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Tate McRae Fronted Calvin Klein’s Feel the Fit Denim Campaign

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Tate McRae in high-rise loose Calvin Klein jeans mid-dance for the Feel the Fit campaign
Tate McRae wears the High Rise Loose Jean in Calvin Klein's Fall 2026 Feel the Fit campaign, photographed by Carlijn Jacobs.

The teaser withheld her face entirely. Fans identified her from her voice alone, within hours. That is a useful measure of how much recognition a 23-year-old now brings to a denim campaign.

Tate McRae fronts Calvin Klein’s Fall 2026 Feel the Fit denim campaign, announced on August 25, 2026. Carlijn Jacobs directed and photographed it, setting McRae’s choreography to Deee-Lite’s 1990 track “Groove Is in the Heart.” It is the first chapter of a month-long rollout featuring further global talent.

What Is the Tate McRae Calvin Klein Campaign?

The opening chapter of a staged release, not a standalone advertisement. Calvin Klein has confirmed further global talent will follow across the coming month.

McRae carries the first installment alone. WWD reported the launch, describing the Canadian singer, songwriter and former competitive dancer bringing movement and attitude to the house’s denim.

Her own framing is straightforward. “I’ve always been a fan of Calvin Klein jeans,” she said, adding that the campaign is about the moment a favorite pair clicks.

Three fits anchor it commercially. The Low Rise Baggy Jean and the High Rise Loose Jean arrive as new options, while the 90s Straight Jean returns to the range.

Signature construction stays intact. Notably, the back-pocket topstitching that identifies Calvin Klein Fall 2026 denim at a glance is unchanged.

The Choreography Is the Product Demo

This is the smartest decision in the campaign. Jacobs built the whole thing around motion rather than static poses.

Sergio Reis’s choreography drives it. McRae dances through deliberately ordinary settings — hallways, plain rooms — and transforms each one through movement.

That format solves a genuine problem. A still photograph cannot show how a pair of jeans sits when someone actually moves, and fit is the entire proposition here.

Dance also plays to her background. She trained as a competitive dancer before her music career, so the movement reads as competence rather than direction.

The brand then extended it socially. Calvin Klein has invited creators to recreate her routine, which converts a campaign into a participatory format at no additional media cost.

That is a meaningful shift in how houses cast. Performers who can move are now worth more than models who photograph well, and the debate over AI-generated campaign imagery has only sharpened that advantage.

Calvin Klein Is Mining Its Own 1990s Archive.

The soundtrack gives the strategy away. Deee-Lite released “Groove Is in the Heart” in 1990, and the choice is not nostalgic decoration.

Calvin Klein built its cultural position in that decade. Its denim-and-underwear imagery defined a specific visual language — spare settings, direct gaze, minimal styling, maximum body.

McRae named the reference herself. She has cited Kate Moss’s 1993 Obsession campaign, photographed by Mario Sorrenti, as a personal touchstone.

That citation matters. It reframes the casting as a continuation of a lineage rather than a celebrity pairing, which is a considerably stronger commercial argument.

The nineties revival has been running across fashion for three years, from denim silhouettes to the return of 90s activewear. Calvin Klein has an advantage almost no one else has, though — it owns the original archive rather than borrowing from it.

Why McRae, and Why Now

Her year explains the timing. Billboard reported the announcement on Tuesday, noting the High Rise Loose Jeans and the hallway routine that calls back to the brand’s signature nineties looks.

The numbers behind her are substantial. She earned her first Grammy nomination for “Just Keep Watching,” from the F1: The Movie soundtrack, and her So Close to What World Tour grossed a reported $111 million.

This is also her first major fashion campaign. Consequently, Calvin Klein gets a genuine debut rather than a name already worn thin across competing houses.

She had signaled the fit publicly first. Fans had been speculating about a partnership for weeks based on her wearing the brand’s pieces, which meant the reveal landed into existing anticipation.

Her enthusiasm was on record too. “I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time,” she said in a behind-the-scenes clip.

What Comes Next

More chapters arrive across the next month. Calvin Klein has said that additional global talent will follow, and the format suggests each will bring their own discipline to the same three fits.

Watch the creator response first. Whether the routine is actually recreated at scale determines whether Tate McRae dance content becomes the campaign’s primary distribution.

The denim range is the commercial test. Low-rise baggy and high-rise loose sit on opposite sides of the current silhouette argument, and Calvin Klein has hedged by offering both. Follow the campaigns and houses shaping the season with our fashion designers’ coverage at Runway Magazine.

Current Calvin Klein campaigns are renewing attention around the house, while RUNWAY’s Calvin Klein love story looks at the founder’s relationship with Kevin Baker beyond the brand imagery.

Dolly Parton Made Fashion a Lifelong Act of Defiance

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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A rhinestone-covered white stage gown and platinum wig on display in a costume archive
A rhinestone-covered stage gown and platinum wig displayed in a costume archive, the defining elements of a seven-decade look.

Almost everyone who mattered told her to stop. Her father, her managers, Nashville itself. Yet she kept the wigs, the rhinestones and the heels for sixty years. Ultimately, every one of those people was wrong.

Dolly Parton fashion was a constructed identity, not a costume. Throughout seven decades, she kept the same elements. Platinum wigs, rhinestones, sky-high heels, bold makeup and figure-conscious silhouettes. She documented the entire archive in her 2023 book Behind the Seams. Parton died in Nashville on August 25, 2026, aged 80.

What Defined Dolly Parton’s Fashion?

Consistency, above everything. Most performers reinvent themselves every few years. Instead, she did the opposite, and that refusal became the signature.

The components never really changed. Bleach-blonde hair, worn high. Rhinestones, in quantity. Additionally, a defined waist, a strong heel and a full face of makeup.

Her creative director understood the logic precisely. Steve Summers worked with her for decades. He told Vogue that “she doesn’t follow fashion trends at all,” and that her style had barely shifted.

That is unusual enough to be a strategy. Because the silhouette stayed fixed, it became legible in outline. Indeed, it was recognizable in a photograph, a cartoon or a drag tribute.

She also had a philosophy for it. “Less is less. More is more,” she once said, correcting the received wisdom directly.

Key Takeaways

  • Parton died peacefully in Nashville on August 25, 2026, aged 80, after a brief battle with cancer.
  • Her 2023 book documented six decades of clothing across 450 photographs from a private archive.
  • Sevier County declared August 26 a day of mourning, and the Empire State Building lit pink in tribute.

The Look Started With a Woman in Sevierville

The origin story is the best in fashion. Moreover, Parton told it for fifty years without flinching. She built her image on a woman her hometown despised.

The description never varied. Bright red lipstick, long red fingernails, short skirts and low-cut tops. Also, high heels with small floating plastic goldfish set into them.

