At Prada’s S/S 2026 menswear show, co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons revealed the usually hidden windows of Fondazione Prada’s Deposito, where the house has held its runway shows since 2018. Flooding the space with natural light for the first time, the OMA-designed set – which featured a series of 1970s-inspired floral rugs across the hangar-like space’s concrete floor – was a reflection of the collection’s escapist mood. ‘This is the first time the Fondazione is completely bare, with the light coming in,’ said Simons backstage. ‘We want everything to be light, fresh and colourful. When we started working, it was the easiest collection I have ever done. It's very free.’
The best colourful outerwear to brighten spring days
Loewe’s S/S 2026 show, one of the many collections of the season featuring boldly coloured outerwear
Alongside vivid raffia hats, boldly adorned floral tabards and a series of bloomer-cum-cargo pant micro-shorts, were colourful mackintosh jackets – including one in vivid, pillarbox red that featured in the Wallpaper* March Style Issue as part of a digest of S/S 2026’s trends. ‘Outerwear eschewed the usual hues of grey, brown and black for bold colours that befit spring,’ we said of the season’s liberated mood, with such colourful overcoats making appearances at Auralee, Loewe, Dries Van Noten, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and Polo Ralph Lauren (the last captured another, but intertwining trend, that of preppiness – one also defined by a bold use of colour).
The Prada S/S 2026 red menswear coat, as featured in the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*
Spanning both mens and womenswear, these colourful jackets, overcoats, windbreakers, anoraks and macs make the perfect transitional outerwear – their unrestrained palette the perfect match for spring’s brighter (but oftentimes cool, and sometimes unpredictable) days. After all, on the crest of summer, it is a time to embrace hope and renewal in both life and wardrobe. Our picks of spring’s best colourful outerwear – each light enough for warmer days – are a good place to start.
Part of Prada’s S/S 2026 menswear show – though easily swapped between genders – this red jacket in crisp, technical gabardine captured the collection’s ‘light, fresh and colourful mood’. We featured it in the pages of the March 2026 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, capturing the growing trend for colourful outerwear.
Polo Ralph Lauren is currently having a renaissance, in part down to a preppy revival on the runway – both Dior and Celine have mined the all-American dress code in recent seasons (in fact, the latter’s creative director, Michael Rider, was previously at Polo Ralph Lauren). This classic Harrington jacket – a brand hallmark – comes in a faded vintage green, complete with its iconic embroidered Pony logo on the chest.
A riff on classic workwear styles, like Carhartt’s signature Active jacket, this hoodie-cum-jacket by Japanese label Auralee is a suitably lightwear layer for cooler spring days and summer evenings. But it is most appealing for its satisfying pink hue – proof of founder and designer Ryota Iwai’s reputation as a master colourist.
A bold and uninhibited use of colour has been at the heart of Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez’s tenure at Loewe so far – the American designers’ first collection for the house, shown last year, was inspired by the ‘elemental colours’ of Ellsworth Kelly. This balloon-hem yellow jacket – also available in red and beige – captures this sunny mood to full effect.
We have already highlighted the windbreaker as our jacket of the season, a humble, once-nostalgic style which has staged a comeback thanks to its embrace by brands like Miu Miu, LII and Saint Laurent. The latter has created a series in nylon faille – a technical fabric which mimics silk – and various block-colour hues, like this in a bold shade of blue.
Stone Island is known for its expertise in garment dying, a process which takes place at its Willy Wonka-esque factory in Ravarino, Italy (we took a visit here). This jacket is one of the spoils of its various experimentations, arriving in a perfect shade of sugary pink.
Burberry has ben outfitting its wearer against the elements since the 1850s, and remains best-known for its signature trench. This nylon anorak is a more contemporary riff on rainwear, arriving in a bold cornflower blue and completed with a Burberry check trim – wear it solo, or layer under a heavier jacket for a satisfying flash of colour.
Red is likely to be one of this summer’s unavoidable colours, with Dior, Prada, Chanel and Celine all embracing hue in its brightest shade (think: cherry, lipstick and pillarbox red over burgundy and maroon). This Miu Miu blouson might be the season’s archetypal shade, and, as it is made from lightweight poplin cotton, can be worn long into summer.