The Burberry Christmas campaign for 2026 turns a stately English country house into a dance floor, with Pierce Brosnan and Fiona Shaw cast as the reluctant and the enthusiastic halves of a hosting couple. The short film, “Wrapped in Burberry: Celebrating 170 Years”, marks the British label’s anniversary with a party that plays as much like a comic domestic sketch as a fashion advert.

A house party at Longleat

The film is set at Longleat House, the historic Wiltshire estate. It opens with Shaw welcoming guests while Brosnan, the former James Bond actor, retreats to a living room with a newspaper, plainly hoping the evening stays quiet. It does not. Presents are passed around, children race along carpeted hallways and a disco ball is hoisted into place.

The guest list is deliberately international. Model Cara Delevingne, actor Gabrielle Union and her husband, retired basketball player Dwyane Wade, are joined by Brosnan’s son Dylan, “Bridgerton” actor Nico Parker, “Pachinko” actress Kim Min-ha and Chinese actor Wu Lei. Emma Thynn, Marchioness of Bath, makes a cameo. Variety reports that the festivities take in countryside walks, party games, gift swaps and golf buggy races. Union and Wade are shown playing golf in matching Burberry, and Shaw is seen driving around the grounds in a buggy.

Brosnan gives in, and Korine takes the helm

The film’s central joke is Brosnan’s gradual surrender. Annoyed at first by the music and dancing, he joins in and ends up on the dance floor with Delevingne. The soundtrack is Sylvester and Patrick Cowley’s 1982 disco track “Do You Wanna Funk?”. A firework display closes the night, and the final shot shows Shaw waking on a sofa after the party.

The director is Harmony Korine, best known for “Spring Breakers” and “Gummo”. It is his second fashion commission in quick succession: Variety notes that Gucci recently released a holiday campaign he also directed, starring Mariah Carey. Pairing an indie provocateur with heritage luxury brands appears to be becoming a seasonal habit.

Burberry’s chief creative officer, Daniel Lee, summed up the brief in simple terms. “We wanted to celebrate 170 years of Burberry with a proper party,” he said, adding: “Family, friends, great gifts and everyone dressed up.”

What the Burberry Christmas campaign is selling

Behind the humour sits a product push. The holiday collection is built around cashmere, including new versions of the Kensington trench coat in ivory, black, navy, camel and bouquet pink. It also includes cashmere capes with shearling collars, embroidered sweaters, velvet vanity cases and check bouclé handbags. The Scottish-made House Check scarves come in more than 40 colourways. There are children’s versions of the label’s outerwear and even dog accessories, such as check sweaters and bandanas.

Prices listed by Variety show the aspirational end of the range: a Kensington Heritage Trench Coat at $2,850 and a check cashmere scarf at $675, with smaller gifts such as a $280 check wool stocking.

The casting is the film’s real strategy. Brosnan and Shaw are British screen veterans, Delevingne is a long-standing fashion figure, and Union, Wade, Parker, Kim and Wu widen the reach to American and Asian audiences. The message is that a 170-year-old British house wants to feel like a warm, slightly chaotic family gathering as well as a luxury label.

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File photo: Burberry, Albion Street, Castleford, West Yorkshire (24th February 2024) 001.jpg by Mtaylor848, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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The 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards turned the American Museum of Natural History into a runway on Monday night, and the red carpet produced clear favorites, a few polarizing choices and some pointed debate about what an awards-night outfit should be. Across the coverage, a pattern emerged: the looks that landed best paired a strong silhouette with a real designer relationship behind it.

A Night Built Around American Designers

Unlike most entertainment-industry ceremonies, the CFDA Fashion Awards put designers at the center and treat celebrities as the vehicle for their work. This year’s dinner took place beneath the museum’s 94-foot blue whale model and was hosted by Keke Palmer. Presenters included Demi Moore, Naomi Osaka, Lupita Nyong’o, Matt Damon and Cole Escola.

Ralph Lauren won American Menswear Designer of the Year for the third time. Rachel Scott of Diotima took American Womenswear Designer of the Year for the second time. Ana Khouri was named American Accessory Designer of the Year, and Colleen Allen won Emerging Designer of the Year over a field that included Zane Li of Lii and Emily Dawn Long.