Her verdict, given to The Guardian, was simple. “And I just thought she was beautiful,” she said.

The town disagreed loudly. When people called the woman “trash,” her response was consistent across decades of interviews. That, she said, was what she intended to become.

She started early and improvised. Her father forbade lipstick, and there was no money for cosmetics. Therefore she painted her mouth with Mercurochrome, a red antiseptic, because he could not rub it off.

Other influences followed. She credited the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog. Meanwhile, her mother’s Coat of Many Colors, sewn from feed sacks, remains the most famous garment she ever wore.

She Had to Fight for It

None of it was permitted easily. Arriving in Nashville in 1964, she was told repeatedly to tone it down.

Her own account is blunt. “But believe it or not, I had to fight for that look,” she wrote.

The pressure came from every direction. Her father, her managers, and industry figures who believed the styling would cost her credibility. Still, she refused all of it.

The gamble worked because the persona was honest. Her term for it was Backwoods Barbie, a country girl’s idea of glamour. She then wrote a song by that name to explain the point.

She also disarmed the criticism by getting there first. “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” she said. Consequently, the line has outlived nearly everyone who used the word cheap seriously.

That is the genuinely radical part. Dolly Parton style was working-class glamour presented without apology or upgrade. Notably, it arrived in an industry that rewards neither.

The People Who Built It With Her

The look was never a solo act. Furthermore, she was scrupulous about crediting it. The book reads in part like an acknowledgments page.

Judy Ogle is the reason any of it survives. Her lifelong best friend and assistant preserved and cataloged the clothing early on. That is, decades before anyone treated it as an archive.

Summers shaped the later decades as creative director. Alongside him, Bob Mackie, Ann Roth and a long roster of tailors, wigmakers and makeup artists all appear in the record.

Her niece Rebecca Seaver curated the book. She selected from thousands of pieces spanning six decades. Music journalist Holly George-Warren co-wrote it.

The scale is the point. Six hundred pages of institutional memory around one wardrobe is not vanity. Rather, it is the same instinct that built a theme park and a library program, applied to clothes.

An accompanying exhibition also ran at Lipscomb University in Nashville in late 2023.

Why Maximalism Was the Point

Her Dolly Parton rhinestones were never decoration. They were an argument.

Country music fashion has always used sequins and embroidery, from Nudie suits onward. However, Parton took that vocabulary and refused to let anyone frame it as a joke.

The venues barely mattered. Porter Wagoner’s variety show in 1967, the Playboy cover in 1978, Studio 54, 9 to 5, Rhinestone. Even stadium stages into her eighties carried the same silhouette.

Hundreds of Dolly Parton wigs followed her through those years, and she stayed blonde in every one. Because a hotel fire was always possible, she also wore makeup to bed.

Red acrylic nails became percussion on “9 to 5.” Meanwhile, she joked that her hair was a fire hazard. Arguably, that is what confidence sounds like after sixty years.

Increasingly, contemporary fashion has rediscovered all of this, as the new maximalism reshaping 2026 makes clear. She never left.

What She Leaves Behind

The tributes have moved faster than usual. CNN Style traced the looks within hours. Similarly, Rolling Stone’s obituary placed the Backwoods Barbie image alongside the songwriting rather than beneath it.

Her family put it best in their statement. They called it “a rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see.”

The archive endures, and it is substantial. Thousands of garments, cataloged and preserved by people who understood their value while she was still wearing them.

Ultimately, the Dolly Parton fashion legacy runs through everyone who built a public self out of clothing rather than inheriting one. That includes Rihanna’s evolution from Barbados to billionaire. Equally, it includes every performer who decided that being looked at was a choice.

Instead of flowers, her family has asked for donations to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Follow the figures and moments that shaped how we dress with our celebrity style coverage at Runway Magazine.

JENNIE Debuted the adidas Superstar Square Ballet Sneaker

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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The adidas Superstar Square Ballet in white and black with a squared shell toe and bow
The adidas Superstar Square Ballet from adidas Originals by JENNIE, releasing September 1, 2026 in two colourways at $150.

The shell toe has survived basketball courts, Run-DMC, and five decades of reissues largely unchanged. It has just been squared off, stripped of its laces and given a bow. That is not a colorway. That is surgery.

The adidas Superstar Square Ballet is JENNIE’s first designed shoe with adidas Originals. It squares off the Superstar’s shell toe, removes the laces in favor of an elastic midfoot strap, and adds a small bow at the vamp. Two colorways release September 1, 2026, in Korea at $150.

What Is the adidas Superstar Square Ballet?

A Superstar rebuilt around the vocabulary of a ballet flat. The lineage stays legible, yet almost every functional element has changed.

The rubber cupsole survives. So do the Three Stripes and the low-profile proportions that made the original recognizable at a distance.

Everything above the sole is different. There is no tongue and no lacing system; instead, an elastic band crosses the midfoot to hold the foot in place.

A decorative detail sits near the vamp. Leather laces appear there, but they serve no structural purpose whatsoever.

Two colorways have surfaced. One arrives in Off White with Core Black accents (style code LB3786), while the other inverts it, with Core Black accents in Off White (style code LB3787).

Pricing is set at $150 in the United States, with a UK listing at £110. Notably, both pairs release in women’s sizing only.

Why the Square Toe Is the Real Change

The toe box is where the design earns its name. adidas flattened and widened the shell into a squared form rather than rounding it.

That choice is more deliberate than it looks. Most adidas ballet-hybrid styles to date have used slim, rounded toes that read as flat and wear sneaker details.

A square box reads differently. It borrows directly from the blunt front of a pointe shoe, which the bow then confirms as the reference.

The branding restraint is equally notable. JENNIE’s name appears with the Trefoil on an internal label rather than anywhere on the exterior.

Consequently, the silhouette does all the talking. A square-toe shoe trend built on a fifty-seven-year-old basketball shoe needs no additional signature.

JENNIE Moved From Face to Co-Creator

The title change is the story behind the story. She joined adidas in early 2018 through a group deal with BLACKPINK, then spent years as a campaign presence.

Those campaigns accumulated. She appeared in “Change Is a Team Sport” in 2020, promoted the CLOT Gazelle Espadrille project with Edison Chen, and featured in the brand’s Spring 2026 Superstar campaign.

adidas teased the new project on August 17 under the banner adidas Originals by JENNIE. Putting a name on the label rather than in the credits is how sportswear brands signal genuine creative input.

Her commercial case is straightforward. Her debut solo album Ruby peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and was expanded to 21 tracks in March.

The group’s weight is larger still. BLACKPINK’s “JUMP” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, and the Deadline tour sold out multiple nights in Los Angeles and New York.

