A.L.C., Lingua Franca, Agbobly and More Contemporary Brands

Shot in and around Montauk, Lingua Franca’s spring 2026 collection is inspired by New England summers. Creative director Rachelle Hruska MacPherson and designer Joshua Schwartz drew inspiration of the feeling one gets experiencing a summer filled with salt air, fields of wildflowers, worn wood and oysters for days — can’t beat that. The collection is a combination of traditional silhouettes like silks and knits with enchanting prints that give the garments an airy, costal feeling. The standout quilted silks are inspired by heirloom bedspreads — some with delicate lacing and fringe. Others with different painter’s palettes or drawings from women in the national gallery turned into prints. The brand also introduced their new cotton cashmere sweater that allows consumers to customize it. Leave it to Lingua Franca to remind us of the beauty in the simple things and playfulness that’s needed in the hard world today. 

For spring 2026, Nina Sarin Arias of Arias New York remains true to her integration of fashion and art. This season she taps acclaimed abstract painter Amy Feldman to collaborate on a few standout pieces for the 2026 collection. The contemporary artist and designer share a similar style in creating streamlined forms while injecting playfulness into it. Seen throughout the collection is Arias’ native minimalist and timeless silhouettes with a slight inspiration to the ’90s — a purple silk slipdress, airy miniskirts, or a ruby red bodycon dress that’s true to the brand’s identity rooted in femininity. The playful ruffles on cotton blouses add movement but maintain sensuality. The duo created a standout print made of potatoes — yes, potatoes. Inspired by traditional block printing, Feldman hand-carved potato stamps which is then digitally modified into photo impressions and seamlessly placed onto a lightweight white cotton blouse. Arias continues the conversation of fashion and art sharing a keen eye for detail. 

Pentagames is a no chance game, no one wins but it is about movement, swapping and different paths. For spring 2026, Jacques of Agbobly takes inspiration from the endless but rigorous game and how it can relate to everyday life. One core change that happened to Jacques was the unfortunate loss of his younger brother; it is through this grief that the collection is in honor of.

Agbobly drew inspiration from the innocence of his childhood and how ultimately, we do not get to choose the life we are born into — even with its beauty there will be grueling twists and turns along the way. There is always a playfulness in the designer’s use of colors and textures, and this season, Agbobly keeps up with that with sharp and wide ranging colorful tailored suits, using different textures of silk and cotton. In contrast, adding an element of depth with the twist and turns of life like introducing utility — a women’s oversize nylon tech jacket or a black A-line corset dress that was “sort of maternal, the finale look that you’ll see, there’s a picture of my mother breastfeeding my little brother and that was sort of the mood board.” This was a sentimental collection for Jacques, and it exhibits the duality of life’s journey — simultaneously beautiful and jarring. 

Andrea Lieberman described her spring offering as “a study in texture and silhouette, grounded in our utilitarian approach to polished femininity.” Her woman has a full life and Lieberman envisions her pieces at the front of her closet with “silhouettes through a lens of sophistication.”

Her work is direct, without filler, addressing the rhythms of real life dressing with supple knitted dresses and tops, sharp tailoring, tech forward fabrications and bringing back jersey. “We’ve reintroduced it in a big way this season because of the new developments in fabric technology. The jersey we’re using is derived from seaweed, has cooling properties and is sustainably sourced,” she said.

It’s a neutral palette with pops of orange and bits of lace, seen on a slipdresses that gave way to her expanding her bridal ideas. “The wedding of today is no longer about just the big day, there are so many meaningful moments that surround the ceremony. As we’ve listened to our brides and their needs, this area has continued to grow and expand — we’re now outfitting her for the entire experience, from the engagement party to the honeymoon.” 

Patricia Bonaldi is branching out: category-wise, with the introduction of her shoe range for spring 2026, and also more literally than that.

“I wanted to invest in construction,” Bonaldi said about the fanned-out skirts and exaggerated waists. “You’re going to see a lot of crinolines, things that I use on bridal. Now, I’m using them for ready-to-wear, too.”

Bonaldi also brought a hodgepodge of fabrics, like mixing ruched jersey with taffeta accents. A few pieces eschewed fabric overall. “This is actually not a fabric,” she said of a fully sequined dress, which only consists of beads and the hand-embroidered netting. “You can see it’s made by hand. This took about 75 days to get done.”