Several honorees were celebrated beyond the competitive categories. Anthony Vaccarello, who recently announced he is leaving Saint Laurent after a decade as creative director, received the International Designer of the Year award. Tory Burch took the Positive Change Award, and Gap Inc., under Zac Posen, won the Innovation Award. Photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin received the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, and architect Peter Marino was named Fashion Icon.

The Looks That Won the Carpet

Palmer, the host, drew some of the loudest praise in a vintage Bob Mackie gold halter gown. Business Insider reported that Mackie, who died in September, made the dress in 1975 for Raquel Welch, and said it fit Palmer as if it had been designed for her.

Allison Janney’s hot-pink Christian Siriano look, with its dramatic sleeves and shoulder pads, was a favorite for both WWD and Business Insider. WWD said it came from Siriano’s spring 2027 collection. Janney called him “the most talented designer” and said they have fun together. Siriano also dressed Chloe Bailey in a sheer black design with tulle ruffles and tan feather trim, which Business Insider likened to something off a runway.

Designer-muse chemistry came through most clearly in two pairings. Rachel Scott dressed Indya Moore in a voluminous, textured Diotima dress adapted from her spring 2027 collection, which she described as being about a woman who existed across time in the Caribbean. Moore said they felt “like a sunflower.” Awkwafina wore a black column dress with an embellished neckline by Jason Wu, whom she said she had befriended only weeks earlier. Wu said the goal was to “go chic.”

Pamela Anderson, in a black Carolina Herrera halter gown with feather fringe at the neckline, earned notices from WWD, Harper’s Bazaar and Business Insider alike. Business Insider praised her styling of embellished heels, a satin clutch and red lipstick. Matt Damon led the menswear contingent in a double-breasted, shawl-lapel Ralph Lauren tuxedo over a black turtleneck, saying he has always loved the brand. Travis Scott, in a black satin double-breasted suit with a leather top underneath, was another menswear pick.

Saint Laurent, Coach and Gap Show Up in Force

Brand loyalty was visible across the room. With Vaccarello honored, Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz and Rosé all wore Saint Laurent. Elle Fanning and PinkPantheress wore Coach. Demi Moore and Lupita Nyong’o wore GapStudio by Zac Posen, in step with the Innovation Award for Gap Inc. Gracie Abrams wore a design by newly crowned emerging designer Colleen Allen, and Rose Byrne and Becky G joined Anderson in Carolina Herrera. Tinashe, Megan Thee Stallion and Ashley Graham wore Christopher John Rogers, Kim Shui and Esque/By respectively.

Not Everyone Was Convinced

Business Insider was the one outlet to name misses, and its criticisms were mostly about ambition rather than execution. Emily Ratajkowski’s black sweater, bright orange low-rise skirt and pointed boots looked, in its view, more like a fall outing than an awards look. Ashley Graham’s tailored black-and-white set, with a deconstructed shirt turned into a strapless top, was praised for its fit and originality but judged forgettable. Shaboozey’s Ralph Lauren outfit of cream blazer, distressed jeans, bolo tie and statement belt buckle was called too close to what he wears every day for a fashion-focused event.

Those verdicts are one critic’s opinion, and WWD and Harper’s Bazaar offered no such rankings. They do point to a theme, though. At the CFDA Fashion Awards, where the crowd is trained to notice craft, the looks that stood out were the ones with a clear idea or a real story behind them, whether that was a 1975 gown or a friendship that began two weeks earlier.

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The Rebecca Minkoff capsule collection with model and reality TV personality Grace Ann Nader went on sale this week. It is a tight, three-item drop that grew out of a friendship sparked at last year’s CFDA Awards, and its prices run from $239 to $398.

How the Rebecca Minkoff capsule collection began

According to both The Hollywood Reporter and WWD, the project took shape after Minkoff brought Nader as her guest to the 2025 CFDA Awards at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. The evening, which honored names such as Ralph Lauren, Thom Browne and Donatella Versace, left Minkoff with more than a night out. She and Nader grew closer, and that friendship eventually became a product line.

WWD adds a notable detail about motivation: the collaboration is meant to help Nader widen her role in fashion beyond modeling, with the aim of getting more involved in the creative and design process. The brand describes the result as a blend of Minkoff’s “downtown-cool” sensibility and Nader’s “free-spirited” aesthetic.