She is not alone in this either. Her bandmates hold their own footwear partnerships across Nike, Puma, and Salomon, which makes BLACKPINK arguably the most valuable sneaker-endorsement bloc in music.

Balletcore Has Outlasted Its Own Name

The aesthetic arrived in 2022 and refused to leave. What has changed is the construction, not the appetite.

Early balletcore meant literal ballet flats. Now it means hybridization, and the sneaker-flat crossover is where the category has actually settled — a shift visible across balletcore’s move from studios into wardrobes and on luxury runways, treating the ballerina as a full silhouette.

The wider logic is category collapse. Sneakers now borrow from loafers, outdoor footwear moves into cities, and technical fabrics turn into eveningwear.

A ballet sneaker trend built on basketball-shoe fits fits that pattern precisely. Furthermore, it lets adidas treat heritage as material rather than as a template it cannot touch.

The commercial upside is women’s footwear. adidas has prioritized that category hard, and a sneaker-flat hybrid designed by a global pop star is an efficient entry point.

What Comes Next

September 1 is the date. The full adidas Originals by JENNIE range reveals then, and the footwear is only part of it.

Apparel has been previewed already. Teasers show a light-blue track jacket, high-waisted micro shorts, corduroy Three Stripes tracksuits, and heel-less, toe-less dance socks.

Watch the resale market on release day. Two colorways, women’s sizing only, and a Korea-first rollout is a scarcity structure, whether intended or not. Follow the labels, launches, and product moments that matter with our fashion designers’ coverage at Runway Magazine.

Loewe Shot Its Fall 2026 Campaign on Top of Mont Blanc

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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A Loewe Fall 2026 campaign figure in a bright parka and storm boots in Mont Blanc snow
Loewe's Fall 2026 campaign, photographed by Talia Chetrit at Pointe Helbronner in the Mont Blanc massif at 3,470 metres.

A luxury campaign usually wants you to see the clothes. In a good number of these images, you cannot see much of anything. That is not a failure of the shoot — it is the shoot.

The Loewe Fall 2026 campaign unfolds at Pointe Helbronner in the Mont Blanc massif, at elevations of up to 3,470 meters. Talia Chetrit photographed brand ambassadors Julia Garner and Lil Yachty alongside actors, models and artist Cosima von Bonin. Many frames show almost nothing but snow and mist.

Where Was the Loewe Fall 2026 Campaign Shot?

At a summit in the French Alps, reachable by cable car and very little else. The location sits within the Mont Blanc massif, and the cast worked at altitudes up to 3,470 meters.

The conditions did most of the art direction. WWD reported that a whiteout of snow and mist is the only thing visible across a significant portion of the imagery.

The cast is unusually broad—Garner and Lil Yachty lead, joined by actors Théodore Pellerin, Laïka Blanc-Francard and Beau Gadsdon.

Models Nyawurh Chuol, Carin Herven and Siegfried Blanche follow. Cosima von Bonin appears too, which matters because she is not just a face here.

Von Bonin designed the Fall 2026 show space in Paris and a seasonal capsule. Her work also spans special versions of house signatures, including the Loewe Amazona 180, the Puzzle, and the Flamenco.

Chetrit Inverted Her Own Loewe Campaign

The photographer choice is the wittiest part. Chetrit shot Loewe’s previous campaign in an opposite register.

That earlier work was hot and close. It leaned on sweat-dappled skin and split, dripping citrus, and it read as almost uncomfortably intimate.

This one is the exact negative. Bundled bodies replace bare skin, and frozen surfaces replace ripe fruit.

Consequently, the two campaigns function as a pair rather than a sequence: same eye, inverted climate, identical fascination with texture.

The obscuring is deliberate too. When a photographer hides the product, she is asking to be trusted on mood — and very few houses currently have the confidence to allow that.

The Clothes Were Built for This

The collection was not retrofitted to the location. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez have been building sportswear codes into Loewe since their debut, and Fall 2026 pushed further.

Storm boots, mittens, parkas and heavy coats all appear. Wraparound and visor-shaped sunglasses recur as a graphic device throughout the campaign.

Some pieces are stranger. Rubber-like kitten heels take their form from swim shoes, while shearling jeans arrive with a wide-wale corduroy effect.

Color is what survives the whiteout. Against blinding snow, the collection’s vivid blocks read at distance in a way they never would on a Paris pavement.

The leather craft is the deeper story. WWD’s review of the show recorded McCollough on their fused, feather-thin leather jackets: “it’s almost like the highest level of craft when you erase the hand itself.”

The designers framed the whole season around a philosophical question — whether fashion is a game played to win or to keep playing. An expedition campaign answers it fairly directly.

Why Extreme Locations Are Back

Luxury campaign locations have escalated sharply this year. Houses have moved from studios to deserts, subway platforms and now alpine summits.

The reason is scarcity. Anyone can produce a beautiful studio image, whereas almost nobody can put a cast at 3,470 meters and bring back usable film.

Cost is the barrier and the point. Mountain production involves permits, guides, cable-car logistics, a cold-weather crew, and a very narrow weather window — the kind of budget realities that shape fashion week production economics as well.

The payoff is attention. A campaign shot somewhere genuinely difficult travels through general news and travel audiences, not only fashion ones.

Loewe also has an anniversary to justify the spend. The house is celebrating 180 years, and the Amazona 180 name is a direct nod to that milestone.

What Comes Next

Paris Fashion Week returns in six weeks. McCollough and Hernandez will present their third Loewe collection, and expectations have risen considerably since March.

Watch the accessories first. Von Bonin’s capsule versions of the Puzzle and Flamenco are the pieces most likely to move, because a collaboration bag converts an art project into retail.

The campaign’s real test is retention. Fall deliveries are landing now, and a whiteout is a bold way to sell a parka. Follow the collections and shows that shape the season with our Paris Fashion Week coverage and attendee guide at Runway Magazine.

Cara Delevingne Returned to Topshop as Its Co-Designer

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Cara Delevingne in a cropped denim jacket and wide-leg jeans for Topshop on a London street
Cara Delevingne co-designed Topshop's 16-piece denim capsule, launched August 23, 2026 and available at Asos from August 25.

She first appeared in a Topshop campaign in 2010, standing behind Kate Moss. Sixteen years later, she has sixteen pieces with her name on the design credit. She is also, deliberately, absent from the photographs.

Cara Delevingne co-designed a 16-piece Topshop capsule that launched on August 23, 2026, and is now available on Asos.com. Prices run from £26 to £95 across UK sizes 6 to 18. The denim-led range covers jeans, skirts, dresses, jackets, tailoring and co-ords, and it is her first credited design role with the brand.

What Is in the Cara Delevingne Topshop Collection?

Denim, used as a base material rather than a category. That distinction shapes every piece in the range.

