engineered. The mood suggests a shift away from performative dressing and toward pieces that carry quiet authority – garments meant to be inhabited, not simply seen.

At the same time, there’s a renewed respect for craft. Hand-finishing, dense textures, and thoughtful fabrication replace surface-level novelty. Black remains foundational, but it’s joined by rich mineral tones, deep browns, washed charcoals, and muted earth – a palette that feels grounded and enduring.

For us, this season reinforced something we’ve long believed at W Department: the most compelling wardrobes are built, not styled. They evolve through intention, restraint, and a point of view that values longevity over trend.

The runway shows we attended were beautiful and, as always, a little chaotic. Unsurprisingly, we were squeezed into an abandoned factory for the Comme des Garçons show. The crew finished last-minute technical checks moments before the first model appeared, but it went off without a hitch. At the Rick Owens show, we managed to fight our way through the paparazzi, the glitterati, and all of fashion’s aspiring dark lords, and even had a viral moment when we accidentally captured a model stumbling during the finale (we spoke to him after- he’s fine). We attended a rave in support of our good friend Clio Galea, who staged her first PFW presentation at an underground party starting at 1:00am… somehow we still managed to make a 9:00am showroom appointment the next morning. Thank god for espresso.

RICK AND CDG

Rick Owens continuously refines his language of silhouette and proportion – elongated vests under cropped jackets, “grotesquely exaggerated” boots. The result felt monastic, protective, and quietly powerful.

What resonated most was the sense of permanence. These were garments designed to anchor a wardrobe for years, not a season. Structure softened by wearability. Edge without aggression. Presence without noise.

At Comme des Garçons Homme Plus, Rei Kawakubo approached tailoring as a space for disruption. Classic menswear codes – suiting, shirting, military references – were bent, re-proportioned, and re-imagined. Jackets shifted off axis. Trousers altered familiar lines. Tradition was present but not obeyed.

These were not theatrical gestures; they were deliberate recalibrations of how clothing sits on the body. The effect was subtle from a distance, radical up close. 

All in all, it was a fun and inspiring time and we can’t believe we’re already packing to return to Paris for Women’s Fashion Week this weekend!

Paris, préparez-vous. Nous arrivons!

Until next time,

— Paisley & Christopher