What’s in the drop

The lineup covers outerwear, footwear and an accessory:

The Grace Ann cropped jacket ($248) is a black, bomber-inspired piece with a contrasting brown faux-fur collar, a button closure and a relaxed shape.

The Carson boot ($239) comes in black suede with ruching and beaded accents. WWD notes a pointed toe and stiletto heel.

The “Holland” Nolita hobo ($398) is a slouchy genuine-suede bag with stud detailing, antique silver hardware and a metal handle. It is named for Nader’s mother. WWD reports a detachable strap plus interior and exterior slip pockets.

A limited run with a door left open

The line is positioned as a limited drop, though both outlets note it leaves room for future collaborations. It is sold through Rebecca Minkoff. The Hollywood Reporter dated its coverage to launch day, November 2, while WWD described the release as launching Monday.

For the brand, the timing fits a broader expansion. WWD notes that Rebecca Minkoff’s business, acquired by Sunrise Brands in 2022, signed multiple licensing deals last year across handbags, footwear, loungewear, sleepwear and jewelry. A 15-piece apparel line, RM Studio x Rebecca Minkoff for QVC, was also announced. Against that backdrop, a small celebrity-linked capsule works as a lower-stakes way to generate buzz.

Who is Grace Ann Nader?

Nader is represented by Ford Models and WME. She appears alongside her sisters Brooks, Mary Holland and Sarah Jane in the Hulu reality series “Love Thy Nader.” Filming has wrapped on the second season, which is slated to premiere in early 2027, specifically the first quarter according to WWD. A Louisiana native, she graduated from the University of Georgia and earned a master’s in public health from New York University. WWD adds that she is passionate about philanthropy.

Whether this first Rebecca Minkoff capsule collection turns into a recurring partnership will likely depend on how quickly the three pieces move. Neither outlet reported sales figures or stock levels, so for now the “limited” label is the only signal of scarcity. With the show’s new season on the horizon, the timing gives Nader a built-in audience for any follow-up.

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The clocks have gone back, the mornings are cold and the evenings arrive early, so it is no surprise that fashion ambition tends to shrivel. Jess Cartner-Morley’s latest November style essentials, published by the Guardian on 1 November, push back against that. Her argument is that clothes in winter are about more than staying warm enough to function. They are about, as she puts it, staying “alive alive”.

A November style essentials edit built around fun

The edit is notable for its range of prices. At the bottom end is a £16 wool-touch, semi-sheer henley from M&S, which she says looks far pricier than it is. She calls the henley a quietly classy shape, the kind a film character wears to signal a good soul. In her view, a superfine rib and delicate buttons give it an old-fashioned sensuality.

At the top end is the Polène Cyme mini handbag at £390. She notes that new Polène bags draw queues outside the brand’s Paris stores, and suggests a visit to its Regent Street shop in London to see why.

Knits, skirts and a very 2026 bird

The most talked-about pick is probably the Reformation Iris knit at £98. Cartner-Morley describes it, cheerfully, as a “slutty jumper”, and means it as a compliment. Her more polite phrasing is a going-out top you will not freeze in. She would choose the cherry blossom pink, though the knit comes in several other colours.

Skirts get a firm endorsement. Citing Miuccia Prada, she declares them “so back”. Her choice is an £80 M&S silk-blend midi with an asymmetric hem and a lace insert. She first saw it in the summer, worn by M&S womenswear head Lisa Illis in the showroom before it went on sale, and says she has been “stalking” it since. Now that it has arrived, she confirms it lives up to the wait.

The seasonal wildcard is a £20 glass pigeon decoration from Fortnum & Mason. “Forget robins and turtledoves,” she writes, declaring pigeons “the spirit animal of 2026”.

Everyday elegance and a bit of sparkle

For comfort, she points to a gathered-back sweatshirt from The White Company, from £80 and also sold at Selfridges. The brand’s “everyday elegance” strapline, she says, is a policy anyone can support. She credits the label’s relatively new clothing director, Sheila McKain, formerly of Jaeger and Donna Karan, with strong womenswear. She likes the drawstring waist, which avoids the usual sweatshirt hem sitting at the hip, and the gathering that lifts it above the ordinary.

The final item in the available text is a gold-plated Deco necklace set with lapis and blue sapphire, from £155 at Edge of Ember and John Lewis. She says necklaces are having another moment, though many pendants strike her as “babyish” or cutesy. This one, which also comes in greens, does not.

