Lemaire SS26 Explores Intuitive Style and the Art of Dressing

Summary

Lemaire Spring/Summer 2026 collection emphasizes a love for fashion as a creative practice, with fabrics, proportions, and colors that amplify dressing
Menswear classics are re-proportioned and paired unconventionally
The show opened with a performance from Valentina Magaletti and Zongamin

Lemaire, the Parisian house renowned for its understated elegance and practical luxury, today unveiled its Spring/Summer 2026 men’s and women’s collection. This season, designers Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran affirm that their creative frequency lies in a profound love of fashion and style itself, a sentiment amplified through meticulously chosen fabrics, textures, proportions and colors that elevate the very act of dressing.

The collection presents a wardrobe that is both alert and confidently worn, a quality echoed by a specially commissioned performance from Valentina Magaletti and Zongamin. Their rhythmic dialogue of drums and bass marked moments of percussive clarity—a direct parallel to how clothes, too, serve as dynamic forms of communication. Garments are layered with an immediate, almost spontaneous sensibility: a sharp, tailored suit jacket casually worn over a tank top, or a Western shirt effortlessly tucked into a skirt. Silhouettes remain straightforward, imbued with an active, sporty attitude that enhances movement and acknowledges the reality of urban transit.

A palpable sensuality emerges from nonchalant gestures and ingenious construction. Asymmetric skirts are shown alongside a draped stretch jersey dress, fastened with a zipper that gathers at the shoulders as if spontaneously pinned. Pieces crafted in viscose silk twill feature pressed, incidental pleats that beautifully evoke the body’s natural creases and curvature, embracing the haptic beauty of garments shaped by wear.

Menswear archetypes are revisited with intelligent twists on classics. Reproportioned single-breasted tailored jackets are paired unexpectedly with pajama pants, sandals, and open-collared shirts that tenderly frame the neckline. Small blousons and compact tops find balance with loosely flared pants; straight jeans with combat boots; and leather jackets with boxing shoes. This intentional play of opposites—closely fitted and fluid cuts, formal mixed with informal, strong with soft, structured with unstructured—creates an easy allure.

The collection is infused with a multitude of references to fashion history, forming a collage of eras sharpened by feelings and impressions, brought back with contemporary relevance. Oversized ’80s-inspired pilot bomber jackets coincide with ’70s military trench coats that match the contrasts in look and feel extend to individual garments through the interplay of shiny and matte textures like nappa and nubuck leathers, resinated linens, and check dégradé patterns in viscose and cotton yarns, even silk laminated with gold. The palette itself evokes the light at the end of a summer’s day: vibrant orange, burnt and vivid reds, dirty whites, deep gradients of burgundy, purple, and grey, alongside sun-bleached and scorched hues that capture the chroma of sunsets and colors at night, anchored by black with touches of light, suggesting horizons.