The hero is a pinstripe suit cut entirely in denim. A broad-shouldered blazer pairs with a wide-leg trouser in an overdyed pinstripe, which is the closest the capsule comes to formalwear.

A second statement runs turquoise. A funnel-neck jacket and matching jean form a head-to-toe co-ord in a genuinely loud wash.

WWD detailed the range, including a beige trenchcoat reinterpreted as a cropped light-brown jean jacket belted at the waist. Boxy jorts arrive with a curving pattern in light wash and chocolate brown.

The jeans cover both ends of the current silhouette debate. Slim high-waisted pairs sit alongside extra-baggy dark-wash barrel styles.

Layering pieces complete it. Ribbed vests, open-back tops, and long-sleeved tees are designed to be worn under and over denim rather than beside it.

From Campaign Face to Design Credit

The progression has been slow and deliberate. She first worked with the brand in 2010, appearing in the Kate Moss for Topshop campaign.

Last year she returned as a curator. That 30-piece edit was styling work, and it landed alongside the relaunch of Topshop.com as a standalone site.

This time the credit is different. The brand says it worked with her for more than a year on the capsule, and the range keeps its circular design criteria in mind.

She framed it personally. “Topshop has been part of my style story for as long as I can remember,” she told WWD.

Her denim credentials are also documented. She has previously said that denim is “a fantastic, enduring style statement” and central to how she dresses.

Notably, Cara Delevingne’s designer credits now run in parallel with her modeling. She is simultaneously fronting Rag & Bone’s Fall 2026 campaign, which follows her debut headline music tour.

She Is Not in the Campaign, and That Is the Point

Here is the detail almost every write-up has skipped. Delevingne does not appear in the campaign imagery at all.

Magnus Lecher shot it on the streets of London. Miah Linardi fronts it, with creative direction by Mairead Gleeson and styling by Holly Gorst.

That absence is a deliberate signal. A celebrity capsule usually leads with the celebrity’s face, because the face is the product.

Removing her forces attention onto the clothes instead. Please judge the launch as a design collaboration rather than an endorsement.

It is also a credibility play. Anyone can lead a campaign; stepping back from one means the work is elsewhere.

Topshop Needed This More Than She Did

The brand’s recent history has been turbulent. Arcadia Group collapsed into administration in 2020, and Asos acquired Topshop and Topman in 2021.

Ownership then changed again. Asos sold a 75 percent majority stake to Heartland — representing the Holch Povlsen family and Bestseller — for £135 million in September 2024, retaining 25 percent itself.

The Topshop comeback has been methodical since. A runway show in Trafalgar Square followed, alongside a capsule with British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker.

British high street fashion has struggled to rebuild that kind of cultural weight, and Topshop’s denim history is its strongest asset. Michelle Wilson, the brand’s managing director, tied the collaboration directly to that denim DNA.

The price architecture supports the strategy. A £26-£95 Topshop denim capsule sits well below the designer collaborations that dominate coverage, yet it reaches the audience that actually shops trends.

What Comes Next

Today’s Asos listing is the real test. Topshop.com reaches loyalists; Asos reaches scale.

Watch the denim tailoring 2026 pieces specifically. The pinstripe suit is the item that determines whether this reads as a design collection or a merchandising exercise.

The longer question is whether the partnership extends. She has moved from face to curator to co-designer across three stages, and there is only one step left — a role with genuine creative authority, of the kind London’s emerging designers build careers on. Follow the labels and launches shaping the season with our fashion designers’ coverage at Runway Magazine.

Cardi B Debuted a $187,000 Hermès and Chanel Bag Haul

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Cardi B with a collection of Chanel, Hermès and Bottega Veneta handbags from her TikTok haul
Cardi B displays more than $187,000 of Chanel, Hermès and Bottega Veneta bags bought over five weeks.

Eight bags. Five weeks. Four cities. The number everyone is quoting is $187,000, but that’s not the interesting part. What she bought is.

Cardi B’s bag haul totals more than $187,000 and covers roughly five weeks of buying across New York, Paris, Italy, and London. She posted the TikTok on August 22, 2026. The eight bags include three Chanel flaps, a green tweed Bottega Veneta, and three alligator Hermès pieces, the most expensive of which is reported at $44,100. Her Chanel streak continued almost immediately with a flame-print Chanel look at Kehlani’s Brooklyn show.

What Is in Cardi B’s Bag Haul?

Eight pieces, unboxed one at a time. She opened by telling viewers some were extravagant and some were calm.

The Chanel run came first. A Maxi Flap Bag in a yellow, black, and red pattern led at $8,500, followed by a black Maxi Flap at $9,300.

Her third Chanel was the standout. The pony-hair cheetah-print flap, reported at $15,955, carries calf hair and a gold chain. Moreover, she named it her favorite for autumn.

Then came a white feathered bag bought in Italy. She has worn it once and says she will not wear it again soon because it is too delicate.

A green tweed Bottega Veneta shoulder bag followed at $6,700, purchased in Paris. Some coverage identifies it as the Large Campana.

Key Takeaways

  • The haul spans roughly five weeks of buying across New York, Paris, Italy and London, posted to TikTok on August 22, 2026.
  • Three Chanel flap bags account for $33,755, led by a $15,955 pony-hair cheetah-print style.
  • The most expensive piece is a bright green alligator Hermès mini, reported at $44,100 and bought in London.

The Chanel Run and the Jordyn Woods Story

The best anecdote is about the bag she almost missed. She had bought the matching outfit three months earlier, only to arrive at Chanel too late.

Someone else had already taken it. Billboard reported on her account: Jordyn Woods’ Chanel shopping had beaten her by thirty minutes, taking the last one in New York.

She got a second unit eventually. Still, the story explains something real about how limited allocations actually work at that level.

The Chanel Maxi Flap Bag choices also track the house’s current direction. Matthieu Blazy’s Métiers d’Art collection, reviewed by WWD, leaned hard into pattern, texture and pop reference rather than quiet classicism.

That shift suits her. Cardi has been buying Chanel steadily through 2026, including a separate haul in June reported at around $52,000 — and she wore Blazy’s flame-print Chanel on stage in Brooklyn on Friday, three days before this video posted. For the longer view, see the complete history of the house.

The Hermès Pieces Are the Real Story

Three exotics closed the video, and they carry most of the value. Each one is alligator.

The first is a mini in rose, estimated at $25,000-$35,000. Notably, she already owns the full-size version and wanted the small one as well.

The second is a matte Mississippiensis alligator piece in Gris, still unused. She described it as a neutral to sit alongside the brighter buys.

The third is the headline—a bright green alligator mini, reported at $44,100, bought in London. Coverage disagrees on whether it is a Birkin or a Kelly, so treat the model designation as unconfirmed.

