The Trends Dominating Contemporary Brands’ Fall 2026 Collections

Seeing red: Scarlet, poppy, crimson and fire-engine reds made splashes throughout the collections, from a ruffled bright Tanya Taylor number to Hervé Léger’s red bandage dresses. Rag & Bone used the color as an accent, adding it in as the lining on a varsity jacket.

Getting technical: Robert Rodriguez’s debut at Derek Lam was marked by more industrial touches, specifically hardware. Elsewhere, Haoran Li at Private Policy built the entire collection around labor and technical garb, such as workwear-inspired chest pockets and the like. As Li told WWD, “As AI gets into people’s lives, I thought about manual and human labor, and I think it’s more important than ever.” At her presentation, Kate Barton — which used virtual reality software developed by an IBM subsidiary to “outfit” visitors in her lineup — said her clientele was shifting toward metal accents in addition to her hallmark structural silhouettes.

Embellished stories: Embellishments reached new heights for the season, from the heavily beaded tops at PatBo to the full-length embroideries at Alice + Olivia. For the former’s Patricia Bonaldi, that’s extending to her fledgling shoe business, which is getting a strong commercial response in her home market of Brazil. For Alice + Olivia’s Stacey Bendet, it’s a mixture of old and new, as she looked to the Gilded Age for inspiration and used AI to get her desired result. “We really pushed the embroidery and beading in our gowns this season, and the gowns have embroidery that used AI,” she said. “For me, it’s like the Industrial Revolution, and that’s why I referenced this era.”

Taking a more muted approach to embellishments, Cinq à Sept’s Jane Siskin added dustings of glam to her 10th anniversary collection, adding just a touch of bling to her more casual wares.

Layers: Bendet’s quieter take on outerwear included a jacket with two layered collars, a technique also incorporated into Caroline Belhumeur’s fall 2026 collection for Vince. “We have double layering in little polos with two layers, or a silk rayon shirt as well,” Belhumeur said. “We’ve also played with the idea of a faux little satin undershirt. You’re not full-on dressy, it’s a bit more of an easier lifestyle piece, and it feels very intuitive to a California brand for us to have these more relaxed pieces.”

Michelle Ochs also played with the idea at Hervé Léger, noting in some of the bandage pieces, “It’s true bandage that’s layered, layered and layered. That dimension gives a kind of reptilian feel to the collection.”

At L’Agence, that translated across categories. “This season was about layering, but with every category: shoes, belts, which we progressed with,” said designer Tara Rudes Dann. Her client, as she put it, “Gets to wear the brand head-to-toe and she exudes brilliance.”

’90s nostalgia: Looking back to the ’90s, with many nods to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy — an iconic and timely style reference with the release of Ryan Murphy’s latest “Love Story” series —wasn’t just on luxury designers’ minds during New York Fashion Week but also of those in the contemporary space.

Sarah Staudinger’s latest collection for Staud had a distinct nod to the era through new slip dressing; clashing, playful prints; unexpected color pairings on simple knits and sportif layers, and minimalist outerwear. She added levity to each of her minimalist-bent styles with fall’s Murano glass-inspired prints, feather and sequin embellishments, and conversational accessories, like a porcupine handbag and bow-adorned heeled sandals.

Dunshane Noble’s creative direction at Theory is one to follow. For Theory’s fall collection, the designer is activating the old New York nostalgia that solidified the ’90s. Drawing inspiration from a Peter Lindbergh editorial shoot from 2016, Noble created a capsule collection where the modern women can put together a look with little thought but a lot of intention. Theory’s “dipped in black” references were blended nicely with pops of colors like burgundy, brown and mustard yellow to add flair and variety.