BY JAY AQUINO

JULY 1, 2026

If you’ve ever tried to make sense of a child’s drawing—colour outside the lines, shapes that defy logic, scribbles that somehow make sense—you’ll have a good sense of where Walter Van Beirendonck’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection is coming from. It's playful, eccentric, and fully leans into an ultra-maximalist narrative that feels like a sartorial sugar rush.

This season, the brand takes a joyfully chaotic approach to dressing, blending dandyism with childlike ideas. Think camouflage, florals, stripes, polka dots, classic British checks, and photo prints of children are all thrown into the mix. It’s an aesthetic rollercoaster that feels like an ode to the unpredictable moods of childhood. 

Underneath the maximalist surface lies a strong foundation of intentional design. For example, a shirt that features four entirely different fabrics haphazardly stitched together in warped geometries, mimicking the unfiltered creativity of a child’s mind. There’s a meaning in this (shirt) madness, a sense that every offbeat pairing and clashing pattern was done deliberately to challenge traditional fashion hierarchies.

What makes the collection sing is its sense of freedom. These are clothes that beg to be played in, experimented with, and lived in. Clothes that make space for contradictions. Because at the end of the day, the most honest kind of creativity isn’t neat or refined. It’s messy. It’s emotional. And sometimes, the most powerful fashion stories are still the ones scribbled in crayon.

IMAGE SOURCE: WWD

IMAGE SOURCE: WWD

IMAGE SOURCE: WWD

Discover Walter Van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2026 collection here.