Your Best & Worst Designer Debuts of S/S 2026

[Blaiseybabey]

With the peak of all the changes happening around the creative leadership at major fashion houses, which debuts would you consider to be the best ones and the worst ones?

Jonathan Anderson - Dior
Miguel Castro Freitas - Mugler
Mark Thomas - Carven
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez - Loewe
Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga
Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier
Matthieu Blazy at Chanel
Louise Trotter at Bottega Veenta
Glenn Martens and Michael Rider - their first RTW
Nicolas Aburn - Area
Rachel Scott - Proenza Schouler
Demna - Gucci
Dario Vitale - Versace

Hope didn't miss anybody!

 

[Norden]

Best
Tom Ford
By far the best show of the season. Everything fell in the right place here. I felt an excitement for fashion that I haven’t felt in a while. It reminded me how important it is to have a focused mood. It seems focus has left the fashion landscape in service of over merchandised collections.

Worst
Balenciaga
Horrible debut, I hated the footwear, the simplicity of reissuing shapes. It fell flat. At first I thought it was a bit better than wang, but I feel this man should be held to a higher standard. So in a way worse than Alexander wang.

 

[donyan]

Best
Tom Ford, Miu Miu, The Row and Alaia, all clear and focused, anchored in the brands' DNA as well as moving forward in new and exciting ways

 

[GERGIN]

Matthieu Blazy undeniably had the strongest debut at Chanel from presentation to the clothes themself which stay true to the codes of Chanel while bringing new ideas in the mix.

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez are the worst for me not because of poor design but they lacked any original POV to Loewe and delivering a watered down JW Anderson collection.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

For me it was disappointing across the board. I foolishly anticipated a competitive raise in design and showmanship.

My best debut was Balenciaga for the mere fact it looked like clothes for adults again. I pray PPP can learn some new tricks but I will always celebrate a return to beauty and decency.

Dario and Duran were in a bloody fist fight for not just worst debuts but worst collections ever. Duran narrowly won.

 

[perhydrol]

Tom Ford was last season, guys...

Dario was the worst because he didn't get the brand right, and the styling was truly atrocious. Proenza Schouler was also questionable, but it wasn't the full-on debut, so I'm just gonna wait for now. I'm still not sure about Mugler, but maybe it's a matter of the show production that was too edgy for no reason. Balenciaga was an absolute non-event, unlike Gucci, which may actually turn out well. Then, there was a bunch of nice "starting points", like Bottega Veneta, Dior, JPG, and Carven. I must say, I was surprised how good the Bellotti's debut at Jil Sander was.

Chanel was the best one. It was strong, fresh, full of fantastic ideas, and it was the only debut that managed to make everyone excited, no matter if you like Blazy's work or not.

 

[LadyJunon]

Ranking from worst to best:
Duran Lantink - Jean Paul Gaultier
Dario Vitale - Versace
Mark Thomas - Carven
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez - Loewe
Rachel Scott - Proenza Schouler
Pierpaolo Piccioli - Balenciaga
Michael Rider - Celine
Jonathan Anderson - Dior
Louise Trotter - Bottega Veneta
Glenn Martens - Maison Margiela
Nicolas Aburn - Area
Miguel Castro Freitas - Mugler
Demna - Gucci
Matthieu Blazy - Chanel

 

[Salvatore]

I cannot think of best right now, but the worst by far was Duran Lantink at JPG.

 

[Creative]

Best:
JW for Dior (not great, but not bad)
I like some of the skirts MB did for Chanel but quite meh in general

Worst:
PPP for Balenciaga. Atrociously vile.

Guys why are you saying Tom Ford? It’s not a debut🤔 the guy asked for debuts.

 

[moonmoon]

Michael Rider - Celine

This one its alos not debiut..

 

[yslforever]

The best debuts were the ones which challenged my perception of a house and brought deep changes, so I will nominate Dario for Versace and Jonathan for Dior.
Special mention to Simone Belloti for showing he deeply understands Jil Sander.

Worst debut is a toss-of between PPP Balenciaga and Duran Lantink at JPG.

The rest of the debuts were close to what I have come to expect from these designers, with more or less ideas.

 

[thiago:)]

As a whole, I'd say everyone sort of played it safe but there's a lot to be grown and seen, so I'm very optimistic (we're no longer in the 90s/00s, so it's business!!!). I'm more curious with the artistic direction of the campaigns atm...

Best for me were Chanel, Jil Sander, Mugler and Margiela. I didn't hate Versace as much as everyone else did, though.

 

[Xone]

Best: Matthieu Blazy for Chanel
Worst: Dario for Versace and Duran for JPG

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

If we count Jonathan's first womens, Glenn's first rtw, Rider's first collection after the cruise... could we count Haider's first Spring-Summer for Tom Ford? 🫣😜

 

[Alquimista]

Best : Blazy for Chanel
Worst: Vitale for Versace

 

[Scotty]

Low-key the best was Gucci...

Worst - VERSACE.

 

[Tchi]

Best- Celine, Chanel
Worst- JPG, Versace

 

[VogueDisciple93]

For me it was disappointing across the board. I foolishly anticipated a competitive raise in design and showmanship.

My best debut was Balenciaga for the mere fact it looked like clothes for adults again. I pray PPP can learn some new tricks but I will always celebrate a return to beauty and decency.

Dario and Duran were in a bloody fist fight for not just worst debuts but worst collections ever. Duran narrowly won.

I forgot Jil Sander. That was THE BEST!

 

[lhhbl]

From best to worst:
Jonathan Anderson - Dior
Matthieu Blazy - Chanel
Demna - Gucci
Glenn Martens 1st RTW for Margiela
Pierpaolo Piccioli at Balenciaga
Simone Beletti - Jil Sander
Michael Rider 1st RTW for Celine
Miguel Castro Freitas - Mugler
Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez - Loewe
Michael Rider 1st RTW for Celine
Dario Vitale - Versace
Duran Lantink at Jean Paul Gaultier

Haven't seen/paid attention to:
Mark Thomas - Carven
Rachel Scott - Proenza Schouler
Nicolas Aburn - Area

 

[Avonlea]

Nothing really impressed me. I expected much more from both Blazy and JWA, but their debuts were mediocre. After couture It will be clear if there is any hope.
Demna's Gucci was forgettable, same for Glenn's Margiela and Simone's Sander.
Duran's JPG show was the worst. Stupid, primitive and pointless.

Versace was a surprise. At first I hated it, but it grew on me. It's far from perfect, but there is a lot of potential and the direction proposed by him could by very interesting and refreshing for Versace. It was the only debut that I have been coming back to.