Veronica Leoni’s Calvin Klein Fall 2026 Redefines Minimalism into Power Dressing

The Shed in Hudson Yards felt unusually crisp on February 13, 2026, as Veronica Leoni sent slim, straight silhouettes down the runway that read less like nostalgic revival and more like a practical uniform for modern power. Standouts included a full denim suit riffing on Calvin Klein’s 1976 runway worn under slender coats and a leather bomber embroidered with the house’s cursive logo layered atop a sharp black satin tuxedo — looks that translate immediately to wear: trade a blazer for a streamlined coat, let denim run dressy under tailored outerwear, and keep accessories tonal for restraint.

Calvin Klein, Inc. framed the season in unmistakable terms: “Veronica’s Calvin Klein Collection for Fall 2026 explores the hedonistic elegance at the core of the brand: the cult of the body, the satisfaction of accentuating its perfection and the obsessive quest for beauty,” the PVH press release said, adding that “the Collection applies a reductionist agenda where a magnified sense of precision heightens the dialogue between clothing and the body.” Leoni herself described the brief as an archive-driven recalibration: “This season was formed by an investigation of Calvin Klein’s strong history of iconography and a rigorous exploration of shape, craft and meaningful simplification.”

Formally, the collection leaned hard into late‑1970s and early‑1980s Calvin Klein DNA. V Magazine’s assessment was literal: “Slim tailoring anchored the collection, while backless designs and sleeveless cuts added variation.” Across shows and press frames, tailored pieces — sharp tall suits, cinched waists, extended lines, and wide-shouldered constructions — shared stage with flowing trenches, structured blousons, and statement coats. Flaunt captured the styling shorthand succinctly: cinched waists, pinstripes, pantsuits, and slicked-back hair kept the mood disciplined and assertive.

Denim proved the clearest bridge between archive and modernity. PVH described the reference plainly: “Denim comes into focus through an interpretation of 1976 archival denim, the first ever presented on the Calvin Klein runway: a full denim suit worn under slender coats, and the original longhand logo embroidered on an aviator jacket and a checked trench coat.” Vogue flagged the details that make denim sellable again — “The reinvention of a pair of circa 1976 jeans with a leather patch on the back pocket featuring a cursive version of the logo was a promising development” — and noted that “The cursive logo became a recurring refrain, most charmingly on a leather bomber worn over a sharp black satin tux that showed off Leoni’s skills as a tailor.”

Materials and small devices did the heavy lifting without ornament. V Magazine catalogued fabrics “from dry tailoring wools and ribbed jersey to bonded satin, liquid velvet, grosgrain, and both opaque and transparent leathers,” and called out collars as expressive tools: “White collars sharpened the neckline, biker collars added abrasion, and shearling shifted from trim to full outerwear.” Accessories remained deliberate and functional: the season paired pieces with “stilettos, flats, boots, clutch and duffle bags and tonal gloves,” per PVH.

Critics registered Leoni’s intention and the friction it creates. Vogue reminded readers that she is “rebuilding Collection, the highest end of the Calvin Klein brand pyramid, which was paused in the years after Raf Simons’s exit,” and allowed that “it hasn’t been the smoothest of entries as she feels her way into the sensual minimalism Klein was known for.” Anothermag captured Leoni’s backstage frustration with shorthand: “Mainstream perception is all about underwear,” Leoni said, backstage, after her Autumn/Winter 2026 collection. She almost sighed.

For anyone curating an Old Money wardrobe with modern teeth, Leoni’s Fall 2026 supplies the blueprint: invest in sharply cut outerwear, let archival denim operate within tailored layers, and consider a cursive-logo statement piece as the quiet signature that changes everything.