Inside Sacai SS26: A Hybrid Vision of Utility, Elegance & Technical Mastery

Sacai Spring/Summer 2026 was unveiled through a hybrid presentation, offering an intimate first look at a co-ed collection. In an exhibition with no models, rows of standing mannequins were styled from head to toe in a brightly-lit mirrored room, inviting guests to an autonomous, viewer-led experience. It’s a rare privilege to be introduced to a collection at such proximity. Each fabulous detail in the stitching, draping, and spliced constructions was laid bare, centering attention on the technical prowess that underlies Sacai’s design language.

 

The clothes, never the spectacle, lead the narrative: a knife-pleated satin trim on the cascading hem of a flapper-inspired high-low skirt, low-slung integrated indigo denim double-waistband spliced on wool suiting, a cotton cashmere tuxedo—revealing Chitose’s Abe’s precisely constructed reimagining of the utilitarian canon. Exaggerated, cocooning silhouettes were a leitmotif this season, appearing across pleated, voluminous wide-legged pants and ballooning sleeves. Draped, asymmetric silhouettes wove throughout the collection, with tucks, deconstructed layers, off-axis construction, and directional hemlines, imagined in a variety of materials from leathers to nylon sateen. This was a collection that unfolded outward, to be understood from the details out.

 

This season reunites with Carhartt WIP in a collaboration of reimagined blue-collar workwear silhouettes, and with J.M. Weston on a line of refined leather footwear from sculptural sandals to sharply tailored loafers. Throughout the collection, colors nodded to tactical, utilitarian references: dusty olives, inky navy, and sand tones, interrupted with moments of levity in printed florals, colorful unbalanced stripes on satin, and bright relief-banded dimensional knits.

 

The methodical deconstruction of daily uniforms—from MA-1 bombers to crisp shirting and twill trench jackets—is synonymous with Abe’s design philosophy of hybridization and thoughtful disruption in the 26 years of sacai. Silhouettes and form marry elegance with utility for an around-the-clock wardrobe. Utilitarian nylon sateens are spliced with tight bouncy knits, and cotton twills are tailored to refined transitional essentials. Tension is rendered in balance, inhabiting a world entirely Sacai’s own.