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Form, Function and Glamor at Niccolò Pasqualetti

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By Paul McLauchlan

For Spring-Summer 2026, Niccolò Pasqualetti's preoccupation with glamor underscored their most confident outing yet. They asserted form, function and glamor as the core principles of design. Their sartorial inquiry explored “what is right, and deliberately wrong.”

Pasqualetti's inspirations are somewhat abstract and elusive. When probed, they suggest Richard Serra’s postminimalist curvilinear sculptures and Memphis Group designer Peter Shire’s metal angel sculptures from the 1990s. They elevated the banal, tilting formal expectations on their axis, by exposing shoulder pads, inserting zippers between pleats, toying with geometric shapes to disrupt conventional silhouettes. Laser-cut suede and intricate beading and metal accents provide textural intrigue. They shimmered or softened in complementary lighting design by Thierry Dreyfus, the eminent lighting director who has collaborated with Thierry Mugler, Rei Kawakubo and Helmut Lang.

“It’s about confidence,” said Pasqualetti, on a video call from Tuscany, Italy. “I like the idea that there has to be a match between you and what you wear. It’s most important when you live a busy life that your clothing is not too complicated or stylized. You can express yourself in an authentic way.”

What would you like us to know about the collection?

It’s a new perspective on my work. Each season is trying to build on the DNA of the brand and trying to show something different. My inspirations aren’t always obvious. There’s a lot of work on materials and texture; how materials interact with different shades; a lot of sculptural and geometrical elements in response to the shapes of materials and how the garments fall on the body. 

 

I’ve always been inspired by organic sculptures and shapes from the beginning. This season, I looked at Richard Serra sculptures where you have simplicity and strength. But I also looked at steel work from Memphis Group artists that you can see in the shapes but also in the jewellery.

 

Are there any surprises in this collection?

There’s always some elements – because the inspiration can be so different – that people don’t expect, but I guess people don’t know me completely and I know more about myself. But there are is always new ideas that you explore and try to express.

 

Where do you look for new ideas in fashion?

I put myself into the process. I look at what's happening around me and try to absorb as much as I can. For that reason, each season, the collection is never the same because it has this personal element that changes everyday. Ideas can come from anything: an exhibition; an experience; the people who surround me. I like to be in touch with what happens today and how people are living. I try not to be nostalgic in that sense. Maybe you are subconsciously but it’s more about thinking how people live today and how to adapt to it based on what I consider beautiful or not.

 

How do you see gender identity evolving through fashion?

I never put a label on menswear or womenswear in an obvious way. In this collection, it will be mostly shown on women but there will be some men too. I have never marketed my collection around that. I want to offer options for a variety of people. You can adapt the clothing to different bodies and different ways of living. People can choose and be themselves in it. It’s important that it’s honest. 


This interview has been lightly edited. 

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