Nili Lotan has sensed a shift. “I felt like there’s been a change to an even more unconstructed, casual, elevated look,” the designer offered at a preview of her spring 2026 lineup. She was speaking of the way people are dressing today, surely, with that all-American high-low sensibility. Blazers over denim shirts over basic tees. Cargos with tailored military jackets. A touch of bijoux and a fancy handbag paired with some lived-in daywear. But she was also thinking of the way Michael Rider and Jonathan Anderson, the new designers at Celine and Dior, respectively, have started to reconsider American sportswear in the very Parisian contexts of their collections.
Rider was most recently creative director at Polo Ralph Lauren, an alma mater he shares with Lotan. This language is baked into their design vernacular. “I think between my love of French fashion as a kid growing up, plus working a couple of years at Ralph Lauren,” said Lotan. “I started mixing this Americana with the French flavor, and that became my kind of signature thing,” she continued. “So now I’m focused on that.”
Lotan is a cunning marketer. She knows what her customer is looking at—which celebrities, which designers—and knows to repackage it. Here, she made all the right components for an on-trend contemporary wardrobe: Heather gray tees, military coats, chambray shirts, a very good blazer. “It’s about the full package,” she said. Separately, these pieces feel familiar yet not revelatory, “but when they come together they tell a story, so they know they need the full look,” Lotan concluded.
