Mayner’s latest collection loosens the rigid lines of his past work, embracing cloth that drifts and folds rather than stands guard.
With Spring 2026, Hed Mayner strips his practice to near anti-construction, slicing through process as he would a vintage blazer in search of fresh grain. The result replaces the monumental shapes of past seasons with cloth that skims and slips, trading fortification for invitation.
Mayner avoids rigid shoulders, letting shirting collapse into soft folds so the fabric reads as one continuous panel wrapped end to end. Handkerchief shorts and trousers appear to descend rather than hang, drifting just off the frame. Even the collection’s outlier “alien” look (pillbox hat, swooping torso, padded leg) leans toward grace rather than spectacle.
The designer’s long-held interest in clothing as shelter loosens here. Lightness, sheerness and a quiet warmth frame the wearer in humanity, not armor. A glossy coat slides over patterned pajama separates, while a crunchy navy jacket lands on a striped shirt and crumpled tie, the textures stacking but never stiffening.
Domestic echoes surface in materials with a wrinkle of life. Crunchy wool-cotton blends recall well-loved upholstery; an acid floral jacquard carries the romance (and faint melancholy) of mid-century sofas. Ruffled gingham, feather-light on the runway, hints at 1950s couture more than picnic cloth.
Construction remains playful. A hooded parka stretches long then gathers in ruched channels. A stretch-fabric blazer is molded around foam and closed with a single safety pin, its modest hardware undercutting tailoring’s usual pomp. Knitwear, point-stitched directly onto foam, sits close yet airy, a tactile shell rather than a bulky knit.
Where earlier seasons stood like barracks, Spring 2026 feels mobile, breathable, almost flirtatious in its ease. The clothes invite touch and proximity, much the way a freshly unrolled tatami mat turns an empty room into a place to sit.
If the designer’s earlier work sought supremacy in scale, this chapter seeks intimacy in motion. By stripping away heft, Mayner exposes the line between garment and body, proving that protection can also be porous. In a moment when fashion often reaches for exoskeletons, his answer is a whisper: softness can still hold its own.
