{"id":990328,"date":"2026-10-26T11:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=990328"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:54:09","slug":"scream-and-flout","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/scream-and-flout\/","title":{"rendered":"Scream and Flout"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 31, Vice President JD Vance told a podcaster he \u201cwould not be shocked\u201d if we were living in the end-times and\/or if the Antichrist were walking among us. He also noted that it\u2019s \u201cOK\u201d if his work somehow brings those end-times about. Spectacular. Obviously, his apocalyptic assertions steered my mind toward the Fall\/Winter 2026 collections.<\/p>\n

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Model on the runway at the Loewe fashion show as part of Paris Fashion Week Fall 2026 held at Esplanade Saint Louis on March 6, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dominique Maitre\/WWD via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The world is on fire \u2014 literally and figuratively. It might seem flippant to devote your energy to fashion at this particular moment. But I\u2019d argue that the season\u2019s sartorial statements, such as Haider Ackermann\u2019s transparent Tom Ford raincoats with alligator-embossed leather collars, Matthieu Blazy\u2019s sheath covered in gargantuan, clattering paillettes at Chanel, and Glenn Martens\u2019 blinding gilded Maison Margiela gown comprising 150,000 star stickers, are among the best ways to fill your brain and your wardrobe. Step aside quiet luxury, because fall\u2019s fashions are loud \u2014 screaming loud. And they can be viewed as armor against reality or, at the very least, delicious distractions.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli \u2014 whose pursuit of extreme beauty was so fierce that, after her mother called her ugly, she crammed flower seeds into her mouth, ears, and nose in hopes she\u2019d erupt into a garden \u2014 observed that, \u201cIn difficult times, fashion is always outrageous.\u201d She wrote this in her 1954 memoir, Shocking Life,<\/i> in the wake of two world wars. It\u2019s since been quoted into oblivion by every fashion journalist with Google and a deadline \u2014 including yours truly, who has used it at least thrice in her career. It may now be a clich\u00e9, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n

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PARIS, FRANCE – JANUARY 24: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) Rouguy Faye walks the runway during the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring\/Summer 2022 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 24, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Peter White\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elsa\u2019s heir, Daniel Roseberry, embodied her statement for fall, proposing suits scrunched and deformed in the most delectable ways, prim dresses slashed at the sides, and pumps garnished with furry, roaring felines. This season called for collections with teeth, and Roseberry delivered.<\/p>\n

After years of trying to dress like the taupe-cashmere-drenched cast of Succession, <\/i>it would seem we are finally replacing quiet luxury with something more boisterous. “This past year I noticed a shift back to color and different materials and proportions,\u201d said stylist Bailey Moon, whose clients include fashion darlings Rebecca Hall and Morgan Spector. \u201cPeople are having a little bit more fun again and making more exciting choices, which also means making riskier choices.\u201d With risk comes reward.<\/p>\n

Moon has found that his celebrity and well-to-do clients alike are taking the plunge. \u201cPeople are craving what\u2019s different and what\u2019s going to set them apart,\u201d he said. Case in point, one of Moon\u2019s longtime clients recently eschewed a classic black Chanel flap bag in favor of the brand\u2019s leopard-print model. When you buy a standout piece, said Moon, \u201cwhat comes with it is a vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A model on the runway at Christian Dior’s fall 2008 haute couture show at the Musee Rodin in Paris. (Photo by Giovanni Giannoni\/WWD\/Penske Media via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Style\u2019s newfound courage, posits Moon, stems from a collective quest for cheer. We\u2019re \u201cseeking joy,\u201d he said. Fall\u2019s emphatic looks \u2014 faux fur dresses at Loewe by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Jonathan Anderson\u2019s\u00a0 <\/span>abundance of flouncy skirts and shimmying feathers at Dior, silk fringe and immaculate embroidery at Sarah Burton\u2019s Givenchy, to name a few \u2014 unapologetically declare, \u201cI\u2019m enjoying myself!\u201d And even if you aren\u2019t, fake it \u2019till you make it. It\u2019s inevitable that, eventually, these clothes will bolster your mood.<\/p>\n

