Finding Faith in Form
Review of Craig Green Spring 2026 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
A take on trippy, garish but good, harnessing the naive
From LED to LSD Craig Green’s show was a literal ‘trip’ down memory lane. After a pause from the show circuit, Green’s Spring 2026 collection reasserted why he will continues to stand apart in a crowded menswear space. Still cerebral, still tactile, but somehow lighter, funnier — even a little stranger — this was a welcome evolution from a designer whose language has always been rooted in uniforms, ritual, and sculpture.
This season the designer explored ideas around youth, specifically ‘The fearlessness of early youth, found again in middle age’ according to today’s notes, as there was a referencing of The Beatles as a key influence. This was not simply a case of plastering an Abbey Road crossing graphic onto a T-shirt and expecting that to resonate, as the designer is fully aware that the iconic band has become “part of the furniture” as he told The Impression backstage. Green’s exploration of The Beatles took him back to a time when young people went to record stores to discover new music, but also increased the entertainment factor by trying to find hidden meanings by playing said records backwards. The Beatles discovery of mind-altering (or enhancing depending on what camp you fall into) drugs also changed their sound and their visuals , something the designer considers as “almost a miracle, the amount of albums they were bringing out every year, the amount of work they were producing and how influential they were in such a short period of time is kind of otherworldly, but its the joy of doing things, I guess.” There was also an obsession with the colour harvest yellow, which was used for the sand-coloured runway, the strange colour from the late 60s/early 70s era also happened to be the colour of harvesting, which led the designer down the path of the desire to want a garden, to “tend to the earth”. And what better way to do that, than in this spring collection of striped anoraks with matching skirt, patchwork grunge-style trousers and childlike knitted sweaters with 3D floral roses.
During the finale each model wore a set of glasses with LED lights beaming from them, which Green said backstage were actually from dolls houses “The eye gear, they’re made from the lights of a doll’s house,. which I think is quite nice to have them as eyes.” The show notes also described the idea of ‘Wide eyes draw[ing] new light, uncovering new contours’, and having been away from the runway circuit for exactly a year (almost an eternity in fashion terms) it seemed as if we were also being encouraged to look at the brand with fresh eyes and in a new light. As lighter, more naive elements came into play today with looks 32-36 featuring what were known at the time as ‘Baby Reigns’, here becoming makeshift decorative harnesses. Coats took their inspiration from the patterns of dog coats “so it was like a parka for a dog, which I thought was like an amazing shape” as Green explained. Even the anomaly of the cotton cloth hanging from the models mouths brought together the dog reference (dogs can often be carrying some found object or two in their mouths) and the designers use of retro sets of bedsheets with trippy prints and graphics to create a new perspective of his deconstructed outerwear, which is sure to win him new fans. Bedsheets, being as they are a universal standard we can all relate too, he turned the idea around of what would be considered a garish print now, in the 70s actually graced the homes and adorned the walls of suburban families “it wasn’t so garish, trippy prints and graphics covered people’s houses, I think that feels really alien now. “ Todays collection was one of Green’s most wearable, when compared to previous seasons, but there was no less symbolism embedded in, which makes the case for breaking out from the relentless runway cycle for a season to re-group.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
There were a lot of references to that kind of psychedelic mind opening. I love that era of The Beatles where they found drugs and LSD and they were allowed to have that switch and change in their work and were celebrated for it, which nowadays seems alien for someone so popular? “Craig Green, creative director, Craig Green
THE WRAP UP
Today’s Craig Green collection marked, not a dramatic return, but a mature evolution for the brand. Having once positioned himself as fashion’s master of modern armour — with a language that fused craft and ceremony — this collection showed his capacity to loosen the structural boundaries that have become characteristic of his work.
Green’s power has always been in his ability to make the functional feel ornate and future-facing — combining concept and construction seamlessly, while suggesting ideas that have always felt before their time. For spring 2026 the designer looked to domestic bliss through the psychedelic realm, with references — bedsheets, dolls houses, and The Beatles — elevated as visual storytelling tools to create a much easier entry into a more expansive vision of what menswear (in Green’s world) could be.