Cardi B Hermès Birkin buying has been consistent for years. Consequently, this is accumulation within an established collection rather than a first purchase.

She Bought the Only Segment That Held Its Value

Here is what almost no coverage has noted. Every Hermès piece in this haul is exotic, and exotics are the one part of the market that has not softened.

The standard leather picture has changed. Secondary-market premiums on ordinary Birkins ran between 50 and 100 percent above retail in 2021 and 2022. By 2026, those premiums sit closer to 20 to 40 percent, and some sizes trade near parity.

Exotics moved the other way. Alligator and crocodile Birkin and Kelly bags rebounded in 2025, climbing roughly 11.5 percent year-on-year to an average price near €40,750.

The size choice matters equally. Mini and 25 formats hold value better than 35 and 40, because that is how bags are actually carried now.

Therefore, the alligator Birkin price tier she bought into is the resilient one. Whether by instinct or advice, the Cardi B handbag collection is weighted almost entirely toward exotic leather resale value rather than volume.

For scale: Birkin 25 in Togo retails from $13,500 in the United States, while exotic examples routinely exceed $100,000 at auction.

The Haul Is Also a Format

The video itself is the second story. Unboxing hauls have become one of the most reliable engines in luxury discovery, and celebrities now run them like retail media.

Her delivery does specific work. She names prices, explains why she bought each piece, and admits when she was outbid.

That transparency is unusual. Most luxury marketing hides price entirely, whereas this format leads with it — the same mechanism now driving viral tote and Chanel handbag trends across social platforms.

The luxury handbag investment 2026 conversation has moved onto TikTok as a result. Increasingly, resale valuations reach general audiences through creators rather than through auction houses.

What Comes Next

Watch the resale listings first. A celebrity-named purchase in a distinctive colorway typically lifts comparable listings within days.

Her buying pattern suggests more. She has already said she wants the black Maxi Flap in green, which is exactly how allocation relationships get built.

The broader signal concerns the market’s split. Standard leather is normalizing while rare skins and small formats keep climbing, and this haul is an unusually clean illustration of that divide. Follow the looks and luxury moments that matter with our celebrity style coverage at Runway Magazine.

Louis Vuitton Makeup Prices in 2026: What Everything Costs

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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The Monogram Dune and Monogram Infrarouge makeup compacts from La Beauté Louis Vuitton
The Monogram Dune and Monogram Infrarouge compacts from La Beauté Louis Vuitton, with palettes at $340 and lipsticks at $195.

A $195 lipstick is a decision, not a purchase. A case to keep your blotting papers in, reported at around three times that price, is something else entirely. Louis Vuitton has spent a year testing how far luxury beauty pricing can stretch, and the Monogram capsule is the furthest point yet.

Louis Vuitton makeup prices start at $160 for a core LV Rouge lipstick and $250 for a standard eyeshadow palette. The limited-edition Monogram capsule by Nicolas Ghesquière and Pat McGrath prices lipsticks and lip balms at $195 each and palettes at $340. All six capsule products together total $1,460.

What Are Louis Vuitton Makeup Prices in 2026?

They sit in two tiers. The permanent line runs lower; the limited-edition capsules run higher.

The core range launched in 2025. Lipsticks arrived at $160 and eyeshadow palettes at $250, which already placed the house above most luxury competitors.

The Monogram capsule raises both. A palette now costs $340, while satin lipsticks and topper lip balms sit at $195 each.

Buying one complete world is the real number. Three products in either Dune or Infrarouge come to $730.

Both worlds together reach $1,460. Notably, that figure covers makeup alone and excludes every accessory in the collection.

Key Takeaways

  • The Monogram capsule launched online on August 20, 2026 and reaches Louis Vuitton stores on August 27, after a China-first rollout.
  • Palettes cost $340, and both lipsticks and topper balms cost $195, totaling $1,460 for all six products.
  • La Beauté Louis Vuitton launched in 2025 with 55 lipstick shades, an eyeshadow range and a lip crayon.

The Monogram Capsule Costs More Than the Core Line

The premium is roughly 30 percent, and it buys packaging rather than formula. That distinction matters if you are deciding between tiers.

The products themselves are consistent with the permanent range. LV Rouge lipstick, LV Baume topper balm, and the LV Ombres palette all exist year-round in other shades.

What changes is the canvas. WWD reported that this is the first time La Beauté products carry the house Monogram at all, in the Monogram Dune and Monogram Infrarouge expressions.

Dune pairs warm rose-gold hardware with matte off-white aluminum. Infrarouge answers in matte black and red lacquer.

The shades are documented too. Dune’s palette runs icy white, rose gold, hematite grey and an anise touched with pink, while its lipstick is a rosy beige. Infrarouge offers rosy beige, cool taupe, sparkling anthracite and burgundy, with a redcurrant lipstick.

Both toppers are the oddities. LV Baume 098 Stellar Veil carries holographic sparkle; LV Baume 099 Galactic Veil is a sheer deep black shot through with holographic glitter.

The Accessories Cost More Than the Makeup

Here is the part almost no coverage has priced out. The collection extends to small leather goods, and those objects outprice the cosmetics they contain.

The range includes lipstick pouches, mini vanities, brush cases and Monogram sleeves for blotting papers. 10 Magazine noted the accessories arrive in the same exclusive Monogram colorways as the makeup.

Reported figures put a blotting-paper case at around $630 and a brush set at roughly $1,200. Treat both as unconfirmed until the store listings appear on Thursday.

If those numbers hold, the arithmetic is remarkable. One case of blotting papers would cost more than three lipsticks.

That is not an accident of pricing. It is the strategy, and Louis Vuitton has been explicit about it.

What You Are Actually Paying For

The house frames beauty as an object of design rather than as cosmetics. Every product is refillable — eyeshadow, lipstick, and balm all take recyclable refills.

That changes the value proposition. The case is permanent; the contents are consumable, which is closer to how the house sells trunks than how anyone sells lipstick.

The formulas are not filler, though. Each lipstick is built on an 85 percent skincare base including hyaluronic acid, shea butter and natural floral waxes, while the balms are formulated for 48 hours of hydration.

Even the scent is commissioned. House master perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud blended mimosa, jasmine and rose for the lipsticks, and raspberry-mint for the balms.

The archive drives the design. McGrath drew on vintage vanities, mirrors and tortoiseshell brushes held by the house, and shade 896 Monogram Rouge was conceived as a fusion of the historic brown canvas with a classic red.

How It Compares

Context makes the numbers legible. Hermès prices its Rouge Hermès lipstick at roughly half of what Louis Vuitton charges, and it was considered expensive at launch.

Chanel and Dior sit lower again. A luxury lipstick price comparison across the major houses puts most at $45-$75, which places Louis Vuitton in a category of one.

