No. 21 Fall 2026
For No. 21 Fall 2026, Alessandro Dell’Acqua staged a collection that felt like a film unfolding in reverse. The show opened with what looked like a finale: models walked out in black and white, dressed in fur-collared tweed coats and gleaming red minidresses that shimmered like foil. It was an intentional inversion that set the tone for what followed — a study in modern Italian glamour filtered through cinematic nostalgia. Dell’Acqua described it as “nonchalant glamour, elegant, and for adult women,” a line that captured the grounded sensuality running through the collection.
The references were heady and precise. Federico Fellini’s 8½, Elena Ferrante’s L’Amore Molesto, and the French artist Sophie Calle all informed the collection’s emotional register. Like Fellini’s film, it was introspective and self-aware; like Ferrante’s writing, it explored intimacy and contradiction. Pat Benatar’s Love Is a Battlefield provided the soundtrack, linking the visual narrative to resilience and rebellion. The clothes mirrored that complexity. Tailored suits ranged from oversized and mannish to cropped and hourglass-shaped. Pencil skirts and crinkled lamé dresses in red, silver, and gold gleamed under the lights, paired with wool cardigans that slipped casually off the shoulder.
The result was a wardrobe for women who understand both vulnerability and strength. No. 21’s precision tailoring and subdued glamour met flashes of defiance in jeweled collars, sharp shoulders, and structured coats. Dell’Acqua captured the paradox of modern femininity — confident yet self-reflective, sensual yet practical. No. 21 Fall 2026 was less about nostalgia than authorship, a filmic love letter to the contradictions that make women endlessly fascinating.
