“dare to dream:” a spring/summer 2026 runway recap

the spring/summer 2026 show season exemplified a “breaking free;”

that the tumult in the physical world, combined with powerful shifts of the outer planets, resulted in creation that was deeply existential, ethereal, + dreamy.

some designers asked the big questions; some began to unlock their true legacy work.

others pushed boundaries + the limits of the collective imagination, unrestricted by logic or expectation, or aligning with themes of spirituality.

with pisces currently in the north node, a sense of emotionality + empathy permeated the show notes of designers struggling to reconcile the meaning of their work against a backdrop of global crisis.

as written by no.21's alessandro dell’aqua,

“in a world so heavy, even a little levity can clear the mind and lift the spirit. some evenings, coming home from sketching and flicking on the news, i’d ask myself: ‘why am I making clothes?’ and yet, you carry on. this collection carries that melancholy—a restless heart, creativity tinged with sadness. i’m not in the mood for excess or loudness. it’s a time of melancholic creativity.”

for canonically maxmimalist alessandro michele at valentino, the same; this season, he felt called to simplify.

the house’s invites were a package of fishing fireflies, an allusion referenced in michele’s show notes to a letter by director pier paolo pasolini in 1941 in which the firefly represents “glimmers so elusive to survive the darkness of the ruling f*scism.”

the designer’s call to action was to push the audience, “to make people dream, to try to escape, not just from reality, but from the idea that you can do nothing.”

perhaps the most powerful pisces north node story is that of matthieu blazy’s debut at chanel.

set under a glowing solar system, the designer offered a glimpse into his modernized vision for the brand’s future, while effortlessly referencing house codes + symbols from its history.

the planets not only represented a galaxy of possibility for what’s to come (as well as referencing coco chanel’s love of astrology), but also, the closing of a loop in blazy’s own story.

in 2006, his graduate project focused on claudie haigneré, the first french woman in space;

whether intentional or not, a powerful tie to the last time pisces was in the north node, an ending to the path that led him to chanel, and a door opening of what his legacy would lead him to be next.

for a select group of designers (including blazy) with important new appointments leading major houses, their ages aligning them with their personal pluto + neptune squares, it is a time of establishing their true “legacy” work;

dissolving illusions around what was + finding permission to rewrite the potential of the brands, align with modern needs, and anchoring into self-trust no matter how much uncertainty or questioning surrounds them.

jonathan anderson’s debut at dior is another example; the 40-year-old presented a collection that “blurred” references to the house’s most recognizable designs , flirting with history while clearly identifying his own personal voice as the new holder of its vision, especially playing with freer tailoring.

pierpaolo piccioli’s collection at balenciaga revisited the house’s sack dress silhouette from 1957, a rebuttal to years of dior’s strict structural “new look,” meant to give ease to the women’s silhouette again, giving them freedom in shape after all that constriction.

this futuristic, non-conformist silhouette - repeated through many pieces in the collection - evokes desires similar to those we are feeling with pluto in aquarius. and, just like this transit, noted piccioli:

“i want to put the human at the center of everything.”

however, nothing could be more aquarian - quirky, irreverent, non-conformist - than the aliens that walked the runways at thom browne, announcing “we come in peace.”

as pluto in aquarius has just begun its long transit, the most pioneering of designers + houses are already demonstrating the power of its message of recognizing + uplifting the collective, versus the few.

miuccia prada this season embraced the apron as the centralized silhouette at miu miu. “we in fashion always talk about glamour or rich people, but we have to recognize also that life is very difficult. and to me the apron contains the real difficult life of women in history, from factories to the home.”

the celebration of the proletariat also appeared at jacquemus, where the designer crafted a collection of Provence peasant farmer-inspired styling; an ode to the generations of his family that worked in this way.

at alaia, perhaps uranus in gemini has broken the house’s typical codes of sexy, silhouette-forward knits; instead, leaning into heavy textures + fringes, perfect for video and how fashion communicates through disruptive visual media in the age of reels + tiktok.

dynamic texture + fringe stories had a through line to other collections, like etro + bottega veneta, confirming the importance of considering motion + video appeal.

the entry of neptune into aries has brought a dreamy, imaginative take on how we show the body, with sheers feeling ethereal (but ready for action!) at susan fang...

... as well as at jil sander.

at givenchy, sheers still played with illusionary shapes (neptune) + sexy details, but kept consistent with an edge, ready to be worn in action (aries.)

at alexander mcqueen, perhaps the most dynamic display of the potential of neptune in aries; heavy on body consciousness, while also a bit of romanticization around its aggressive mars qualities with military-style jackets, a trend that repeatedly appeared on the runways.

neptune in aries also called for some designers to boldly align with themes of spirituality + divination, from tarot at burberry*...

(*i would be remiss not to note the incorrectly “clockwise” moving zodiac wheel around the sun, currently frying the astro girlies online)