The Tamesis
Due to internal adjustments within the brand, Sacai’s Chitose Abe was absent from this season’s Paris Fashion Week show. Come June, she will return to her menswear schedule and resume her schedule of four fashion shows per year. Her absence leaves a void in the usual lineup, but she’s not gone entirely. The Sacai showroom was packed with buyers as always, and Abe himself was in town to shoot the Fall 2026 lookbook.
Her breakthrough idea this season was to add a double-breasted Dickey jacket to everything from cardigans to button-downs and even other jackets. Distressed buttons give the illusion of layering without looking bulky; unbutton and throw the ends over your shoulders for a gorgeous scarf. “It’s a statement about having the freedom to do what you want,” Abe said through her translator, embodying a theme begun to develop at Prada in Milan and picked up by young Marie Adam-Leenaerdt in Paris. Designers are incorporating DIY versatility into their clothing. “Putting yourself back into fashion” is how we start thinking at Vogue.
Abe has made her mark on her hybrid clothing since she started showing on the runway fifteen years ago. Here, she combines a parka with a men’s blazer, or a cardigan with a blazer, wrapping them tightly around the waist for a more feminine silhouette. Curved bell sleeves and leopard spots added to the look on other jackets, including an oversized tufted faux fur version on a military jacket.
Abe’s artist collaboration this season is with the estate of Robert Mapplethorpe. His signature Calla Lilly photo is printed on the back of a black leather bomber jacket. Inside, she added a quote from him: “I’m looking for the unexpected. I’m looking for things I’ve never seen before.” This could also be Sacai’s motto.
