Jeanne Friot established the brand in 2020, during a period when global crisis suggested the possibility of structural change and collective care. The founding moment carried a belief that disruption could lead to repair. Five years later, that expectation has collapsed under a harsher political reality. Violence and legal rollback now define the conditions in which Collection Eight, titled Awake, takes shape.
FALL WINTER 2026.27 MENSWEAR
Recent events frame the Fall Winter 2026.27 collection directly. In the United States, Renée Nicole Good, a queer woman, poet, mother, and wife, died after a federal ICE agent shot her on January 6. In Europe, exclusion advances through law. In the United Kingdom, new legislation removes trans women from the legal definition of woman. These facts anchor the collection in a present marked by loss, erasure, and institutional force.
Such conditions produce cultural paralysis. Creative fields often face early pressure during periods of regression, while society simultaneously expects artists to remain vigilant and responsive. Awake addresses that contradiction head-on. The collection rejects withdrawal and insists on physical presence as a form of response at a time when language struggles to counter disinformation.
The runway foregrounds dance as a political act. Choreographer Maud Le Pladec developed the performance with dancers from Ballet de Lorraine, using the body as an active site of expression. Each performer maintains a distinct physical vocabulary, reinforcing collectivity without uniformity. This approach reflects a recurring principle within the brand: shared force grows through visible difference.
Dance here is more than release. It interrupts daily order and opens a temporary zone where norms loosen and bodies gain new readings. Nightlife and dance culture reappear as references already present in the brand’s first collection, Love Is Love (2022). Historically, these spaces have offered queer communities shelter, experimentation, and survival under pressure.
The garments translate these ideas through reworked house codes. Historic tartans appear with sequins, producing surface tension between tradition and embellishment. Oversized red coats wrap the body with volume that protects without restriction. Kilts stretch in width or length, while feathered jeans place daily wear in conversation with ornament. Belts surface in unexpected placements, including bustier dresses and coat collars, disrupting established eveningwear conventions.
Footwear reinforces physical freedom through a hybrid sneaker developed with Both, drawing inspiration from the ballet flat. Houndstooth tailoring pairs with knee-length skirts in a personal dedication to the designer’s grandmother, Micheline, whose influence shaped an early relationship with clothing as care and self-expression. The collection carries her memory as a private yet formative reference.