Refillable luxury makeup is where the argument gets stronger. Amortized across refills, a $195 case becomes a fixed cost rather than a recurring one.

Whether that holds depends entirely on refill pricing, which the house has kept quiet. For most buyers, the honest comparison remains against a $50 Charlotte Tilbury foundation or a classic Dior red — and on formula alone, the gap is not $145 wide.

You are buying an object. The house is not pretending otherwise.

What Comes Next

Thursday is the date. August 27 brings the capsule into Louis Vuitton stores worldwide, and store listings should finally confirm the accessory pricing.

Expect more collaborations. McGrath told WWD the pair are “really at the beginning of this,” and she has said plainly that she wants to do more.

Watch the refill pricing above all. If refills are priced near the cost of the original product, the sustainability argument collapses, and this becomes straightforward luxury pricing. If they land low, Louis Vuitton will have built something genuinely different. For the launches and products worth the money, follow our beauty trends coverage at Runway Magazine.

Gucci Unveiled the Primavera Campaign With Jin and Tom Brady

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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A Gucci Primavera campaign set with Renaissance marble statuary and spring florals in Milan
Gucci's Primavera campaign, conceived by artistic director Demna and photographed by Michal Chelbin, released on August 25, 2026.

Ten people. Four continents. One of them won seven Super Bowls, and one of them is in BTS. Demna’s first Gucci campaign is not trying to be coherent — it is trying to be everywhere at once.

Gucci released the Primavera campaign on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. It is Demna’s first campaign for his debut collection, shown in Milan in February. Michal Chelbin photographed ten talents, including Jin, Ningning, Xiao Zhan, Tom Brady, Shawn Mendes, Alex Consani, Rico Nasty, EsDeeKid, Lee Young Ae and Tarzzan.

Who Is in the Gucci Primavera Campaign?

Three global brand ambassadors anchor it. Xiao Zhan, Jin, and Ningning all appear, and all three already hold formal Gucci contracts.

Then the range widens sharply. Tom Brady represents American sport. Shawn Mendes brings mainstream pop, while Rico Nasty and EsDeeKid supply rap from either side of the Atlantic.

Fashion is represented too. Alex Consani serves as the campaign’s model, alongside South Korean model, rapper, and dancer Tarzzan.

Lee Young Ae completes it. The South Korean actress carries a prestige register that none of the younger names can, which is precisely why she is there.

WWD reported the full lineup alongside Chelbin’s images. Notably, ten talents is a large cast even by contemporary standards.

Demna Built It Like a Music Video

The format is the idea. Demna told WWD he wanted the campaign “conceived as a music video,” built around emotional awakening and choosing to feel love again.

He framed the house’s role in similar terms. Gucci, he said, should read as the force reminding people that beauty is worth the risk.

That brief explains the casting logic. A music video does not need a single protagonist; instead, it needs a sequence of faces, each holding attention for a few seconds.

Chelbin was a deliberate choice as well. The Israeli photographer built her reputation on formal, unsettling portraiture rather than glossy fashion imagery.

Consequently, the campaign reads as a series of character studies. Demna Gucci’s output has consistently favored that approach over conventional product photography.

The Casting Is a Map of Gucci’s Markets

Follow the passports and the strategy becomes obvious. Three of the ten are South Korean, and one is Chinese.

That weighting is not sentimental. Asia remains the decisive region for luxury growth, and Xiao Zhan’s Gucci ambassador announcements have historically moved product across mainland China within hours.

Korean casting works differently again. The Jin Gucci campaign imagery reaches a global, instant fanbase in numbers that traditional media buys can’t match. Ningning Gucci placement extends that reach into aespa’s separate audience.

America gets sport rather than film. Tom Brady Gucci casting targets a demographic luxury houses have historically struggled to reach — older, wealthier, largely male, and almost entirely outside fashion media.

Europe gets the model. Alex Consani’s rise as a Gen Z supermodel has run in parallel with Demna’s own move to Gucci, and she carries the fashion-industry credibility the athletes do not.

This Is the Collection’s Second Chance

The clothes have been public since February, and the reception was divided. Demna presented Gucci Fall 2026 at Palazzo Delle Scintille in Milan on February 27, among marble statuary staged like a Roman theatre.

His reference was Botticelli’s Primavera, seen at the Uffizi in Florence. WWD’s review recorded his framing: “above the product, Gucci is culture.”

Critics split on whether the body-conscious silhouettes delivered on that ambition. Meanwhile, Kering chief executive Luca de Meo publicly backed the direction before the show, arguing the house needed reviving.

A campaign resets that conversation. Six months later, the same collection arrives without the runway’s critical frame attached, and with ten recognizable faces instead.

The timing also builds toward his next act, following the Cruise 2027 takeover of Times Square.

What Comes Next

Milan Fashion Week arrives next month. Demna’s second ready-to-wear collection will be judged against whether Primavera actually moved product, not against its reviews.

Watch the regional rollout closely. Luxury fashion campaigns in 2026 increasingly run market-specific edits, and Korean and Chinese assets will likely lead in their respective territories.

The real measure is sell-through. Ten ambassadors is an expensive proposition, and Kering will want the numbers to justify it before the next campaign is commissioned. Follow the houses and campaigns shaping the season with our fashion designers’ coverage at Runway Magazine.

Taylor Swift Debuted a Green Dress by Dôen at the Grammy Museum

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Taylor Swift in a sheer green Dôen Nelida dress at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles
Taylor Swift wears the $798 Dôen Nelida dress at The Icon Sessions at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on August 18, 2026.

The dress costs $798. The theories it sparked are worth considerably more attention. Within hours of the footage surfacing, one color had rewritten the conversation around her entire next release.

Taylor Swift’s green dress is the Nelida by California label Dôen, priced at $798. She wore it to The Icon Sessions at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on August 18, 2026. The sheer silk style draws on 1930s evening gowns, with an asymmetrical neckline, cascading ruffles, and a crimson floral appliqué at the left shoulder.

What Is Taylor Swift’s Green Dress?

It is the Dôen Nelida dress, and it is unusually accessible. Most of her event wardrobe runs into five figures. This one sits under $800.

The construction explains the appeal. Sheer silk chiffon falls in soft tiers from an asymmetrical neckline. Meanwhile, ruffles cascade down the body rather than gathering at the hem.

Color reporting has varied. Some outlets describe sage; others read it as seafoam or mint. In practice, the shade shifts under stage lighting, which is part of why the debate started at all.

One detail everyone agrees on is the shoulder. A crimson floral appliqué sits at the left shoulder, described elsewhere as three rosette pins. Consequently, it is the only hard interruption in an otherwise monochrome look.

She reportedly added close to $50,000 worth of diamond jewelry. Notably, that is the opposite of the dress’s price logic.

