A summer escapade easily came to mind at the sight of Jonathan Simkhai’s spring 2026 collection for his label Simkhai. From the opening look, an ivory lace guipure dress with delicate florals worn over a tone-on-tone two piece swimsuit, it was an unmistakeable paean of a collection to easy and chic summer dressing. A variation of the same dress in a darker color, but no less chic or airy, walked the runway a couple of looks later to drive the message across that this is how you should be dressing next season.
This was a collection that aimed to shake up clichéd notions of seaside and nautical dressing, and it did so quite successfully. Yes there were nautical stripes in blue and white, but the stripes where given a three-dimensional element with the incorporation of fringe. A dress made using a braiding technique easily recalled sailing ropes. Call the collection cool coastal minimalism with its clean silhouettes and singular strokes of oceanic color. There are completely sheer dresses with smattering of beads and open weave skirts, styled as beach covers ups, to take the wearer — be she a California surfer girl or an Ibiza habitue or Hamptons society darling — from a day on the beach and straight to cocktails in one slip of a dress.
For the younger generation who have been discovering Herve Leger’s iconic bandage dress for the first time these past few months, and who are Jonathan Simkhai’s customers, the designer offered his slightly deconstructed but no less polished take on the style. Bands hug the body then flyaway in carefree fashion.
The main inspiration for the collection was the movie Lords of Dogtown, the 2005 film about skating culture in Venice Beach, California. How did this translate into the collection? Via cool separates like blouson jackets, distressed jeans, tanks, and oversized shorts.
For his growing men’s collection, Jonathan repeated the same elements of distressed jeans worn with open weave tank tops, satin blouson jackets with shorts, and leather jackets and trousers.
To showcase his exploration of craft and technique, Jonathan closed the show with mini dresses covered entirely in sequins and shell. The effect is spectacularly shimmering. And judging by the smiles on the front row guests which included Selma Blair, Tiffany Haddish, Taraji P. Henson and Olivia Palermo, it was indeed a collection that delivers clothes that are “have-to-have-it-now.”