Here’s an instructive if simplistic way to understand fashion in 2026: there are brainy brands, and there are body brands.
Chanel, Hermès, Ralph Lauren – brainy brands. They tickle your notions about status, identity and craftmanship. Then there are body brands, like Dior, which made the hourglass into its raison d’etre, or Dolce & Gabbana, with its unapologetic celebration of Italian flair. Such names flatter your physical vanity through silhouette or logos or both, but a body brand may not merely excel at making you look hot and young. It is also about what makes you desire, mistake “want” for “need,” and act irrationally at the prospect of a five-figure credit card statement. Similarly, a brainy brand might…