Welcome to the age of sartorial Darwinism, where casualness and classicism live in harmony.
Rigid dress codes are gone for good. Wearing trainers and a t-shirt with a suit isn’t going anywhere—and nor would we want it to. And yet, what once seemed like a passing fascination with timeless sartorial elegance isn’t going away either. “Fashion fades, only style remains the same,” is how Coco Chanel once put it, and the collective wish to militate against the ephemeral banality of trends-based fast fashion has never been more ardent.
Many of the selections in our latest Best of the Best issue prove this emphatically, with today’s most cutting-edge menswear design—paradoxically enough —ringing with echoes of sartorial tenets established in the past. The structured rigidity, rooted in military tradition, of Savile Row’s earliest tailoring; the breezier alternative invented in Naples in the 1930s; leatherwear that evokes the birth of the combustion engine: all make at least a subtle appearance on the ensuing pages.
And yet, this enduring affection for classicism now exists alongside far more progressive shifts in our collective tastes—notably, the erosion of traditional gender binaries when it comes to accessories. The cases and bags featured throughout here, for instance, could be adopted easily by either sex, without fear of transgressing boundaries that now feel increasingly antiquated. Retention of the deservedly time-honoured; rejection of what has become staid and stuffy. It’s Darwinism in luxury. And it’s why the Best of the Best gets better each year.
Best Luggage: Louis Vuitton
At this point, no one should be surprised that Louis Vuitton (pictured above) can create innovative suitcases. For the 10th anniversary of its Horizon rolling cases, which were made in collaboration with design star Marc Newson, the brand crafted a version in lightweight aluminium that’s stamped with its signature monogram. Newson’s design is otherwise unchanged: the telescoping handle still runs along the exterior of the case to maximise space for your belongings, the wheels are still incredibly quiet, and each corner is still capped in leather—a throwback to the French house’s original steamer trunks. The impressive metalwork is the icing on the cake and makes this covetable case an instant piece of status luggage.
Best Off Duty: Giorgio Armani
The late, great Giorgio Armani was rightly celebrated for his generationdefining tailoring—but his off-theclock garb is no less worthy of acclaim. The look that stuck with us from his spring 2026 menswear collection, his final for the house, was this brown field jacket—officially, in brand parlance, a hemp blouson. The fourpocket style is unlined, except for the yoke, which gives its shoulders some structure but allows the rest of the light construction to drape easily. It’s packed with smart details: a zipper pocket on the left side of the chest, slanted pockets below for easy access, and an interior drawstring to give the waist a little definition, if you wish. It’s the perfect thing to wear on travel days, or any time you’ve got more to carry than your trouser pockets can handle.
Best Shirt: Thom Sweeney
Shirts are some of the hardest working items in your closet, but Thom Sweeney has imbued one of its most notable examples with an ease that belies just how much mileage you’ll get out of it. Made from an ultra-soft cotton jersey, the design rewards a tone-on-tone approach to getting dressed. Seen here in navy with co-ordinating trousers, it brings an elevated sensibility to even the simplest of outfits. It has a spread collar, so you could get a tie around it in a pinch, but we prefer to leave it open. It’s the least complicated way to look well-dressed—not overdressed—and still stay cool.
Best Accessories: Ralph Lauren X Neil Zarama
For over half a century, Ralph Lauren has defined American style. But in the past several years, the designer has been collaborating with Native and Indigenous creatives whose crafts and skills predate the concept of American luxury—and even of America itself. His latest partnership, with silversmith Neil Zarama of the Chiricahua Apache Nation, includes this belt buckle inspired by the Ketoh, a wrist guard traditionally worn by archers. It’s weighty in more ways than one: the .925 silver is heavy, but its careful construction and symbolic richness result in an object built to last.
Best Eveningwear: Brunello Cucinelli
Few designers make formality feel this easy—but then, few designers are Brunello Cucinelli. For his spring 2026 collection, the maestro of Italian sprezzatura and elegance proposed a striking alternative to standard black- tie garb: a shawl-collar dinner jacket with a barely there pinstripe, paired with fluid white trousers cut with his signature taper. The effect, like so much of this offering, achieved something hard to nail when you’re wearing head-to-toe tailoring: a true sense of occasion without any of the old-school effort required.
