Walter Van Beirendonck

Words by Max Mendel

At Walter Van Beirendonck’s SS26 show, nostalgia took center stage, embellished, cartooned, and worn with radical pride. Accessories played the most tender trick of all: transforming childhood memories into ornamented protest.

Plastic red arm cuffs, almost action-figure-like in their graphic silhouette, were worn like armor by boys who once played with toys and now fight for softness. Heatless curlers became bracelets, combs were reimagined as jewelry, and candy-colored beads looped into oversized necklaces that felt more like trophies of innocence than decoration. A pin reading “WIN WITH STARRY EYES” punctuated the look, a slogan turned call to arms.

The collection moved between sharp tailoring and pixelated disruption, structured jackets met glitched prints, button-downs clashed with soft textures, and lashes drawn in thick marker revived a childlike idea of beauty. These weren’t embellishments, they were reminders.

This wasn’t just styling for spectacle. There was clarity in the storytelling, cohesion in the clashing. It felt less like a motto and more like a call to see the world, once again, with joy, imagination, and refusal.