Milan-based label Act No.1 presented its Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear collection, where creative director Luca Lin experimented with classic tailoring to create genderless, inclusive designs. As a 2026 LVMH Prize semifinalist, the brand showcased innovative fabrics and techniques, including collaborations with Chinese artisans. The show highlighted upcycled materials and sculptural forms to challenge conventional beauty standards.
Act No.1, a Milan label, staged its Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear collection on February 28, 2026, following cofounder Galib Gassanoff's departure in 2024 to launch his own brand. Creative director Luca Lin, who has been exploring new fabrics and silhouettes, drew from traditional design training to manipulate wardrobe archetypes into fresh forms. "I had very traditional design training, so I want to take that standard and use it to mix and match and create something new," Lin said backstage before the show.
The genderless lineup featured generous volumes and textural contrasts, with garments constructed from excess fabric to form rounded sleeves, billowing skirts, and waist folds. Lin layered and fused shirts in gradients of blue, burgundy, and brown for an illusion of styling, while introducing wool intarsia knits twisted around the waist and neck. Tulle trench coats and shirts in varied hues were nonchalantly layered, shifting from the brand's earlier feminine focus toward menswear-inspired elements, aided by elasticated trouser waists to fit diverse bodies.
Sustainability marked the collection, with patchwork leather jackets and coats made from Lineapelle fair offcuts. Two structured tops were hand-embroidered with over 25,000 deadstock buttons from Italian manufacturer RIBL, some over 50 years old. "Some of the buttons are more than 50 years old," Lin noted. "It’s nice to give them a new life."
Nods to Lin's Chinese heritage appeared in a silk shirt with a digitally reworked traditional print mimicking Wong Kar Wai film color grading. He collaborated with spinners and weavers in China's Rongjiang and Congjiang counties to revive an ancient hand-weaving technique for lightweight, naturally dyed cotton blazers.
The show concluded with sculptural looks—twisting forms and body rolls in papier-mâché—to provoke discussion on standardized beauty. As the label advances to the LVMH Prize finals in Paris, Lin expressed enthusiasm: "I’m so excited it’s all happening. I’m really happy right now."
