A rebel of our time, John Alexander Skelton wanted to make a case against the rise of comfort dressing for spring 2026. “Recently, for me, dressing in a manner that might be considered slightly more formal feels the most esoteric and therefore the most appealing,” he said.
He looked at family photos, observing the way his grandparents dressed in the mid-‘90s, and procured antique striped fabric from Paris for a collection that centered around tailoring that is “nonstuffy nor governed by ridiculous made-up rules,” just how his grandfather liked it.
The collection was presented via a poetic look book shot in the Irish county of Mayo. The designer said the idyllic coastline there added a touch of softness, alongside floral prints, to a predominantly somber lineup.
He dressed local men, as well as women, which marked a first for the brand to offer proper womenswear, in his signature Dickensian era-meet-Wabi-sabi attire: striped shirts with buttons, crinkled three-piece suits with even more buttons, cotton ensembles with hand-drawn botanical prints, and medieval midsummer hats wrapped with raw-edge sashes.
Skelton said he started the collection with a particular type of striped cloth woven with gray and black yarns that’s traditionally used for mourning trousers.
“The combination of this cloth, the colors and tailoring worn in more of a laissez-faire manner made me think of my grandfather and the gentle elegance he exuded with the clothing he wore. I also thought about a trip he made in what must have been the mid-‘90s to Ireland with my grandmother and their friends,” the designer recalled.
In addition to adding a small women’s range, per buyer feedback, Skelton said he spent most of the time fine-tuning the pattern to make a double-breasted jacket that he is happy with: slimmer in fit with all the details in the right place.
“I wanted to make something that I exactly want to wear. There is an element of control. I won’t say I am paring it back, but I am definitely not adding unnecessary things,” he added.