The Styling References Her Own Archive

The hair did as much work as the dress. She wore a loose updo widely read as a nod to the 2020 folklore album artwork.

Her signature red lip completed it. Therefore, the look carried three separate self-references at once — the 1930s-inspired dress, the folklore hair, and the red that has anchored her image since 2012.

The setting reinforced all of it. She sat with Recording Academy chief executive Harvey Mason Jr. for a twenty-year career retrospective, then moved to the floral piano used during the Eras Tour surprise-song segment.

The performance mattered too. She opened a medley with “I Knew It, I Knew You,” recently recorded for the Toy Story 5 soundtrack, in what is shaping up to be a genuine awards-season play.

It was also her first performance since marrying Travis Kelce on July 1 at Madison Square Garden.

Why Fans Think the Green Means Something

Two theories are running, and both are speculation. Neither has any confirmation from Swift or her team.

The first points to her debut. Green has long been associated with her 2006 self-titled album, and that record turns twenty on October 24 this year. It is also one of only two originals she has not re-released.

The second points to Reputation. That 2017 album used a black-and-green snake motif, and she wore a jade jacket throughout its stadium tour.

Green signage sharpened both readings. HELLO! reported the fan response after a green interlocking “TS” logo appeared online on August 20.

Context complicates the theory, though. She bought back her master recordings in May 2025, which removed the original commercial pressure behind the re-recording project entirely.

Taylor Swift Easter eggs also have a poor recent record. In May, a “TS” billboard campaign turned out to belong to Toy Story 5 rather than to her.

One Detail Most Coverage Got Wrong

The Empire State Building was reportedly not actually lit green. Multiple outlets have said it was; the evidence suggests otherwise.

Reporting indicates the green image came from the observation deck’s own social account as a promotional graphic. The building’s real lighting, according to that reporting, stayed white.

That distinction matters enormously. A landmark changing its lights is a coordinated brand action; a social account posting a themed graphic is engagement bait.

The account has form here. It went orange for The Life of a Showgirl in 2025 and blue for her wedding in July, so the pattern is established either way.

The Quieter Explanation

There is a far less romantic reading available. She may simply be campaigning.

The final Eras Tour show holds five Emmy nominations, as Deadline confirmed in July. She also attended a closed For Your Consideration event for Emmy voters the following day, on August 19.

The Grammy Museum appearance fits that frame precisely. The Life of a Showgirl is Grammy-eligible this cycle, and a career retrospective with the Recording Academy’s chief executive is textbook campaign work.

Two award campaigns therefore overlap in a single week. Ultimately, Taylor Swift album speculation may be reading a music announcement into what is actually awards strategy.

What Comes Next

October 24 is the date to hold. A twentieth anniversary is the most obvious peg available, and she has confirmed the debut re-recording already exists.

Watch the dress instead, though. Dôen is a small California label, and a $798 style on the most-searched woman in music typically sells through within days.

The wider shift is real regardless. Seafoam green dress trend interest has climbed all year, and she has now worn the shade to two major appearances in five months. Follow the looks that move the conversation with our celebrity style coverage, alongside the season’s defining dress trends, at Runway Magazine.

Erykah Badu Will Lead Harlem’s Fashion Row 2026 at NYFW

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Erykah Badu in a sculptural black hat and layered jewelry at a New York fashion event
Erykah Badu will receive the Fashion Icon Award at Harlem's Fashion Row on September 8, 2026, at The Glasshouse in New York.

New York Fashion Week does not begin with a major house. Instead, it begins with a nineteen-year-old platform. Most schedules still file it as a side event. Yet this year, that platform has assembled its strongest honoree list yet.

Harlem’s Fashion Row 2026 is the platform’s 19th Annual Fashion Show & Style Awards. It takes place Tuesday, September 8, at The Glasshouse in New York. Erykah Badu receives the Fashion Icon Award. Meanwhile, Wisdom Kaye takes the Virgil Abloh Award from LVMH. The event opens New York Fashion Week.

What Is Harlem’s Fashion Row 2026?

It is an awards ceremony and a runway show, staged as one evening. The two halves are inseparable. Indeed, that structure is the entire proposition.

The awards recognize six established categories. They include Editor of the Year and Stylist of the Year. The Designer of the Year Award follows. So do the Ann Lowe Maverick Award and the Fashion Icon Award. Finally, LVMH presents the Virgil Abloh Award LVMH created in 2025. Additionally, a Breakthrough Award joins the list this year.

The runway then debuts Spring/Summer 2027 collections. Consequently, the evening does something rare. It honors a legacy and launches a season in one room.

This year’s theme is “Peace by Piece.” Founder and chief executive Brandice Daniel explained the choice. She called it a celebration of “the people, partnerships and purpose” behind nineteen years.

Key Takeaways

  • The 19th Annual Fashion Show & Style Awards take place Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at The Glasshouse in New York.
  • Erykah Badu receives the Fashion Icon Award; Wisdom Kaye takes the Virgil Abloh Award presented by LVMH.
  • One designer will leave with a $100,000 Runway Ahead prize, backed by the PVH Foundation fellowship.

The Honorees, and Why Each One Matters

WWD confirmed the full list. Notably, each name is doing specific work.

Badu is the headline for good reason. She has treated red carpets as a personal medium for three decades. Tall hats, headwraps, layered talismans, oversized jewelry. Moreover, she has already collected the CFDA’s Fashion Icon Award.

Audrey Smaltz receives the Ann Lowe Maverick Award. Smaltz founded The Ground Crew. She then spent decades running backstage operations at the industry’s biggest shows. Therefore, her influence is structural rather than visual.

Jahleel Weaver takes Stylist of the Year. His work shaped some of the past decade’s most recognizable imagery. Yet he built almost no public profile of his own.

Brandon Blackwood collects the designer honor. His accessories label began as a small independent operation. Since then, it has become a genuine commercial business. That trajectory is precisely what this platform exists to produce.

Recho Omondi is also among the honorees. Her editorial and podcast work has functioned as an uncomfortable mirror. Consequently, honoring that voice is not a neutral choice.

The Virgil Abloh Award Goes to a New Generation

The LVMH-backed award always signals where the organization is looking. Business of Fashion covered its creation. It honors a designer who moved between streetwear, luxury and culture freely.

Last year it went to Usher. He is an eight-time Grammy winner in his late forties. This year, by contrast, it goes to Wisdom Kaye. His influence was built almost entirely on short-form video.

That shift is the real story. A luxury conglomerate has chosen a creator over a legacy artist. In turn, that says a great deal about where cultural authority now sits.

The Runway Is the Point

Three designers show Spring/Summer 2027 collections. They are Atelier Ndigo, Rey Jaiteh and Chuks Collins. Atelier Ndigo also returns after last year’s edition.

