Fashion Month Fall 2026: An Illustrator's Guide to the Emerging Trends
Fashion Month is halfway through. New York and London have shown, Milan is underway, and Paris is next. For fashion illustrators, this is the season that sets our visual vocabulary for the year ahead. Here is what has stood out so far, and what it means for your sketchbook.
Note: This article covers trends emerging from NYFW, London Fashion Week, and early Milan shows as of late February 2026. We will update with Paris Fashion Week coverage once those shows wrap in early March.
1. The Going-Out Coat (London)
Burberry's Daniel Lee made a case this season for what Harper's Bazaar and Vogue have both dubbed the "going-out coat." These are not practical outerwear pieces. They are the outfit. Structured, dramatic, designed to be seen rather than to keep you warm. Lee's collection showed coats with exaggerated lapels and cinched waists that read as eveningwear with sleeves.
How to illustrate it: This trend is about silhouette above all else. Focus on the outer contour line. Exaggerate the shoulder-to-waist ratio. Keep the figure underneath minimal since the coat is doing all the work. Use heavy line weight on the coat's edges and lighter strokes for anything beneath it. Practice rendering structured wool and heavy fabrics with decisive, angular shadow shapes.
Shop the trend: Notched Collar Double Breasted Wool Blend Coat | Double Breasted Notch Lapel Trench Coat | Double Breasted Midi Peacoat
2. Reckless Romance (London)
London Fashion Week Fall 2026 had what multiple outlets described as a "recklessly romantic" mood. Erdem, celebrating 20 years, leaned into historical romanticism with modern edge. Simone Rocha brought what Dazed described as "blokecore" elements into her typically ethereal world. The tension between soft and hard, delicate and aggressive, ran through most of the major London shows.
How to illustrate it: This is a layering challenge. You are rendering sheer fabrics over structured pieces, lace over leather, softness meeting sharp tailoring in the same garment. Work in layers: draw the base garment first, then add each transparent layer on top with progressively lighter pressure. Fine-tip Pigma Micron pens (0.20mm or 0.25mm) are essential here for delicate lace details without overwhelming the illustration.
Shop the trend: Floral Lace Mesh Sheer Blouse | Long Sleeve Lace Mesh Top
3. Body as Statement (London)
Karoline Vitto's return to London Fashion Week directly challenged what Dazed reported as "heroin chic body ideals" creeping back into the industry. Her collection celebrated curves and the body itself as a design element. Meanwhile, the "figure skating" aesthetic emerged at multiple shows (Dazed highlighted it at Petra Fagerstrom, Gabe Gordon, and Skall Studio), bringing athletic body-consciousness to high fashion.
How to illustrate it: If your figure templates only feature one body type, this is the season to expand your range. Practice drawing figures with different proportions. Our upcoming Fashion Croquis Template Sketchbook: All Body Types includes female, male, curvy, and busty templates specifically for this kind of work. Use body-hugging garment lines that follow the figure's natural curves rather than abstracting them away.
4. Deconstructed Everything (Milan)
Glenn Martens opened Milan Fashion Week for Diesel with a Fall 2026 collection that WWD described as "owning the walk of shame." The collection featured twisting, wrapping, and textile manipulation against an installation of 50,000 objects from previous projects. Hypebeast noted "candy-colored statements and deconstructed denim looks" throughout. Deconstruction as a design language is not new, but Martens is pushing it further into everyday wearability.
How to illustrate it: Deconstructed garments demand that you show the construction. Draw visible seams, raw edges, exposed linings. Use broken or interrupted lines where fabric has been cut away. This is one trend where a slightly messy, gestural drawing style actually serves the subject better than clean precision. Try sketching with Prismacolor Col-Erase pencils first for loose gesture, then selectively ink only the lines that matter.
Shop the trend: Frayed Washed Cropped Denim Jacket | Oversized Frayed Hem Denim Shacket
5. Late '90s Redux (New York)
Multiple publications noted that New York Fashion Week's Fall 2026 shows leaned heavily into late 1990s references. Elle reported "the late '90s are ruling the runway" as a key NYFW trend. This means slip dresses, minimalist tailoring, matte fabrics, and that specific kind of understated glamour that characterized the era of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, whom Harper's Bazaar noted was directly referenced at shows this season.
How to illustrate it: Less is genuinely more here. The late '90s aesthetic is about what you leave out of the drawing, not what you put in. Use minimal linework. Let negative space define the garment. Avoid heavy shading or busy textures. A single clean line describing a bias-cut slip dress should be the goal. Canson XL Mix Media paper works well for the kind of restrained ink-and-wash technique this trend calls for.
Shop the trend: Silk Satin Slip Dress | Silky Satin Camisole Slip Dress
What to Watch for at Paris
Paris Fashion Week Fall 2026 starts in early March, and based on the momentum from the first three cities, here is what we expect to see intensify:
- Outerwear as main character: The going-out coat will likely evolve further at houses like Celine, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga.
- Body diversity on the runway: The conversation Karoline Vitto started in London tends to get amplified in Paris, where casting choices make headlines.
- Textile experimentation: If Diesel is any indication, expect more fabric manipulation and deconstruction from the Paris houses.
We will publish a follow-up Paris-specific trend report once those shows conclude. For now, start sketching what is already confirmed. The trends above are not predictions. They are what is actually on the runways right now.
Shop the Runway Trends
- Going-Out Coat: Notched Collar Double Breasted Wool Coat | Double Breasted Midi Peacoat
- Romantic Layering: Floral Lace Mesh Sheer Blouse | Lace Mesh Going Out Top
- Deconstructed Denim: Frayed Cropped Denim Jacket | Frayed Hem Denim Shacket
- '90s Slip Dress: Silk Satin Slip Dress | Silky Camisole Slip Dress
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Recommended Supplies for This Season's Trends
- Sakura Pigma Micron 6-Pack ($12.39) for fine lace and sheer layering details
- Prismacolor Col-Erase 24-Pack ($16.78) for gestural deconstruction sketches
- Staedtler Mars Lumograph 12-Set ($15.31) for clean '90s minimalist linework
- Canson XL Mix Media 9x12 ($17.63) for ink-and-wash techniques
Sources: Vogue Runway, WWD, Harper's Bazaar, Dazed Digital, Hypebeast, Elle. All trend observations are based on published coverage of Fall 2026 runway shows as of February 25, 2026. Opinions on illustration technique are our own.