Marc Jacobs Trades Fantasy for Fashion History With Spring 2026 Collection
Marc Jacobs unofficially opened New York Fashion Week on Monday night with a runway show for his spring 2026 collection, which riffed on a slew of famed fashion moments from the past. Björk blared on the speakers inside the Park Avenue Armory, as models wore looks that recalled the midi skirts and unconventional geek-chic, jolie laide suiting of Prada spring 1996; the retrofuturistic shapes of Yves Saint Laurent 1965 couture; and the very New York, minimalist, black and white tailoring from Helmut Lang’s fall 1995 collection.
Most importantly, Jacobs cited his own groundbreaking grunge collection for Perry Ellis, doubling down on the low-rise plaid skirts and greige knitted sweaters that reportedly got him fired from the gig back in ’92 (and ultimately brought him fame). Spring 2026 included shrunken button-downs with skinny belts, chunky leather shoulder bags, streamlined coatdresses, and low-neck blazers with nothing worn underneath. Nineties X-Girl and Stüssy were also credited as Jacobs’s inspiration for spring, along with his own shows from fall 1995, summer 1998, and spring 2013, among others.
After a few seasons from Marc Jacobs of doll-like dressing with exaggerated, avant-garde twists, the spring 2026 collection felt like a major shift. Titled “Memory. Loss,” it was like he’d wiped the slate clean to showcase a collection that was more about wearability, commercial potential, and nostalgic fashion history than loud dressing. “Surfacing on their own, memories shape, influence, and inform,” Jacobs wrote in the show notes. “Recovering the past also reminds us that loss is inevitable and that hope is work. Memories, both bittersweet and beautiful, are a faculty of purpose, influencing current and future actions—who we are, what we create, what we leave behind, and what we carry forward.”
Given the explosive and ever-rising popularity of secondhand shopping and vintage fashion, it’s no surprise that designers are looking back in ways that could be considered more literal these days. The biggest status symbol in fashion right now is a rare pull, and Jacobs understands deeply why this kind of nostalgia resonates. He knows how to make new memories for the younger crowd experiencing an MJ collection for the first time, and the feeling for the people who lived it years before.
