Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 Revisits the '90s Trends He First Set
The designer presented a somber and sly take on fashion's self-referential trend cycles to open New York Fashion Week.
Some Fashion Month shows open with notes explaining a designer's inspirations and mindset as they crafted their latest collection. For Fall 2026, Marc Jacobs provided "receipts."
These "receipts" were actually references he turned to while designing the 39-look lineup. They ranged, chronologically, from Yves Saint Laurent Couture 1965 to Jacobs's Perry Ellis Spring 1993 grunge collection to Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2013. They prepped guests like Julia Fox and Auliʻi Cravalho to see fashion history repeating—and not just the '90s staples like slim pencil skirts or Marc by Marc Jacobs bags of the mid-2000s that appeared on repeat throughout the unadorned runway at Manhattan's Park Avenue Armory on Feb. 9.
Alex Consani walking the Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 runway.
Models backstage before the Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 fashion show.
Jacobs called the collection "Memory. Loss." and introduced it as "free from nostalgia" in his notes. The bon-bon-topped heels, semi-sheer skirting, and beaded collars all instantly evoked major looks of the '90s and early 2000s. They were more than mere throwbacks, though: They were meant to serve as monuments to "who we are, what we create, what we leave behind and what we carry forward."
Context was just as important as recognizing the origins of each look. The plaid checked suits evoked Jacobs's Perry Ellis collections, but they're also inseparable from the moment the designer was fired from the label for taking what was then a major creative risk. For Jacobs, something that has been reduced to "the plaid trend" is inextricably tied to a memory, like all the clothes of our lives tend to be. He wanted to explore the more emotional side of throwback fashion that isn't easily summed up in a pithy name like "80s glamoratti" or a paint conglomerate-appointed color scheme. "Recovering the past also reminds us that loss is inevitable and that hope is work," he wrote.
Three models backstage at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 show.
Stacks of Marc Jacobs bags and scrunchies backstage at the Fall 2026 show.
Marc Jacobs's last several collections have favored cartoonishly exaggerated proportions fit for life-size Polly Pocket dolls. Collars levitated above the necks. Pannier-like hips defied gravity (and conventional body measurements). Shoes came curved with arches that seemed tailored to a Barbie foot.
The slimming down on display for Fall 2026 might in part be a business decision: Tariffs and economic uncertainty are a shadow over the American fashion industry, and inflated pieces only for top clients like Sarah Paulson and Tracee Ellis Ross can't sustain a company alone. Meanwhile, the '90s style blueprint Jacobs helped define three decades ago is now firmly back at the center of culture, from the outfits influencers shill on TikTok to a renewed interest in (and upcoming TV series about) the era's It girl, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.
This doesn't mean Jacobs left his sense of humor or creativity behind in order to enter this more reflective mode. Models in neutral sweaters or zip-up jackets and matching skirts revealed a flash of '90s neon as they walked past, their low ponytails or buns set by an organza scrunchie. A final segment of looks incorporated sparkles (in line with the blast-from-the-past anti-jewelry trend) and clashing splashes of sequins—a reference to Prada's 1996 "'Banal Eccentricity" collection, where unexpected color combinations took center stage. Jacobs also showed his understanding of how the average shopper will eventually refer to his considered assemblage of homages and references, with cheekily vague outfit descriptions in his notes. (Think "Sweater, Skirt Boot" and "Suit, Pump.")
Models backstage at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 runway show.
A closer look at a Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 runway look.
The day-to-day fashion system can strip nods to the past of all their meaning and historical context. Vintage looks and references hit red carpets and runways in such rapid succession, their value is conferred by the fact that they were procured at all, not by what they stood for or the work that went into creating them.
The Marc Jacobs Fall 2026 collection didn't necessarily shame the industry's current obsession with looking backward. (Those scrunchies and 2013 bags are going to sell.) It simply sought to ask fashion lovers to pause and reflect when they're dressing for the present with pieces from the past. That edict wasn't lost on at least one guest leaving the show, who summed up the show in a single, apt observation: "I feel like a museum just walked past me."
Marc Jacobs Fall 2026
