By June Roberson
After announcing his grandmother and recurrent inspiration, Liline Jacquemus, as the house’s first-ever ambassador just a day prior, Simon Jacquemus turned to yet another female muse for this season’s offering, his daughter, or rather her palm tree ponytail. It carried the legacy of Jacquemus’ women, just slightly younger and more playful. Drawing a design blueprint built from his own past collections and couture’s most quintessential decades, Jacquemus Fall/Winter 2026 served as a vivid close to Paris Men’s Week before letting the fashion world fully set its sights on couture.
Le Looks
Returning to the Picasso Museum, in the heart of the city where Jacquemus’ work first met the venue in 2017, Le Palmier, literally translating to “Palm tree,” sat as the sun of Jacquemus’ creative universe; its solar system comprised of archival shows that orbited this season and all that the upcoming seasons may hold. Through these rotating inspirations, Simon awarded us fish contouring courtesy of L’amour D’un Gitan; its silhouette ornamenting everything from coats to sleeve tabs**,** curvature lifted fresh from La Bomba and a cameo of his Le Valérie bag. The latter is inspired by his late mother who had oft-been first to wear his early designs. It has now been reimagined as an evening clutch in reds, yellows, and oranges, direct from the Le Chiquito era.
As a young phenom, Jacquemus coined an ingenious nonchalance, idiosyncratic in a “do as you please” sort of way which seemed to return in reverie this season. A zigzag marble staircase separating the ground floor from the showroom was a climb that left you quietly impressed that models appeared not the least bit out of breath at the top. Opening looks flattered the waist with partially peplum tops and fluid mermaid skirts, each curve carefully framed by sharply angled arms resting at the hip. Look 7 arrived in a speckled suit, its tie perpetually windblown, as if fashionably late to a whimsical affair, while Looks 16, 18, and 42 offered scattered nods to last spring’s equestrian craze.
Jacquemus Fall/Winter 2026: Looks 7, 16, 18, 42 (Images courtesy of Jacquemus)
Appearing quite literally fresh from the ring, riding crop in hand, men’s slouch-fitting cotton-twill suits were tucked messily into tall riding boots, while women's mimicked traditional breeches. Riding helmets, complete with velvet show texture, would have felt more convincing with chin straps, yet what they lacked in utility they made up for in a far more fashionable choice. Next, came a moment fully prepared to steal the show. A Carmen Sandiego–meets–Cruella De Ville figure emerging beneath an excessively wide-brimmed circular hat and unmistakable trademark red trench coat for a disguise, almost ironically indiscreet.
The remaining looks unfolded as a cast of characters, diverse in every sense. A Grimaldi-esque Harlequin clown appeared in Look 48, complete with a slightly offset cone hat and half scarf that evolved into a large sheep purse. Polka dots ranged from giant black-and-white dots, classic enough to be almost unexpected, to multi-colored confetti that sprang from a ballooning men’s blouse in Look 62. Then came the grand finale as an homage to the 80s that was purely Paloma Picasso reincarnate. Clad in the iconic one-shoulder black dress, breast exposed, and a drinking glass tactfully poised, Helmut Newton’s vision delivered every ounce of archival glamor Jacquemus hoped to awaken in **Look 71.**Though vast, the collection’s standouts were far from few, a feat sure to send more than one look to the red carpet come fall.
Jacquemus Fall/Winter 2026: Looks 48, 62, 70 (Images courtesy of Jacquemus)
Le Guest List
Sitting front row was the illustrious Anna Wintour, who, with a résumé longer than most of us have lived, continues to act as a compass for each season’s worthy shows. Across the room, Elton John, yet another guest who hardly need be introduced, was accompanied by filmmaker, and husband, David Furnish, alongside movie-star Elizabeth Olsen, social media creator, Alix Earle, and rising Parisian it-girl, Jeanne Damas. Still, despite renowned onlookers, the true guest of honor remained the house’s newest ambassador and beloved muse, Liline Jacquemus, seated proudly front row for her grandson’s latest unveiling.
Jacquemus’ New Muse Takes Its First Steps
Recent seasons have stirred discourse around designers who move through love of their muse and those who, for some reason, seem intent on silencing it. For Jacquemus, it goes without saying, the answer is the former. Even at nineteen, before his minimalist designs became Provençal and the micro-purse was not yet coined, his identity never faltered. This year presented the same Jacquemus with a livelier vision, one that has always existed but perhaps now roams fully free, inspired by a much younger mini-muse he welcomed into the world just last year. Maybe the collection is proof that children don’t just age us but reignite the innocent play we often push aside within ourselves.