One of them leaves with $100,000. The Runway Ahead fellowship is supported by the PVH Foundation. Therefore the showcase provides real capital, not just exposure.

That distinction matters enormously. Emerging designers rarely fail for lack of talent. Rather, they fail for lack of working capital. A six-figure grant addresses exactly that gap.

Beauty partners round out the production. Dior serves as official makeup sponsor. Meanwhile, Pattern Beauty handles hair and body. Both names bring their own audiences to the show.

The organization says it has showcased more than 3,000 designers and creatives. Furthermore, that scale is the differentiator. Many smaller platforms appear around fashion week and quietly disappear.

Peace by Piece Is a Business Statement

The theme reads gentler than it is. Building “piece by piece” describes how independent Black fashion designers actually reach scale. It happens through incremental capital and retained relationships. Repeat buyers matter more than any single breakout moment.

Daniel has built the organization on that logic. Her structure pairs a nonprofit arm with corporate partnerships. As a result, the fellowship money recurs rather than arriving once.

The timing sharpens it further. Industry diversity commitments have contracted over the past decade. Thus a nineteenth consecutive edition carries unusual weight. LVMH, PVH and Dior are all still attached.

Why This Slot Matters at NYFW

Opening night is not a consolation prize. The Tuesday slot arrives before the official schedule begins. Because nothing competes with it, the position is genuinely valuable.

Editors arrive rested. Buyers have not yet burned through their appointments. Coverage that would vanish on day four gets clean space instead. Most brands would happily pay for that advantage, as our breakdown of how the NYFW schedule is built and sequenced explains.

New York Fashion Week September 2026 then runs through the following week. Last season’s field was unusually competitive, as our ranking of every major spring 2026 collection showed.

The Glasshouse New York adds to the appeal. The venue seats a genuine runway audience against a Hudson backdrop. Consequently, the imagery travels well beyond the trade press.

What Comes Next

September 8 is the date to hold. Three collections, seven honorees and a $100,000 decision arrive together.

Watch the fellowship winner most closely. Last year’s showcased designers have continued to grow. Typically, the grant recipient becomes the name to track for two seasons.

The wider question is durability. Nineteen years outlasts most fashion-week fixtures. Ultimately, a twentieth anniversary in 2027 would settle the argument entirely. Harlem’s Fashion Row would join the permanent institutions of the American schedule. For the shows, schedules and collections that define the season, trust the fashion week coverage at Runway Magazine.

Caitlin Clark Debuted Prada Lace-Up Pumps in New York

By
Runway Magazine Editorial Team
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Caitlin Clark in chocolate brown Prada lace-up pumps and denim on a New York street
Caitlin Clark wears chocolate brown Prada lace-up pumps from the fall/winter 2026 collection in New York on August 22, 2026.

On Saturday she was on a New York sidewalk in $1,650 Italian heels. On Sunday she put up 37 points and hit eight threes in Chicago. Very few people in sports can hold both of those sentences at once.

Caitlin Clark wore Prada pumps in New York on August 22, 2026, while in the city with Indiana Fever teammates. The chocolate-brown lace-up style comes from Prada’s fall/winter 2026 collection and retails for around $1,650. It features corset-style lacing, a pointed toe, and deliberately distressed leather.

What Are Caitlin Clark’s Prada Pumps?

A genuinely difficult shoe, chosen deliberately. The lacing runs corset-style up the vamp, which is the detail doing all the work.

The proportions stay restrained. A low, thick heel of roughly two to two and a half inches keeps the silhouette walkable, while the sharply pointed toe supplies the severity.

The leather is the surprise. Prada finished it with a deliberately aged, distressed treatment, so the shoe reads lived-in rather than new — an unusual choice at this price.

She built the rest of the look around it. Deconstructed denim and a fitted bodysuit kept the palette narrow, letting the chocolate-brown shoe trend carry the entire outfit.

That color choice is not incidental either. Brown has quietly replaced black as luxury’s default neutral this year, and Prada’s fall-winter 2026 collection leaned into it heavily.

She Has Been a Prada Project Since 2024

This is a two-year relationship, not a loan. Clark became the first player Prada had ever dressed for a WNBA or NBA draft when she arrived at the 2024 selection in head-to-toe white satin and rhinestone mesh.

Her stylist explained the logic at the time. WWD spoke to Adri Zgirdea, who said she wanted a milestone look that was itself a first, and that Prada’s emphasis on craft over showiness matched her client.

The pattern has held ever since. She became a Prada ambassador in 2024, opened the 2026 WNBA season in a head-to-toe Prada look, and attended the house’s Milan show in February.

Footwear has been the constant. WWD noted that, by mid-2025, a Glamour panel appearance marked her third outing in Prada slingbacks, in sculptural ivory patent leather with an 85mm architectural heel.

Consequently, the New York pumps read as escalation rather than novelty. Slingbacks were the safe entry; corset-lace-up heels are a statement.

The Timing Made It a Sports Story Too

Fashion moments decay in 48 hours. This one did not, because the next day supplied a headline of its own.

The Fever lost to the Liberty in Brooklyn on Saturday, 109–102. Then they went to Chicago on Sunday and won 113–90.

Clark’s line was the story. She scored 37 points on 13-of-24 shooting, went 8-of-12 from three, added 10 assists and finished plus-26 for a double-double.

Kelsey Mitchell contributed 30 of her own. Meanwhile, Indiana shot 18-of-33 from beyond the arc as a team, which is the kind of number that travels well beyond box scores.

The result is two search waves converging. Caitlin Clark-style queries and WNBA fashion 2026 queries are running alongside game-highlight traffic, and both point at the same 48 hours.

Athlete Street Style Has Overtaken the Front Row

The front row used to be where sport met fashion. That is no longer true, and the reason is frequency.

An actor walks perhaps six carpets a year. A WNBA player produces an Indiana Fever tunnel fashion moment several times a week across a five-month season.

Volume changes everything for a brand. Prada gets dozens of documented appearances rather than one, and each arrives inside a sports news cycle that fashion cannot buy.

Clark is not alone in this. Athletic street style now drives real product movement across football, tennis and basketball, and World Cup celebrity dressing followed suit this year.

The shoes benefit most. A single distinctive silhouette on a repeatedly photographed athlete moves faster than a campaign, exactly as millennial mint proved this spring.

What Comes Next

The Fever host Connecticut on Friday, August 28. Expect another tunnel look, and expect Prada.

Watch the lace-up silhouette specifically. Corset detailing has been building across autumn footwear, and a visible endorsement at this level usually pulls mid-market versions forward by a month.

The bigger question is the playoffs. If Indiana runs deep into September, the tunnel becomes the most-watched runway in American sport. Follow the houses and product moments that matter with our fashion designers’ coverage at Runway Magazine.

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