Best Celebrity Collaboration: Luca Faloni
No one in the sartorial milieu has hit the ‘quiet luxury’ nail quite as squarely on the head as Luca Faloni. The Turin-born visionary founded his eponymous label in 2014, and has since built up a towering reputation among men who understand the merits of patient, intelligent wardrobe-building; of seasonless, elegantly silhouetted staples; of wearing the best raw materials available; of details over logos. He also understands that the modern man is likely to be an itinerant beast: hence his recent announcement of a partnership with Scottish-born Formula One driver David Coulthard: one which places its spring-summer wardrobe at the centre of a life defined by constant international travel.
As a broadcaster, commentator and consultant, the 13-time Grand Prix winner has a globe-spanning schedule, moving between different climates and destinations with little pause. Hence this collaboration is all about adaptability and comfort without compromising on refinement. Key items include the collection’s silk-cotton polo shirt, and various pieces of versatile outerwear layering crafted in Northern Italy. Technical fabrics—including a cottonpolyamide blend with a water-repellent finish, designed to perform across shifting conditions while maintaining a clean, understated silhouette—are prevalent.
Best Leather Legacy: Dunhill
This storied brand’s history with leather goes right back to 1893, when a 21-year-old Alfred Dunhill took over his father Henry’s equestrian saddlery and harness-making business at exactly the point the motoring bug was taking off in London. Driving gloves, motoring coats, goggles and car horns were all among the products he offered customers—the kind of cashed-up Edwardian gents upon whom Kenneth Grahame based Mr. Toad—which were dubbed ‘Dunhill’s Motorites’. The company even made ‘Bobby Finders’—leather driving goggles with binoculars hinged to them, enabling the gentleman motorist to scour the road ahead for policemen before putting his foot down.
Animal hide is a prominent thread running through Dunhill’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection, appearing everywhere from leather-trimmed camel-hair tweed blazers to driving gloves, suede outerwear and an exceptional grey trench coat bonded to camel hair: exactly the kind of piece that looks like it should be draped over the soft, pebblegrain back seat of a Bentley. Elsewhere, briefcases, holdalls and totes come in hand-burnished patina calf and grain nubuck, their steering-wheel stitching and other detailing serving as a doff of the cap to Dunhill’s historical link to the invention of the combustion engine.
Best Travel Apparel: Hackett
If you’re of the belief that relaxed comfort and sharp tailoring can—no, must—co-exist even in sweltering climates, Hackett London delivered a capsule collection that proved your point earlier this year. The brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection— accompanied by The Journey of a Man campaign starring British model and longtime Hackett collaborator David Gandy and photographed against the desert landscapes of Al Qudra—centres on lightweight tailoring, relaxed silhouettes and fabrics selected for ease of movement, travel and warm-weather wear.
Running throughout is Hackett’s Nº14 Savile Row line, named after the brand’s townhouse at 14 Savile Row, with linen worked into featherweight shirts, caban jackets, softly tailored blazers and relaxed trousers. Softer-shouldered blazers, linen overshirts, slim-fit chinos and towelling knit polos in soft terry fabric are also in the mix, as are travelfocused garments made from breathable, crease-resistant cloths (and the odd elegant outlier: check out the wool-silk blend overshirt in a soft, elegant pinstripe). The collection is rounded out by a selection of refined swimwear that nods to the polished leisure aesthetic associated with the photography of Slim Aarons.
Best Summer Knits: Brioni
If you thought ‘summer knitwear’ was an oxymoron, think again. Brioni, a label more readily associated with imperious Roman-style tailoring (think Barack Obama’s don’t-filibuster-with-me suits, and collaborator Brad Pitt’s red-carpet panache) has made open-weave, highly breathable knitwear a strong presence in its sprezzatura-soaked Riviera Capsule Collection 2026. Tactile and airy, the open-weave pieces—a loose-fitting polo and crew-neck jumper—juxtapose elegantly with other items from the series such as pleated trousers, drawstring-waist separates and Bermuda shorts. The capsule also includes unlined shirt jackets, a ‘Jardigan’ jacket in a wool, linen and silk blend, and a semideconstructed Plume blazer offered in soft pink and sky-blue hues—a palette which, along with sand and granite-white shades, alludes to the distinct Mediterranean light and coastal landscape.
In other rousing Brioni news, earlier this year the brand launched its new Grand Tour experience: a re-enactment of an initiative that saw the house bring its Italian tailoring expertise to more than 40 countries and five continents, through around 300 trunk shows between 1952 and 1957.
