Sometimes a runway show unfolds like a friend telling you a story: layers of juice building to a climax with a piece of gossip so titillating, so deeply satisfying, that you feel gleeful for days. Celine’s spring/summer 2026 collection made me feel similarly, except instead of informational nuggets, it expounded on a delightful something else: the neck.
First, a string of beads that dipped in and out of a sky-blue collar. Then, another necklace, this time composed of so many loops, graduating in size, that it almost resembled a foulard. Finally, a pussy-bow shirt with the gravitas of a cravat; a creamy swoosh framed by a leather bomber jacket.
By the final look—a shirt with a heightened collar and lapels the size of tortilla chips—it was official: the "nécolletage" is the area. This was echoed outside the shows, where street-stylers embraced a more-is-more approach to nécolletage dressing, from brooches arranged in a constellation to embellished collars that were necklace-like but required zero effort. Forget weighing down your ear lobes and give your wrists a break from bangles—for S/S 26, you only need to consider your neck.
1. Statement Necklaces
Style Notes: Lemaire’s Castanet necklace (a compact mirror shaped like the percussion instrument); leather tags attached to lengths of cord; flotsam-and-jetsam pendants that range from pouches to perfume bottles; necklaces have become something bigger than adornment. Tory Burch’s AW26 catwalk featured armoured fish necklaces, each pendant the size of a sardine, while for SS26, Chanel moved on from pearls, teaming its tweed with ropes of tubular beads. It’s less about a necklace for the sake of a necklace. Instead, it’s storytelling through your neckwear; curated strands that look as though they could have been lifted from a museum’s cabinet of curiosities. The goal is a family of unusual pendants—Alighieri’s lost wax-cast example conceals a secret looking glass—to add layers of interest to any outfit.
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2. The Silk Scarf
Style Notes: A silk scarf, looped then knotted around the neck, might initially feel stuffy; an old-world accessory belonging to celluloid movie stars. But, according to the catwalks of Acne Studios, Bottega Veneta and Celine, there’s nothing dusty or fusty about it. Richard E. Grant even wore one to walk for Miu Miu, a geometric square of silk tucked into a collar-popped half-zip knit, the gentleman’s (or woman’s) take on nécolletage dressing (leather apron strings was the finishing touch). Any charity shop or vintage emporium will have oodles of silk scarves, which, slightly crushed and weathered by age, will look right at home next to similarly lived-in leather or suede.
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3. Brooches
Style Notes: A cluster of brooches on a lapel, or even one statement pin threaded onto a cape or fastened around a sleeve, has become another way to personalise your, well, person. Safety pins that dangled with beads, or crystallised hunks, were both spotted at London Fashion Week, while oversized initials appeared in Milan, a fun way to ensure everyone remembers your name. Modern jewellers are filling out their collections with brooches, including Georg Jensen, CompletedWorks and Lie Studio, whose spiralised pin, sized to sit diagonally on a blazer’s lapel, is perfect if you don’t want to dress your ears but your clothes.
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4. Embellished Collars
Style Notes: An encrusted collar does all the work for you, giving your nécolletage some frost without you lifting a finger. Outside Prada, Elva Ni wore the brand’s satin minidress sporting its own beaded choker—both in sugary macaroon shades—but a more everyday route might be a knit. Tory Burch’s short-sleeved grey sweater has been threaded with silver—everything from triangular paillettes to faceted beads to dinky hoops—elevating an otherwise humble jumper with magpie’s-nest embellishment.
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5. Neck Ties
Style Notes: Ties are not a new entry in the world of accessories, but instead of a corporate-adjacent style (worn almost ironically with a bottom half like a patent wiggle skirt), they’ve embraced a different aesthetic. Brash retro prints—the kind you might find in a grandparent’s attic or lining a car boot sale table —are back on the streets, whether polka-dotted (and paired with faux-fur) or exhibiting sofa-cushion florals. Paul Smith’s uprooted bulb is suitably whimsical, as is the leopard-spotted leather iteration by Bottega Veneta. Once you’ve found your plus one, experiment with shirts (elongated lapels could be fun or an undone first button like you’ve just clocked off).
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