The edit also promises ballet pumps with “exactly the right amount of grownup elegance” and a two-in-one coat. The available text cuts off before those details, so they are not covered here. Even so, the November style essentials make a clear case: the dull months are a good time to dress with a little more spirit. As the piece notes, Guardian journalism is independent, but it may earn a commission on purchases made through its affiliate links.

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The best Zendaya Halloween costume this year was not a ghoul, a witch or a movie villain. It was a piece of red-carpet history: the yellow Lanvin bikini-top-and-trousers set that Halle Berry wore to the New York City premiere of X-Men in July 2000.

Zendaya and her longtime stylist Law Roach shared the tribute on Instagram, and Harper’s Bazaar reported on it on October 31, 2026. For a duo known for turning press tours into extended fashion arguments, it was a fitting way to mark the holiday.

Why This Zendaya Halloween Costume Fits Her Method Dressing

Zendaya and Roach have built a reputation on treating clothes as storytelling. Harper’s Bazaar points to their recent run of references: tennis motifs for Challengers, archival spiderweb gowns for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and bridal whites for The Drama. Each campaign had a clear visual thesis, and the Halloween look follows the same logic on a smaller, more playful scale.

The difference is the occasion. Most people approach Halloween with thrifted finds, hand-sewn projects or pieces already in their closets. Zendaya and Roach instead used their industry connections to track down the real garment, which keeps the homage as faithful as possible.

The Original Halle Berry Look

Berry’s 2000 outfit came from Lanvin’s Fall 2000 collection. It paired a yellow patterned bikini top with matching low-rise trousers that had extra-long legs, and she layered a semi-sheer brown button-down over it and added a long crystal waist chain. More than two decades later, it remains one of the most recognizable looks of the era, a shorthand for Y2K red-carpet style.

What Zendaya Kept and What She Changed

The Zendaya Halloween costume stayed close to the source. She wore the geometric yellow set with sunglasses and diamond earrings, as Berry did. She skipped the brown shirt and the crystal chain, which let the set itself stand out. Her tousled pixie cut added to the resemblance, and she finished with simple pointed-toe nude heels and red nails.

The edits were small. Dropping the shirt and chain made the look cleaner and more direct, and it put the spotlight on the Lanvin pieces. The source does not say how Roach was involved in the costume beyond sourcing the set.

For a holiday that often rewards the loudest or funniest idea, this Zendaya Halloween costume won on precision. It showed an eye for archival fashion and a clear affection for a defining red-carpet moment from the year 2000.

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File photo: Zendaya-byPhilipRomano.jpg by PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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The 2026 WSJ Innovator Awards, now in their 16th year, filled the Museum of Modern Art on Thursday evening with pop stars, actors, writers and fashion designers. By most accounts, the biggest photo magnet in the room was a baseball team on stilts.

The Savannah Bananas, the exhibition baseball team known for its bright yellow uniforms, were this year’s sports honorees. They stood out in a crowd of suits and cocktail dresses, and WWD reported that one guest offered to snap a friend’s picture with the team while Hollywood names milled nearby.

Who Was Honored at the WSJ Innovator Awards

WSJ. Magazine recognized seven honorees across as many fields:

• Fashion: Matthieu Blazy, for his work at Chanel
• Music: Rosalía
• Comedy: Amy Poehler
• Literature: Marlon James
• Film: Martin McDonagh
• Technology: Demis Hassabis
• Sports: the Savannah Bananas

The format was familiar. A cocktail hour was followed by a seated dinner, where honorees were called to the stage one by one for introductions and acceptance speeches. Harper’s Bazaar noted that the evening came amid a run of black-tie events, including the Academy Museum Gala, the Golden Heart Awards and a new Airbnb.org gala held earlier in the week.

The Presenters and the Speeches

Several honorees were introduced by famous friends. Russell Wilson presented the Savannah Bananas, and before dinner he joked around with comedian Marcello Hernández while his wife, Ciara, posed for photos with Ashley Graham and Jordyn Woods. Lupita Nyong’o, in a black Brandon Maxwell gown, introduced James.

Blazy’s award was presented by Dua Lipa and A$AP Rocky, both Chanel ambassadors. Blazy took over as creative head of Chanel in December 2024, according to Harper’s Bazaar, and his arrival at the party reportedly turned plenty of fashion heads.

