FOR THEIR AUTUMN / WINTER 26 show in Milan, BOSS took a trip down memory lane into the DNA of its own identity: tailoring as craft of construction, not a costume. Creative Director Marco Falcioni has been spending time immersed in the brand’s catalogues from the late 1980s and 1990s – a hot topic decade right now, given how Love Story has revived the era’s fashion focus – when full looks were assembled with almost forensic care, photographed flat and sold as complete propositions. That spirit of total dressing runs through this collection, although the silhouettes are recalibrated for today’s wearer.

Archive jackets with sculpted shoulders are updated with higher lapels. Broad chests are pulled in at the waist. Double-breasted jackets are paired with single-pleated trousers, while three-button styles sit over softer, double pleats. The message is controlled rather than nostalgic. These are familiar codes, adjusted through proportion.

There is an outdoors inflection that shifts tailoring out of strict office territory. Suits are styled with equestrian-inspired boots derived from an archival men’s loafer. Nylon trenches carry tailored lapels in brushed alpaca. Leather coats are bonded with cashmere. The tension between technical element and luxury fabric gives the outerwear particular weight, without feeling overworked.

Texture is a key component. Leather appears throughout in multiple treatments: sturdy but supple, embossed to resemble ostrich, finished with a ponyhair effect. Knitwear sharpens up through denser techniques that echo the broader shoulder line of the tailoring. Even the colour palette supports materiality: ink black, midnight navy, smoky grey, olive, russet brown, terracotta and golden ochre, chosen to emphasise surface and depth rather than novelty.

Archival paisley silks, reproduced with historic suppliers, return as ties, scarves and pocket squares. Some are displayed conventionally, others have been sliced and merged into garments or used as linings, creating subtle, colourful, inversion of tradition. The offucts from these silks and from textured leathers have been reworked into boutonnières. Adornment for men is going nowhere, it seems. And to be honest, we’re better for it. 

Falcioni has described the collection as positioning tailoring within a more lifestyle-driven context. This feels honest. The clothes argue for dressing with a sense of purpose, even when it’s a hybrid situation. Every seam is given equal consideration, as is every proportion. From there, it’s all up the wearer.

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