FW26 Outerwear Edit

October 25, 2026

FW26 Outerwear Checklist

Under three months left in the year, and I’ve entered my what-do-I-do-about-2026 phase.

The attempts so far: I joined the boxing gym down the street, registered for a certification exam in December, started keeping a diary. Oh, and one more. Even on days I’d happily leave the house in whatever, I now make myself work in at least one thing I actually like. I only started caring this much after noticing how directly my attitude for the day tracks with what I put on.

Wear a jacket you love and you stand noticeably straighter. Wear shoes you love and you leave the house a step lighter. Some mornings one good outfit really is the entire difference. So if you’re where I am right now, I’ve pulled the outerwear from FW26 through SS27 that’ll get worn into the ground this year and next. Here we go.

You Really Only Need the One: Utility Jacket

The utility jacket, which somehow manages to be practical and good-looking at the same time. From FW26 straight through SS27, what kept stopping me on the runways was everything built around pocket detail. Deep pockets you can shove your hands into, fabric with some weight to it, function worked out as design rather than tacked on.

KIKO KOSTADINOV, who does workwear with more elegance than anyone, is the obvious case. Utility jackets in SS27 after FW26, and that roomy one styled over a ruffled skirt with boots has been living in my head. I’m going to copy it. Openly.

KIKO KOSTADINOV FW26, KIKO KOSTADINOV SS27 ©vogue.com

With a design this functional, what you put next to it decides everything. The same jacket goes elegant mix-and-match with a skirt and boots, or hard into casual workwear with cargos. sacai’s SS27 version is particularly stylish.

sacai SS27, ISABEL MARANT SS27 ©vogue.com

And even inside the same khaki, the material and the line change the whole mood. AMIRI brought classic tailoring and fine decoration for something closer to formal, while FENG CHEN WANG used a fabric with a soft sheen and let the silhouette relax, which tipped it cool and sporty instead.

AMIRI FW26, FEN CHEN WANG SS27 ©vogue.com

The practical design stays exactly where it is, and color and detail do all the talking. That’s the whole appeal. Pull it in whatever direction your closet already leans.

Throw It On and Leave: The Leather Jacket

AARON ESH has been occupying me lately.

I was hunting for a leather jacket that sits close to the body with pockets you can genuinely put your hands in, saw this photo, saved it before I’d finished scrolling. The restrained-rock-star thing this London brand does is exactly my register.

AARON ESH FW26 CAPSULE ©aaronesh.co.uk

The leather jacket is the permanent steady seller, the one everybody should own. It used to arrive with a rebellious, tough edge attached, but the move now is throwing it over the things already in rotation, a tee and denim. This season especially, cropped lengths and body-hugging silhouettes were everywhere.

ISABEL MARANT FW26, MIU MIU FW26 ©vogue.com

If you want to push the styling further, look at OUR LEGACY. Fully calculated, obviously, but nothing gets you to studiously careless like a leather jacket does.

Leather jacket + red top + black trousers = how to wear leather like you didn’t think about it.
OUR LEGACY SS27, Leather jacket + white inner and shorts + sheer tights = chic hot girl❤️🔥 ©vogue.com

If your closet is already carrying enough black leather, turn to color and let the jacket do the work alone. Going through the SS27 front row photos, the number of people in colored leather outerwear was hard to miss.

Audrey Hobert at the SS27 BOTTEGA VENETA front row ⓒVOGUE

That’s the advantage of color leather. The jacket finishes the outfit by itself. Do it the AARON ESH way, red jacket over black trousers so everything points at the jacket, or take a pink one and commit to tone-on-tone with an inner in the same family. If your black leather has started to feel a little dull, this is the cheapest reset available.

AARON ESH SS27, ACNE STUDIOS FW26, MIU MIU SS27 ©aaronesh.co.uk, ©fashionsnap.com, ©VOGUE RUNWAY

Effortless, Officially: The Hoodie

Want to be comfortable without broadcasting that you’ve given up?

The hoodie is where my hand goes first, every time. A hooded zip-up is a transitional-weather workhorse, and throwing it over a tee or slipping it under a jacket is enough on its own, which is why it comes out the second the air turns.

Commission’s SS27 look got me instantly. A sharp blue hooded zip-up with a striped shirt pulled out just slightly underneath, and I need to know who thought of that. 🩵 Putting a detail between the top and the trousers gives the whole thing somewhere to breathe. ERL layering within one color family does something similar, adding dimension and getting you to effortlessly cool without visibly reaching for it.