Naturally, none of this is new. Fashion historian Summer Anne Lee explained that <\/span>maximalism has often been catalyzed by technology, prosperity, and youth. “In the mid-19th century, for example, innovations in steel made the massive cage crinoline possible, while newly invented synthetic dyes sparked fashion trends for vivid new colors.” She also noted the influence of the street, citing \u201cthe spectacular postwar youth subcultures, whose styles pushed the envelope by challenging conventional ideas about class and sartorial convention\u201d and the punks of the 1970s. \u201cVivienne Westwood famously described their approach as \u2018confrontation dressing,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A model on the runway at Alexander McQueen’s fall 2009 show in Paris. (Photo by Fairchild Archive\/Penske Media via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lee suggested that fashion\u2019s shift toward noisiness may not merely be celebratory escapism. The restrained \u201cold money\u201d and \u201cquiet luxury\u201d trends are closely associated with snobbery and exclusivity. \u201c<\/span>The maximalist styles we\u2019re seeing now can be read, in part, as a rejection of that aesthetic and the elitist social structures it comes from,\u201d she said. Given the growing backlash against billionaires and tech oligarchs, that tracks.<\/p>\n

What doesn\u2019t quite track is how exorbitantly expensive rejecting exclusivity is. Today\u2019s most ebullient designs can run anywhere from four to six figures, which seems absurd for ready-to-wear. \u201cI cannot for the life of me figure out where they\u2019re coming up with these prices,\u201d said Timothy Lloyd Pope, a fashion and luxury consultant who\u2019s spent more than 40 years in the biz. A pastel jacquard Dior Bar jacket, for instance, will set you back $11,500, and Schiaparelli\u2019s shimmering trompe l\u2019oeil dress with hands grasping at the breasts is a cool $21,500. Spending that kind of dough is reserved for the ruling class, not a protest of it.<\/p>\n

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(EDITORIAL USE ONLY – For Non-Editorial use please seek approval from Fashion House) A model Irina Shayk walks the runway during the Schiaparelli Haute Couture Spring Summer 2023 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on January 23, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo Estrop by Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are<\/i> going to invest in the season\u2019s finery \u2014 or if you\u2019re planning to channel its grandiosity with fabulous thrift-store finds \u2014 Pope cautions against adopting fashion\u2019s full extremes. No one wears the entire runway look unless they\u2019re peacocking at a fashion show or on the red carpet. You can be loud without screeching. \u201cI find all of this very exciting in that there are <\/span>now interesting pieces that you pluck and inject into an existing wardrobe to add some excitement,\u201d said Pope. \u201cThey\u2019re pieces that can go along and work in someone\u2019s life \u2014 not just this season, but in the future. It\u2019s not just a throwaway, loud luxury trend.\u201d He named Chanel\u2019s leopard statement jacket and advised teaming it with a white blouse and some high-waisted trousers. \u201cThat’s a way to go out to dinner \u2014 to feel glamorous, but not look silly.\u201d Such pieces, he said, lend \u201can interesting kiss of glamour to a woman\u2019s wardrobe.\u201d Or a slap, depending on what you\u2019re into. <\/span><\/p>\n

Moon agrees with that sentiment. \u201c<\/span>It doesn’t always have to be a loud color or loud proportions. It can be something sleek that is a little bit removed from the simplicity of the minimalist, quiet-luxury era.\u201d Consider the look he assembled for Nina Dobrev\u2019s appearance at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, which comprised a sequin Armani Priv\u00e9 column gown with emerald strips of chiffon streaming from the skirt. She spent the evening twirling the panels rather than freezing into what Moon calls the typical red-carpet \u201cT. rex pose.\u201d It wasn\u2019t over the top, but it wasn\u2019t meek, either.<\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 28: A model walks the runway at the Bottega Veneta Ready to Wear Fall\/Winter 2026\/2027 fashion show during the Milan Fashion Week on February 28, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE\/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pope defines luxury as pieces that provide the freedom to put your best self forward. \u201cSometimes that\u2019s a big statement. Sometimes that\u2019s a whisper,\u201d he said. Fall really focuses on the former, and thank goodness it does. If I\u2019m going to bump into the Antichrist, I want to do it wearing something extraordinary \u2014 something that packs a punch and an opinion.<\/p>\n

Read GRAZIA USA\u2019<\/em>s Fall\/Winter 2026 Issue<\/a><\/h2>\n