With some of the industry’s most sought-after creative directors now two seasons into their tenures at the world’s biggest luxury houses, the question around the Autumn/Winter 2026-2027 season was no longer about potential, but proof. Collections have landed in stores, heightening expectations around the sell-through of these new eras (nowhere more palpable than the Chanel buying frenzy during the Paris shows) while raising the stakes for what the runway could, and should, deliver.
Yet as the month unfolded, it became clear that fashion continues to operate against a complex backdrop. From escalating aggressions in the Middle East, to the consolidation of VIC culture with its eyes firmly set on the billionaire class (who enjoyed a front row seat), the industry found itself navigating issues that extend beyond the catwalk.
In the following conversations, 20 critics, commentators and creatives unpack everything from Demna’s runway debut for Gucci to AI’s ever-increasing presence, and debate what this all might signal for fashion’s road ahead.
– Edward Enninful, co-founder and chief creative officer, EE72
– Robin Givhan, jouralist and Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic
– Jo Ellison, editor, HTSI magazine and deputy editor, FT Weekend
– Lauren Sherman, fashion correspondent, Puck
– Cynthia Oh, creative director, Shinsegue magazine and executive visual director, THEBLACKLABEL
– Sarah Mower, chief fashion critic, Vogue
– Anders Christian Madsen, fashion critic, 72 magazine
– Carina Frey & Stefanie Barth, co-founders, Frey & Barth creative direction agency
– Recho Omondi, host and creator, The Cutting Room Floor podcast
– Alexa Chung, writer, creative director
– Imran Amed, founder, CEO and editor-in-chief, The Business of Fashion
– Luca Solca, senior analyst of global luxury goods, Bernstein
– Cathy Horyn, fashion critic-at-large, New York magazine’s The Cut
– Laia Garcia-Furtado, deputy culture director, Harper’s Bazaar
– Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, stylist and fashion editor, trends spokesperson, Depop
– Susannah Frankel, editor-in-chief, AnOther Magazine
– Alexander Fury, fashion features director, AnOther Magazine and men’s critic, Financial Times
– Katy Lubin, VP, brand and communications, Lyst
– Connor Downey, senior social manager, Lyst