MEN to the Future | Prada Men’s Fall/Winter 2026
Reported by Manit Maneephantakun
In the world of art, pentimento refers to the trace of an earlier image that emerges beneath the surface of a new one, proof that a painting once lived another life, and never truly disappeared.
And for Fall/Winter 2026, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons chose this word as the heart of their men’s collection, to remind us that clothes, too, carry history, layers of meaning, and lives embedded beneath their surfaces.
“If you gradually peel away the layers, beauty will be revealed,” Raf Simons said immediately after the show, adding, “In our minds, there is always an aspect of archaeology.”
And that is the key to this collection: excavation through clothing. Not a retro exercise, but an investigation of the past , unearthed, understood, and reborn as the future.
The show took place inside what looked like an abandoned apartment building: aged walls, colonial windows, marble fireplaces still clinging to the structure. The growling soundtrack of Virgin Prunes and Suicide filled the air, creating an atmosphere that felt uncomfortable, uneasy, and strangely beautiful all at once.
“‘Uncomfortable’ is the perfect word for the psychology of this moment,” Miuccia Prada affirmed.
“We know so little about the future, we cannot predict it. So clothes must have clarity and precision.”
The collection’s core silhouette was built around slender, high-collared, softly-shouldered overcoats — both single and double-breasted, recalling Prada’s classic language, yet twisted into something resolutely contemporary.
Sailor caps and bucket hats were pressed flat and attached to the right shoulder like dried flowers, as if memories themselves had been pinned to the garments.
Trenches and Macs in blue and beige were layered with brightly coloured utility capes cut only to the length of the storm flap beneath, creating a pentimento effect where the original structure floated on the surface.
Brown leather jackets, softly padded and intentionally rumpled, looked as if they had already lived a full life. Double-bonded raincoats in mushroom, rose and aubergine revealed the ghostly outlines of plackets and pockets beneath the top layer, like a painting never fully erased. Matte Mac coats and blousons split open at the seams to reveal houndstooth underneath, the most explicit pentimenti of the show.
Small details became poetry: elongated cuffs dangling as if forgotten, low square-neck knits resembling aprons, white shirts marked with shadows like old coffee stains or smoke, the beauty of wear and use etched into every piece.
Miuccia Prada spoke honestly about sustainability:
“True sustainability would mean closing everything: no cars, no clothes, no consumption. That is impossible, and it makes the word ‘sustainability’ full of hypocrisy. So I choose to be intellectually honest, by doing our job the best we can, bringing creativity, quality, and understanding.”
Expensive clothes that may be ruined through use become proof that luxury is not something to be locked in a wardrobe, but something that must live.
Beneath these beautifully ruined surfaces lay a quiet weight: geopolitics, environmental anxiety, and an uncertain future. In their show notes, Prada and Simons wrote:
“Universal human values, culture, meaning, intelligence, care may be conveyed through clothes.”
This was not simply a winter wardrobe. It was a declaration that fashion still carries cultural responsibility.
With colours such as old rose, deep purple, anise green and mauve offering moments of visual comfort amid the gloom, and a slender silhouette that gave every piece clarity and purpose, Prada Men’s Fall/Winter 2026 did not try to make the world look better.
It made the world more honest, through clothes.
Pentimento is therefore not just an artistic technique it is Prada’s stance toward our time: when the past is not a burden, but the fuel for the future.
And that is why this collection is not only beautiful, but truly important.