James, whose new novel The Disappearers is among the year’s most praised, gave the speech WWD singled out. He said the first time he read a book without pictures, at age 5, his “head exploded.” Words, he realized, could build a movie in the reader’s mind. “I write books so I can have more than one life,” he told the room, “and I write books that you can have more than one life as well.”

Poehler had been working the room barefoot before dinner and put her heels back on to go onstage, WWD reported. She began her remarks with a reflection on being present and aware of where your feet are.

Chanel Dominates the Red Carpet

If any label owned the evening’s wardrobe, it was Chanel. Harper’s Bazaar reported that Poehler, model Bhavitha Mandava, A$AP Rocky and Dua Lipa all wore Blazy’s designs. For an event honoring him, that was a fitting show of support.

Other looks drew attention too:

• Rosalía wore a black-and-white Schiaparelli set, an embellished, skin-baring top with a silky maxi skirt.
• Cara Delevingne wore Erdem.
• Jordyn Woods-Towns wore sculptural Christian Siriano.
• Emmy Rossum wore Hermès.
• Irina Shayk wore Issey Miyake.
• Ciara wore LaPointe.

The guest list also included Patti Smith, Seth Meyers, Gayle King, Jordan Roth, Adut Akech, Christian Louboutin, Christopher John Rogers, Jason Wu, Joseph Altuzarra, Reed Krakoff and Wes Gordon.

Why the Mix Works

The honoree list is part of the appeal. A novelist, a playwright-turned-filmmaker, a pop star, a comedian, an AI researcher, a Paris fashion house and a baseball team in yellow all share one room. The WSJ Innovator Awards reward a broad idea of innovation, and this year’s evening, from James’s account of reading to the sight of the Bananas on stilts among black-tie guests, showed how wide that idea can be.

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The best raincoats, it turns out, are rarely chosen by looks alone. In a Guardian fashion feature published at the end of October 2026, three people who work in and around style describe a shared aim: stay dry without looking as though you have dressed for an expedition. Their answers range from a detachable hood to a recycled poncho and a jacket that has lasted two decades.

The case against looking “aggressively practical”

Jess Cartner-Morley, the Guardian’s associate fashion editor, sets out the problem bluntly. Hotel doormen with giant umbrellas are not an everyday option. She also dismisses the umbrella as a solo strategy: good ones are cumbersome, and the flimsy handbag kind are, in her words, “profoundly depressing”. Her approach is to be rain-ready without advertising it, on the logic that a 50% chance of showers is not an emergency.

Her main fix is a coat whose hood detaches, paired with bellows pockets that can swallow the hood when the sky is clear. She says hoods can make coats look juvenile. Her own is an old Barbour, similar to the current Carville style. She also advises setting a Vinted alert, because a similar Barbour appears on the current series of Celebrity Traitors, which she expects to send demand up.

Footwear gets the same practical treatment. She prefers a low block heel to a flat sole, since it keeps jeans hems out of puddles, and a cleated sole for grip and durability. A pull-on M&S Chelsea boot, she notes, works with tights and skirts as well as trousers.

Ponchos, rainbow umbrellas and going low maintenance

Writer and sustainability consultant Aja Barber takes a looser view. She doesn’t want her rainy-day look to differ much from her dry-day one. When it pours, she reaches for a recycled, colourful Ponch poncho, or a rainbow umbrella from Roka. The umbrella, she says, has a social upside: it can be shared with a friend or partner.

She often skips waterproof footwear altogether. In a real downpour she wears a decades-old J Crew rubber Chelsea boot, bought before she gave up fast fashion. She buys much of her wardrobe secondhand, including baggy shorts from Egg, which are expensive new. Her most distinctive tip concerns hair. Since moving to the UK she has dropped blowouts and straighteners, so there is nothing for the weather to ruin.

Longevity over novelty

Author and editor Luke Turner dresses by location. For proper countryside walks he wears a Berghaus Cornice waterproof he has owned for about 20 years. It keeps him dry and breathes well, though he admits it is “pretty ugly”. The company still sells an updated version. In the city he wears an old black rubberised-cotton railway jacket from Levisons. It is solid and waterproof but, he says, a bit like a portable sauna. He also owns a compromise Barbour for occasions in between. The source text cuts off before he finishes describing it.

