In Milan, the British designer lifted the guise on what we wear and rethought power dressing while he was at it.
Saul Nash is evolving. The London label has always put movement at its core, but in Milan yesterday, that vision went up a gear; a new routine unlocked, new gains achieved. Titled “Masquerade”, the designer’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection was born from his experience of ‘playing mas’ at Notting Hill Carnival, and the act of dancing in costume.
“This led me to explore the ‘masquerade’ of dressing in menswear and the interplay between the formality of dressing up and the ease of casualwear,” Nash says. “I became interested in the ‘masks’ we wear daily. Tools to transcend, protect, or shape identity. Garments, in this sense, become empowering masks.
It didn’t take long to see what that interplay looked like. Following a performance honouring the masquerade traditions of his grandparents, the show’s opening look saw a dyed green boiler suit worn undone, tied around a model’s waist. Underneath, a graphic tee revealed the X-Ray graphic of last season’s slit T-shirt. The nipple-exposing knitwear made a return, too. But denim cut without an inseam, to allow for a full range of movement was new, as were velcro leather boots.
But there’s more to menswear than covering up and revealing, it’s what you say to the world. If you want to tell people you’re going to the gym even if you’re not, you wear activewear. In this case you’d wear SLNSH, the designer’s collaborative Lululemon line that was showcased alongside Nash’s core offering. If you want to look like a smart guy with an exceptional credit score, you might wear a suit. And following the brand’s steady introduction of tailoring over the last few seasons, this time it was reconfigured. Jumpsuits were stamped with mismatched pinstripes to give the illusion of formalwear and a three-piece suit was printed onto cagoule jackets.
“Referencing our signature tracksuits, it comments on masquerade, using a silhouette often judged to be a tool of empowerment, nodding to my own experience of being judged for wearing a tracksuit in places like the theatre when I was younger,” says Nash. And If you’re wondering, the jumpsuit is inspired by Ben Magid Rabinovitch’s theatrical costume as Tamaris in “Dirge” 1931.
Nash extended the theatrics to the collection’s outerwear. High-neck double-breasted trench coats cropped below the waist. Iridescent bomber jackets were finished with shoulder-lapping collars. They were thrown over suits, merging the workday uniform with the weekend’s undone polish, reflecting how bodies and the clothes that cling to them move through life. “Exaggerated proportions were key in this collection. In a way, collars become acts of disguise seen across many of the key pieces,” says Nash.
Just a day before Saul Nash’s AW26 show, Dunhill unveiled a collection nodding to the dandy-ish suits of the 1960s and Paul Smith dished out archival revisits to 1980s and 1990s tailoring. In short, Milan is a city that likes tradition. The Saul Nash man is literate in this way of dressing and thinking. They know the lore. They might respect it. But they’re not afraid to look behind the mask – they dress for life in constant motion.
