Distressed Fashion is Fitting For The Times
Prada’s dirty-by-design FW26 Menswear collection signals a shift toward fashion rooted in reality
Fashion has flirted with dirty and distressed design for decades. The Antwerp 6 did it first. There have been the dirty sneakers of Coach, Gucci, and Golden Goose, the iron-burned tank top by Margiela, and ripped, frayed denim has remained a signature of grunge style. In November 2025, the “Dirty Looks” exhibit at London’s Barbican showcased various iconic designs that have incorporated dirt and decay throughout recent history.
But Prada’s fall 2026 menswear collection, showcasing coffee-stained cuffs, wrinkly shirts, and creased leather, stood out to me with its subtlety. The show’s created signs of wear were interwoven into its otherwise sharp looks in believable ways. You have to look very closely to notice them at all.
It wasn’t a rage bait moment like Balenciaga’s 2022 $1,790 trash bag purse, which Demna, the brand’s creative director at the time, admitted was intended to be a “fashion scandal.” Prada’s fall 2026 menswear collection simply mimicked how real clothes look when worn by real people. It felt less like a statement for shock value and more like a reflection of clothes in the real world.
Photo from HypeBeastSo often, fashion is about fantasy, particularly on the runway. For years, the success of luxury fashion revealed a hunger for polish and perfection, offering an escape from a reality that was anything but. As we slowly but surely release ourselves from its chokehold, could it be that the “clean” style, which strives for perfection, has been done to death, and looking like a real person (not just a consumer) has become refreshing or even groundbreaking? Perhaps, as environmental, political, and economic distress persists, escapism through consumerism proves insufficient, and a hunger for reality grows in response.
Photos from Prada’s FW26 menswear show brought to mind a TikTok trend that surfaced months back, “having-a-life core” (stay with me). Basically, clothing styles that suggest a person does things and has interests that extend past their screens and into reality are trending. Examples: jeans that are whimsically dusty from some hands-on craft or hobby, a mysteriously shaped instrument bag, a book as an accessory.
While a few years ago “luxury” may have been defined by doing nothing and looking good, new trends suggest it now means doing stuff and looking interesting. As if the latest luxury is having a real life, which has become aspirational given how hard it is to achieve in a hypercapitalist, overwhelmingly digital world. It’s as though, strangely, we’ve been online for so long that a return to reality has become a fantasy. A life offline has become a flex.
Photos from RusshThis new aspiration is surfacing in fashion trends, which is why clothing that conveys depth and individuality, or tells a story, is becoming increasingly popular and valuable. Vintage is a natural path to this, and the takeover of preloved fashion shows the shopper’s embracing of the worn-out, lived-in look. Distressed denim that fits perfectly despite being thrifted, a jacket that passed down from a parent, a preloved designer leather bag worn in to the ideal level of softness.
Photo from WWDEvents like Distressed Fest also prove how coveted worn, tattered, and even damaged pieces have become in the vintage collector scene for their uniqueness. Even the mere look of vintage remains increasingly sought after. Take a brand like MadeWorn, which specializes in vintage-inspired style: “band tees,” flannel shirts, chore pants, and others that, in their words, are “beaten, sanded, bashed, and thrashed to replicate years of wear and adoration.”
Photos from @sumshitifoundBut distressed fashion isn’t just a pretty face. It normalizes a more sustainable, circular fashion world, rejecting hyper-consumerism and the constant newness of fast fashion, which has been egged on by the excessiveness of unboxing and haul culture.
Instead, distressed fashion promotes an aesthetic centered around loving clothing to the point of disintegration. Named “Before and Next,” Prada’s FW26 menswear collection reinforces the growing value of clothing that references the passage of time and celebrates a life lived. Their press release states,
“Carrying impressions of life, they (the clothing pieces) underscore the significance of duration.”
Photos from Vogue RunwayAs we become increasingly aware of fast fashion’s catastrophic impact on humanity and the environment, investment pieces, outfit repetition - and now, signs of wear - have become new signs of taste and consciousness. Knowing what you like and wearing it so often that the world can see just by looking at it.
Photo from HighSnobietyFashion design, when done right, takes on a responsibility to reflect the world we live in. By incorporating imperfection, these Prada looks referenced a consciousness of cracks in our current environmental, political, and economic landscape.
Perhaps we have thankfully grown bored of the appearance of perfection and are ready to see ourselves in fashion again. As we continue to live in distress, we are relieved to see clothing that reflects a similar state.