For more than two decades, Y-3 has existed at the intersection of performance and expression — a collaboration where adidas’ technical rigor meets Yohji Yamamoto’s instinctive, human approach to clothing. For Fall/Winter 2026, the label revisits that original impulse, grounding the collection firmly in the street while accelerating towards new terrain.
Staged inside Paris’ imposing Palais d’Iéna, the presentation felt less like a traditional runway and more like a controlled experiment. Bodies moved with purpose through a space abstracted from racetracks and pit lanes, hinting at motorsport not through literal references, but through rhythm, motion and restraint.
Motorsport, Abstracted
Rather than borrowing overt racing iconography, Y-3 approached motorsport as an idea — velocity translated into silhouette, tension embedded into tailoring. The show unfolded like a choreographed pit stop, with performers dressed in all-black boiler suits moving instinctively through the space, echoing the precision and teamwork of a Formula One crew.
This conceptual thread was underscored by the brand’s new collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, marking a shift from street asphalt to racing asphalt — a natural progression for a label that has always treated sport as cultural language.
Art, Intervention and the Human Hand
Prints played a central role in anchoring the collection’s narrative. Longtime collaborator Chikami Hayashi’s expressive artwork appeared alongside disruptive sprayed graphics by artist Chito, whose interventions warped the iconic Three Stripes into something more volatile and less resolved.
Motifs referencing beasts and movement resurfaced across footwear and apparel, drawing a line back to Yamamoto’s own runway history. Denim, absent from Y-3 collections for over a decade, made a quiet but confident return, reinforcing the idea of the street as both origin and destination.
Footwear and Function
Footwear continued Y-3’s tradition of reworking adidas classics through a subversive lens. The debut of the fully vulcanised Y-3 NISI sneaker — worn by skateboarding icon Mark Gonzales — nodded to skate culture’s influence, while reimagined silhouettes like the Y-3 TOKYO WARPED and SUPERSTAR 3G balanced familiarity with distortion.
Across the collection, tailoring remained adaptive and personal. Jackets, jerseys and coats featured adjustable elements and modular details, inviting wearers to interact with the garments rather than simply consume them.
Stillness, Accelerated
Fall/Winter 2026 doesn’t position Y-3 as a brand chasing trends, but as one refining its language. By slowing down to examine speed, and grounding innovation in human movement, the collection reinforces what Y-3 has always done best — translating sport into something lived, worn and felt.
(Images: Y-3)
