Christian Wijnants looks to Japanese Zen gardens for Autumn/Winter 2026

Belgian designer Christian Wijnants has drawn on Japanese Zen gardens, known as karesansui, for his autumn/winter 2026 collection, titled 'Lines of Serenity', according to a press release.

The raked linear patterns, curved compositions and muted tones of these dry landscape gardens are translated, the brand said, into sculptural silhouettes and a restrained palette.

Outerwear references the monks who tend the gardens: several key pieces are made without collars or lapels, creating robe-like silhouettes. Accentuated waists are paired with oversized, cocooning shoulders and sleeves, as in the 'Cumba' coat in moss green. The outerwear also uses forest-green faux fur from the German manufacturer Steiff, known for its heritage plush fabrics. The 'Jirono' jacket, with elongated front tails and a cropped back, ties at the waist into a sculptural knot, a gesture that recurs across knitted tops and accessories.

Knitwear remains central as a study of line: plied-up knits in superfine wool feature enlarged ribbing that echoes the gardens' raked patterns. The season also emphasises construction, with cropped shirting and blazers, attached capes over dresses, tops and trousers, and shirting panels and detachable bibs used as layers.

The prints were developed with French photographer Quentin Chamard-Bois, reworked from his photographs of discarded landscape artworks into abstract, wind-swept forests and flurries of leaves, recalling a Zen garden in Kyoto that Wijnants visited. The palette runs through sand, pale seafoam, light laurel, moss, chestnut, rust, dust blue and Klein blue.