Unveiled during Paris Fashion Week, sacai’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection reaffirmed Chitose Abe’s mastery of hybrid garments and elevated utilitarianism. This season, the Japanese label dove deeper into sculptural tailoring and deconstructed workwear, with a standout collaboration with Carhartt WIP that infused rugged staples with sacai’s trademark technical flair.
As ever, Abe’s designs balance the refined and the practical, oscillating between high-concept silhouettes and everyday wearability. For SS26, tailoring took center stage, with dramatically oversized trousers, deep pleating, and cropped outerwear creating a play of proportion that’s both subversive and polished. Suit jackets were transformed with padded shoulders, cape-like backs, and open sleeves, introducing fresh asymmetries that disrupt conventional menswear structures.
Outerwear, a sacai signature, was again subject to the label’s cut-and-splice philosophy. Some coats—like trench styles with added panels or belts in contrasting tones—opted for subtle transformation, while others went all in: think fused flight jackets and blazers, merging distinct visual languages into something wholly new.
Closing the loop between form and function, sacai’s partnership with Carhartt WIP offered a compelling reinterpretation of blue-collar staples. Canvas work jackets, carpenter trousers, hoodies, and blazers were filtered through Abe’s design vocabulary, reinforcing the idea that workwear can evolve without shedding its roots.
Altogether, sacai SS26 is less about reinvention and more about reassembling the familiar into the unexpected—a reminder that in Abe’s hands, no garment is ever quite what it seems.