The focus on craftsmanship got a few iterations, such as custom-cut sequins resembling feathers and flowers. “Latin culture is about movement,” she said. “The ruffles that I use translate this movement into the collection.”

Other pieces felt more consistent with Bonaldi’s vision: body-hugging, midthigh hemlines and a cutout here or there. She’s ready to introduce more, though. Pointing to a pair of shoes with a lotus-shaped heel, “I’ve decided that the lotus flower will be part of the iconography of the brand,” she said. “I’m going to use this for inspiration a lot.

Yigal Azrouël has spent decades marrying his menswear background with clothes for women. For spring 2026, that looked like a greater focus on more industrial materials — Japanese denim, suede and, of course, leather — in decidedly more feminine silhouettes. Case in point, even the T-shirts had a knitted hem that resembled corsetry, but in the Azrouël way. “Every piece has to be effortless,” he said, “but they need to be comfortable.” Even the flowier pieces, which comprised a good amount of the 27 looks, were all styled with belts. On the more masculine side, there was a coated cotton trench as well as a buttery leather set. And true to Azrouël’s menswear sensibilities, a bias twill jacket fully lined in silk, “like an oversize men’s jacket,” he said.

“I’m looking to go back to an era of dressing again, and this otherwise-lost design art,” said Kari Vettese of her spring 2026 presentation. The show was nostalgic in more ways than that: taking place in the Irish American Society, a nod to the event’s soundtrack (the score to James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic”) and the shipwrecked siren hairstyles. With lots of blazers spanning silhouettes — some more men’s in feeling, others reminiscent of ’40s women’s bar jackets — she also dabbled into corsetry with some help from her existing aesthetic lexicon. “We have a lot of our tubing language still, which is a cotton blend we do a special rolling technique with,” she said. “It’s very true to my roots.”

When you start a fashion show with a literal car crash, the only way is up from there.

The crash may have been staged, but it set the tone for Gabe Gordon’s spring 2026 show, which married industrial elements with a collection just as varied in its references as it was in its shapes.

“We’re placing the collection in the early ’90s: demolition derby, Madonna’s ‘Erotica,’ post-AIDS crisis,” Gordon said. “Something that resonated with us was eroticizing machines. We find something interesting in these fun ways of playing with horror themes.”

Taking cues from mechanic jumpsuits, the more commercial end of the collection saw name-patched jumpsuits and shirting. Less conventionally, a cutout dress covered in buttons “like shrapnel from a crash,” said fellow designer Timothy Gibbons. “It’s been a motif of the label for years already, so we’re trying to refresh it in new fabrications.”

Cynthia Rowley’s focus is still equal parts feminine and sporty. For spring 2026, though, the designer added a masculine twist with styling. Think a windbreaker under a blazer, or knee-length shorts topped off with sequined tanks. “I always wear, like, track shorts with a blazer tucked in. That’s kind of my jam,” Rowley said. “It’s pieces that you love, but wearing them in a way that’s having fun with styling, too.”

Her breadth was on full display, opening the show in Battery Park with a floral-printed men’s look, showcasing her Illesteva eyewear collaboration, geometric pajama sets and dresses of all hemlines. There were colors, prints, embroideries and stripes — the latter of which mimicked the branded sailboats behind the walkway. “My friend, a menswear designer, gave me this book on silk and I thought it was so cool,” Rowley said. “That’s where the sail stripes came from, and I thought we should make something out of them.”

Tanya Taylor thinks of her client as an artist. For resort, how she dresses in a studio and for spring, what she wears on creative retreats.

“I kept asking myself where she was going,” the designer said. “Il Pellicano has this artist retreat history to it where lots of New York artists would go and live for months.”

The vibe was “silky and slinky,” Taylor said, particularly in reference to a two-piece set. “I didn’t want it to feel too cinched, nothing is too over-styled.”

She still went more on the luxe end, albeit in subtle ways, such as swapping cotton in her hallmark printed dresses with a warped taffeta. “It has a bit more weight and integrity to it,” she said. Flower accents on necklines, eyelet trim on a dress and sets, and sequins around a minidress strap added noteworthy touches, but not with too much intensity.

That resonance, Taylor thinks, will expand along with her customer base as she prepares a store opening in Greenwich, Conn. “As we broaden where our stores are, it’s fun to think about what those customers are doing,” she said. “Versus just a New York girl.”

Cinq à Sept’s theme for spring was the glamour of the late ’50s and early ’60s; think Palm Springs and Jackie Kennedy.