What the shopping edit costs

The accompanying gallery of this autumn’s gear shows a wide price range. Items credited include:

• a Tretorn rain jacket at £80
• a Lululemon jacket at £198
• a Didriksons hat at £25
• Wellipets wellies at £150
• socks at £14
• a Boden dress at £89

There is even a Barbour dog raincoat at £49.95, modelled by a canine called Percy. The Guardian notes it earns a commission on purchases made through affiliate links.

The takeaway

Across the three contributors, the best raincoats share a few traits: details that adapt, such as a hood that can be tucked away, materials that last, and a willingness to buy secondhand. Cartner-Morley and Turner both favour Barbour, while Turner’s trusty Berghaus shows that function can outlast fashion. Barber’s low-maintenance philosophy may be the most transferable advice of all. Accept that some downpours can’t be avoided, and dress so you’re not upset when one arrives.

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Painters, sculptors and long-overlooked illustrators are everywhere on the spring 2027 runways, and designers are increasingly happy to name them. Vogue’s runway team went looking for explicit art references across more than 400 spring 2027 reviews, and the range they found is wide, running from Dadaism to 18th-century-inspired contemporary work.

Why art and fashion keep colliding

“Is fashion art?” is an old argument, and the sources suggest the more interesting shift is in who gets to join it. Amelia, a 32-year-old Columbia student who posts as Meelz on Art on TikTok, has been seated at Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Dior on the strength of her art-historical analysis. Dr. Elizabeth Way, curator of Art X Fashion at the Museum at FIT, goes further, calling art “probably the largest, most influential cultural movement on fashion designers.”

The big houses have leaned into that. Louis Vuitton staged a cruise show at The Frick this year, and Dior did the same at LACMA. Museums are no longer just a source of inspiration for these brands. They are the venues.

Opposites that land in the same place

Some of the most striking pairings on the spring 2027 runways involve wildly different source material that produced similar results. Lii drew on the graphic flair of Alex Katz. Loewe looked to 17th-century Spanish painters Francisco de Zurbarán and Diego Velázquez, and Zurbarán is currently on view at the Louvre. Both collections still ended up as visions of futuristic sportswear.

Amelia found Loewe especially interesting because it was so paradoxical: contemporary and traditional at once. She pointed to bright, saturated pieces with severe, geometric purity, dramatic drapery in the manner of Zurbarán, and courtly embellishment like the clothing in a Velázquez portrait.

Calder, Richter and the classical canon

Dior’s connection was more literal. Jonathan Anderson reproduced an 18th-century wooden chair from his personal collection, and some guests sat on copies of it. In the clothes themselves, Amelia saw airy refinement that echoed the motion blur of Gerhard Richter’s paintings.

Other designers went further back. Bora Aksu referenced 17th-century portraitist Mary Beale, and Nicky Zimmermann turned to the 19th-century natural history illustrators Harriet and Helena Scott.

Alexander Calder was the most popular touchstone. Sarah Burton drew on Cirque Calder at Givenchy, while Michael Kors focused on the mod qualities of the sculptor’s shapes. Elsewhere, Rachel Comey’s 25th anniversary show paid tribute to artist and novelist Rosalyn Drexler. Kiko Kostadinov added an experimental edge with the work of Italian artists Agostino Bonalumi and Nanda Vigo.

Prada’s skirt as canvas

Prada’s reference came from its own history. The show’s 63 skirts nodded to “Waist Down,” a traveling exhibition the house staged in the early 2000s. “We used the skirt as a framework for different ideas, different approaches, like a raw material to express concepts,” Miuccia Prada said in the show notes, adding that the simple shape, “almost like a canvas,” forces designers to reinvent the form within strict limits. The gradient-dyed leather also recalled the emotionally charged canvases of Mark Rothko.

What the references add to clothing

Anne Higonnet, an art historian and professor at Barnard, says art “teaches clothing how to transcend its necessity.” In her view, people use color, shape, texture, composition and rhythm to go beyond simply covering the body, and beyond signaling social position.

The takeaway from the spring 2027 runways is that these references work on two levels. The clothes can be enjoyed without a footnote, but knowing the source, whether it is a Zurbarán drape or a Calder mobile, adds another layer for anyone who wants it.

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Freaky footwear has stopped being a runway curiosity and started showing up on the morning commute. Shoes that split the toes, balloon at the heel or look like a garden tool are now selling in volume, and the numbers suggest this is more than a passing joke.

