Everything to look forward to in fashion in 2026, from (even more) debuts to the biggest-ever Met Gala

2026 might be the year when the dust begins to settle in fashion – after a year of reset and refresh in 2025, where over 15 creative directors began their tenures at the industry’s major houses, the next 12 months will see them settle in and hone their creative visions. This will begin in January, when Jonathan Anderson and Matthieu Blazy, at Dior and Chanel respectively, will show their first haute couture collections after critically lauded debuts in 2025 (and, perhaps more importantly, their initial offerings will land in stores).

But that’s not to say that we are in a moment of stasis: the debuts will continue into 2026, with Maria Grazia Chiuri showing her first collection for Fendi; Demna holding his first runway show for Gucci; and the presumed debut of the (as yet unnamed) new creative director of Versace. And elsewhere, there will be plenty more notable style moments, from a slew of blockbuster exhibitions (including the biggest ever Costume Institute exhibition at The Met in New York) to some fashionable on-screen moments.

Here, as the new year begins, everything to look forward to in fashion in 2026.

The fashion exhibition renaissance will continue

Following what felt like an unprecedented number of fashion exhibitions in 2025 – even in the usually sleepy summer months, we highlighted 11 to choose from – the renaissance of the medium looks set to continue into 2026. Highlighted by Belle Hutton in her guide to the unmissable fashion exhibitions to add to your calendar in 2026, these will span the blockbuster – an Edward Enninful-curated exhibition on the 1990s at Tate Britain; a vast Schiaparelli retrospective at the V&A – and more introspective displays, like a poetic exhibition of works by photographer Rafael Pavarotti at Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris or the first major exhibition on the ‘Antwerp Six’, an iconoclastic group of designers, who, in the late 1980s, would alter fashion’s trajectory forever. Fittingly, it will take place at MoMu, Antwerp’s brilliant fashion museum.

Valentino will head back to its roots in Rome

In a notable schedule shift, Alessandro Michele has chosen to show his next collection for Valentino in Rome, the city where the house was founded by Valentino Garavani in 1960 (the house has said this is a one-off, returning to its usual spot on the Paris fashion schedule the season after). Other travelling shows in 2026 will include the usual Cruise circuit in late spring – notable this season for the first Cruise shows from Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel and Demna at Gucci – which this year, whether through serendipity or good planning, are largely set to take place in the United States. Gucci and Louis Vuitton will both show in New York, while Dior will show in Los Angeles; elsewhere, Chanel has chosen Biarritz, France and Max Mara Shanghai, China.

Véronique Nichanian will say goodbye to Hermès after a landmark tend

In October, it was announced that Véronique Nichanian was to step down from her role as artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, a tenure which has lasted 37 years – the longest-running of a serving creative director. Known for a mood of quiet beauty – whereby archetypal menswear garments are endlessly evolved and perfected – she has achieved both commercial and critical success. ‘I still love this job. However, I believe that to practice it the way I like to, it now requires more and more time – and today, I want to devote that time to other things,’ she said. ‘Hermès has, above all, shown great elegance by allowing me to choose the moment that felt right to step down. I’ve been thinking about it and discussing it with Axel and Pierre-Alexis Dumas for a year or two now. It’s time to pass the baton.’ That baton will pass to Grace Wales Bonner – an appointment which garnered unanimous praise from critics and online commentators – though the British designer will not show until January 2027. Meanwhile, this January, Nichanian will hold her swansong at Paris Fashion Week Men’s – a no doubt emotional ending to an extraordinary career.

Maria Grazia Chiuri will show her first collection for Fendi

Just when you thought the dust had settled, the creative director reshuffle is set to continue into 2026. Most notably, the arrival of Maria Grazia Chiuri at Fendi – a long-rumoured appointment since her exit from Dior in May, confirmed by the Roman house in October. Hailing herself from Rome – and having started her career at Fendi in the late 1980s – it will be something of a homecoming. She will show as part of Milan Fashion Week in February. Elsewhere, after launching his first collection with a starry Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn-shot film in September, Demna will hold his first runway show for Gucci – also in Milan in February – while in New York, Rachel Scott will make her catwalk debut for Proenza Schouler, having hosted an intimate presentation last September.

While Matthieu Blazy and Jonathan Anderson will make their haute couture debuts

Haute couture remains the heady pinnacle of Parisian style: a medium which is meticulously defined Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) to retain the traditional craft of bespoke dressmaking (one stipulation is that every gown must be made-to-order to the exact contours of the client’s body). Couture week in January looks set to be the most-watched in years, down to two notable debuts: Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, and Jonathan Anderson at Dior (their ready-to-wear debuts came in 2025). With both designers’ careers defined by imaginative flights of craft and imagination, their first couture shows in January will no doubt inject new energy to Haute Couture Week – a period of the fashion calendar which has felt in flux in recent seasons.

Style will have its moment on screen in 2026

‘2026 is shaping up to be a year to remember for style on screen,’ writes Orla Brennan in her rundown of the fashionable films to look out for in 2026. This of course includes the return of Devil Wears Prada, with the much-anticipated sequel no doubt becoming a cultural lightning rod when it reaches screens in May (as Brennan writes, ‘[it] promises to be the most fashionable film of 2026 – or at least, its wardrobe is bound to be the most closely scrutinised by industry platforms and devoted style fans’). But there is plenty more aside: from Emerald Fennell’s bold retelling of Wuthering Heights to A24’s Mother Mary, in which Anne Hathaway plays a fictional pop star opposite Michaela Coel as a fashion designer, there will be plenty of style moments to look out for. Plus, there’s the return of former fashion designer Tom Ford as director after A Single Man and Nocturnal Animals – he’s set to start filming his adaption of Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven early this year, which currently has a tentative 2026 release.

The Met Gala will be bigger than ever

The Met Gala – which celebrates the opening of the New York institution’s blockbuster spring Costume Institute exhibition – remains one of the fashion calendar’s notable moments (not least for its starry red carpet, which is unfurled each year on the first Monday of May). For 2026, that exhibition is titled ‘Costume Art’, weaving a thread between the Costume Institute’s archive of fashion garments and the depictions of clothing across The Met’s wider collection, from paintings to ancient artefacts. And this year, it looks set to be bigger than ever: ‘Costume Art’ inaugurates the Costume Institute’s new 12,000 sq ft gallery, adjacent to the Met’s Great Hall (designed by Brooklyn-based architecture firm Paterson Rich Office, it will be named after Condé Montrose Nast, founder of the eponymous publishing empire). Add to this a high-wattage line-up of co-chairs for the opening – Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams – and the event is sure to dominate the news cycle come May.