“There was a sexy aspect to the way women approached fashion in those days,” said Jane Siskin, founder and chief executive officer of Cinq à Sept, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Siskin said these days her customers are “more open to fashion, color and print,” and she delivered with punchy floral prints ranging from whimsical and abstract to literal interpretations. Siskin served up looks such as an ikat boucle denim structured jacket and pants, a black jacket with chunky stone embroidery and a green paillette-encrusted skirt and flutter sleeve top.

“When everything went minimal and quiet, we’re still very loud. Our customer likes to shine,” said Siskin.

And with this collection, she will.

Ohad Seroya’s going out girl is going to the beach — specifically, in Brazil.

“I go to Brazil every year for one month, and last year, we decided to go to Carnival,” Seroya said. “It’s a mix of luxe, street, everything. Guys are wearing a thong, a girl is in jeans, it’s a mix of color, everyone’s dancing. That vibe inspired me. I wanted color, vibrancy, and mixed media.”

That’s not to say every silhouette was super skin-baring. Long, shiny gowns met sequins, two-piece sets and knit body suits, all in vibrant electric blues, sunny yellows, or iridescent lamé. There were lace panels here, sequins there, or — in the case of one dress — all over in a fanned-out pattern.

“It’s for all occasions and going out,” Seroya said. “Our girl comes to us to feel special. She’ll go on a date, she’ll go to a wedding, celebrate something happy.”

That mood is still the case for Seroya, who said the business was unencumbered by declining consumer sentiment. “Retrofête? You especially come for occasion or vacation,” he said. “She’s not coming to us for basics.”

Tara Rudes Dann knows how to design a Swiss Army knife look to go from boardroom to dinner to bed.

For spring, though, she opted to focus on after-work play. “This is her evolution into what she does in the after hours — she’s already succeeded in effortless dressing,” she said, nodding to the jeans, T-shirt, blouse and blazer, as well as a silk slipdress. “This is just taking her to that next level. She’s always ready for a party.”

Though the sets and dresses feel familiar for L’Agence, they also marked the evolution of accessories categories like shoes and belts. In July, the brand introduced hats, and is gearing up with new evening bags.

“We have her in gowns and evening,” Rudes Dann said in a gesture to a slew of sequined gowns. And though Rudes Dann said denim is the cornerstone of her business, those pieces still got an evening upgrade, such as a super sheer, floor-length lace skirt paired with a denim button-up. Lace cropped up elsewhere — trim on a slip here, a corset dress there.

Rudes Dann said the focus is on fun. “It’s a task every day to just get up and take on the day,” she said, nodding to political tensions and macroeconomic pressures, not to mention business ones. “If we can add a special element of her feeling incredible, that’s how we’re dressing her.”

Vince’s typical East Coast-meets-West, pared-back vibe is getting an infusion from a different coastline. “There’s this awesome place in the South of France [that’s used] as a holiday resort in 1958,” said designer Caroline Belhumeur of her inspiration, the seaside resort La Grande Motte. “You see Egyptian pyramids, and this curvature that goes around every part. We were inspired by that, as well as these sun-washed colors and canopies.”

To that end, the otherwise minimalist collection saw sweet, feminine touches inspired by Parisiennes in the ’60s: “A button here, a scalloped edge or a pocket to counter our more men’s-y approach,” she said.

Earlier shipments, though, saw rich browns, such as a chocolate-y shade trench, before later ones evolved into ginghams. Of course, “We still have sweaters,” she said, “and we’re finding out customers are really loving an A-line skirt. She’s always going to come to us for the cornerstone pieces like cashmeres, satins, suedes. But she’s also enjoying more of the fashion, some smaller shapes paired with bigger skirts.”

For spring 2026, Derek Lam 10 Crosby design director Yana Popov sought inspiration from travel. Subtle touches of global inspiration throughout are woven together into a collection that can be worn by the woman on the go. There are separates for wandering the souks of Marrakech, dresses to throw on for a seaside dinner in Cinque Terra, and stylish lounge looks for long-haul flight to Tokyo.

“Even for the stewardess in the plane needs to look chic, we added some subtle utilitarian details in the line that continues a message of strength and versatility throughout the collection,” Popov said. “This brand is known for its functional and tactile elements, which have always been done in a very fashionable, playful twist. So, one of my favorite looks is the balloon pant with a little vest top fashion statement. It’s the perfect travel set.”