According to the fashion search platform Lyst, demand for Tabi styles, the cloven-hoof design that separates the big toe from the others, has risen fourfold since 2022. Vibram’s glove-like FiveFingers, which give each toe its own pocket, are up 57% year on year. A few seasons ago, both would have marked their wearer as a committed eccentric. Now they are being worn to offices and even weddings.

From the school run to the high street

The trend’s defining feature is a love of shoes once considered too humble, or too odd, for polite company. Simone Rocha has covered supersized Crocs in pearls and gemstones. Etro has joined Dior and Valentino in reworking the cork-footbed Birkenstock clog, a shoe long treated as the opposite of fashion.

Price is no barrier to the appeal, and nor is it a guarantee of it. This summer, French gardening clogs called Gardanas, which cost £38 and come in an earthworm-like shade, generated long waiting lists, and not only among gardeners. Celine sells a similar mossy-coloured pair for £670, which suggests the look is being priced across a wide range.

High-street retailers from John Lewis to Zara have also embraced hybrids dubbed “Frankenshoes”. The sneakerina crosses a trainer with a ballet flat; the snoafer marries a sneaker to a penny loafer. They are odd, but they are easy to wear, which may explain how they travel so far beyond the fashion crowd.

Even the heel is being reimagined

High heels haven’t vanished, but they have been reshaped. Designers have offered versions that resemble deflated balloons or broken eggs. Tory Burch inverted the heel altogether in her latest collection, creating the look of a flat mule while still lifting the wearer. The most sought-after height is now a stubby half-inch “nipple heel”.

Why strange shoes now?

Dal Chodha, a writer and lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London, calls the shift “thrilling”. He argues it pushes people to embrace “the jolt of something that feels ugly or absurd”, and describes a “liberating place where more people can have fun with their shoes”. He has personal form: as a teenager he wore Nike Air Rift trainers with a split-toe design.

Valerie Steele, chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, offers a practical explanation. Shoes sit far from the face, she says, so wearers can “play with elements of ugliness” and make a statement without committing to a whole outfit. A strange shoe can be a low-risk way to experiment.

She also notes that this is hardly new. Medieval poulaines, with elongated toes, signalled social rank, and some were so long they had to be fastened to the knee to prevent tripping. Towering chopines, worn by women from the 15th century, also indicated status. In ancient Greece, sex workers are reputed to have worn sandals with “Follow me” carved into the soles.

What it means for your wardrobe

The history suggests that unusual footwear has long been a way to signal something, whether power, wealth or a sense of humour. What has changed is access. The latest freaky footwear comes at £38 or £670, from gardening suppliers and luxury houses alike, and is worn on ordinary commutes rather than only in front of photographers.

Whether the fourfold rise in Tabi demand keeps climbing is anyone’s guess. For now, the polite pump and the inoffensive trainer have company, and it is wearing split toes.

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Our daily workwear reports suggest one piece of work-appropriate attire in a range of prices.

‘Tis the season for cozy blazers, and the Talbots Shetland blazer has been one of my favorites for ages. If you’re looking for a classic herringbone pattern that will hold up for years, Talbots has your back. I have one in my closet that I’ve been trotting out on chilly fall days for the past five Octobers.

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I love this purple color, but it also comes in green, burgundy, ivory, and burnt copper.

The blazer is $199-$219 at Talbots and comes in sizes 2-18, 0P-16P, 14-24, and 14P-22P. Right now you can get 25% off select regular-price styles, and this one is included!

Sales of note for 10/23 (ALSO, friendly PSA – check any NAS or Amazon Prime Day purchases for the return policies…)

• Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase + $50 off your $200+ purchase
• Brooklinen – Friends & Family – 20% off sitewide and 50% off select bundles
• J.Crew – Up to 40% off select fall styles. Also, donate any gently worn coat in one of their stores and get $25 off your next purchase of $125+.
• J.Crew Factory – 40% off new arrivals + extra 15% off orders of $100+
• M.M.LaFleur – 72 hours only, save 20% on jardigans (Try code CORPORETTE15 for 15% off on other items)
• Nordstrom – 5840+ new markdowns for women, up to 40% off
• Talbots – 50% off one regularly-priced item, 40% off everything else
• Theory – End of season sale is on with extra savings (new prices are marked)

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