With the sun daring to grace us with its presence for the first time in what feels like at least a decade, autumn/winter fashion trends might just be the last thing on your mind right now.
Alas, the fashion world is nothing if not ahead of its time, and having wrapped a season of AW26 runways on Tuesday with Paris Fashion Week officially closing the show, those with a vested interest in all things sartorial forecasting can’t help but look beyond the imminent fair weather to see what lies beyond on the fashion landscape.
Luckily, for those of us lacking in the patience department when it comes to wardrobe endeavours, there’s no reason we can’t dip a toe into the world of autumn/winter fashion trends right now and perfect the styling of them by the time they explode in popularity come September. After all, if you like them enough, is six months really long enough?
No one truly shops a new wardrobe every season, and we’re all for wise buys and ditching fashion frivolity – so we say autumn/shmautumn… These AW26 trends are ready whenever you are.
1. SHARDS OF RED
It was impossible to ignore the resurgence of red splashed all over the autumn/winter 2026 runways (sending solidarity to my fellow fair-skinned girlies with frequently flushed cheeks who couldn’t think of a less flattering colour to be trending), but a more detail-oriented analysis actually took the trend one step further. Offering up a tangibly three-dimensional experience, it seems that come autumn we’ll all be wearing pretty severe shards of the shade, with explosive red textures in the form of fringing, fluff and even tasselled leather adorning models head-to-toe at the likes of Erdem, Bottega Veneta, Simone Rocha and Loewe.
Spotted at: (L-R) Erdem, Bottega Veneta, Loewe
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WWD/Getty Images
2. DRIPPING RIBBONS
While spring/summer is traditionally seen as the softer, more traditionally ‘feminine’ season when it comes to fashion, autumn/winter gets something of a harsher reputation with the assumption that deeper hues and heavier fabrics automatically = severe. Flipping the script for AW26, Simone Rocha, Erdem, Zimmermann and Sandy Liang are leaning into their softer side, with the use of bows and ribbons throughout their collections providing an unusually fun and frivolous take on winter dressing and proving that you needn’t wait for December’s festivities to play around with your look.
Spotted at: (L-R) Sandy Liang, Erdem, Simone Rocha, and Karoline Vitto.