Commission SS27, ERL SS27 ©vogue.com

A grey hoodie earns its spot too, purely for what it does to your face. The OTTOLINGER and KNWLS looks below both understand the undone-but-not-careless appeal, so take notes. Keep it easy with a pink long skirt and sandal heels, or run the same setup with something sharper on your feet for a combination nobody expects. Worth wearing your hoodie slightly differently this season.

OTTOLINGER SS27, KNWLS FW26 ©vogue.com

When You Want to Mix It Up Without Thinking

In the comfortable-but-still-good category, the windbreaker can’t be skipped.

This ASHLEY WILLIAMS zip-up, the one CORTIS’s Juhoon wore. Pastel, lovely, with a belted waist detail that adds a feminine note, which is why it’s on my list. With the temperature swings we’re getting, this is exactly what I’d want to pull on for the walk home from the boxing gym.

ASHLEY WILLIAMS FW26, ALL-IN SS27 ©vogue.com

Looking for something sharper? Take the windbreaker in a darker base. Commission and SANDY LIANG both took one in grey and navy, a slightly clunky piece by nature, and paired it with shorts or tulle to land somewhere between mannish and feminine. The shoes decide this one, so finish with a pointed toe.

Commission SS26, SANDY LIANG SS27 ©vogue.com

Short Coat or Long Coat? Choose.

The one I keep seeing, everywhere, is the short coat. Fully the moment.

A waist-length short coat with the Pinterest energy intact will carry you comfortably into early winter. It moves well, your legs read longer, and it gets to polished with less effort than a long coat. And the base has to be a proper deep navy, no? EGONLAB and PALOMA WOOL made the case that it looks good on absolutely everyone.

EGONLAB FW26, PALOMA WOOL FW26 ©vogue.com, ©fashionsnap.comEGONLAB FW26, ISABEL MARANT FW26 ©vogue.com, ©fashionsnap.comHERMES SS27, Alexander McQUEEN FW26 ©vogue.com, ©fashionsnap.com

Showing up just as often next to it: the long, slim-fit coat that hugs the body. The way it wraps you and the sharpness of the line are what make it read expensive. BALENCIAGA ran a black coat the full length of the body with boots in an unusual texture and got something properly dramatic out of it, while JIL SANDER’s long coat, double-breasted with restrained detailing, is the house minimalism doing exactly what it does. One coat can carry an entire aura, it turns out. A black long coat with nothing extra on it handles the days that matter on silhouette and detail alone.

On Days I’m Actually Showing Off: Fur

Everyone needs one fur jacket for the winter days that deserve the effort.

LOUIS VUITTON and OTTOLINGER both put the toggle closure from a duffle coat onto a fur jacket, one ethnic, one chic, and the two land nowhere near each other. My current aspiration is chic girl (^^), so I’ve been looking at leather trousers to wear with a cropped fur.

Fur-trimmed outerwear deserves its own mention, and if you want something dramatic and full, start here. Leather’s particular coldness next to the warmth of fur produces something neither one gets to alone. On a day you want to be warm and also want to look like something, a leather jacket with fur trim is the variation to make. Style it with a satin skirt the way ISABEL MARANT did and you’re straight into sharp, polished city woman.

Or should the fur go properly, unreasonably loud?

DIESEL and GIVENCHY pushed bold pattern and bold color until the presence a fur jacket already has got maximized past the point of restraint. If pattern normally feels like a lot, balance it out with black trousers or plain shoes. And if you’ve already committed to dressing up, take the accessories all the way too and make the point from head to toe.

Bonus: Don’t Let Your Neck Go Bare This Winter

If I had to name the most interesting accessory on the runways, it’s the scarf.

Every possible shape turned up, including blouses that run straight into one. In a real winter, putting something around your neck is good for not getting sick and good for how you look, which is not a combination that comes along often. ERD wrapped a patterned scarf short and high over a deep V-neck top to emphasize the neckline, filling in a space that could easily have read as empty. If a jacket or shirt you wear constantly has started to feel flat, one scarf is the entire solution.

Rather than tying a scarf separately, MIU MIU built the scarf detail into the neckline of the blouse for SS27. If re-tying a scarf every single morning sounds like a chore, and it is, a blouse with a neck-tie detail does the same job without the labor. Let the ribbon hang loose or tie it into something fuller and the mood moves with it.

Wearing clothes you like is, when you get down to it, just a routine for making the day better.

I hope everything here carries you through this autumn and winter and into spring, and brings a few good things along with it. Here’s to closing out 2026 properly and starting 2027 even better. 💌

Editor: Kim Nayoung