This season, Simone let me into his world before the rest of the world got to see it. The location was Major Virtual Tunnel, an abandoned underground tunnel in Milan, where he was putting the final touches on his FW26 collection. By the time I arrived, most looks had already been styled and organized, with some still laid flat on the floor — which is exactly how Simone likes to work. Isolated, no distractions, just him in a flow with the show’s soundtrack playing. Fun fact, Simone used to be a DJ, and he remixes the soundtracks of his shows.
The collection this season is called Zie, which translates to “aunts” in English. I asked if it was inspired by his own aunt, and he said yes, but not just her — every elderly woman in Milan is an aunt to him. In Milanese dialect, there is a word for this kind of woman: Sciura. Someone with a distinguished sense of style. The keyword for the collection was “chic,” and in his sketchbook, Simone wrote down what he considers to be chic: long necks, bare backs, kindness, tied-up hair, slender fingers, and elegant tattoos. He also asked others’ input as he admits, “chic” is an unfamiliar word for him. One person wrote, “sustainability… anything that uses the existing is chic. No acrylic is chic. Kindness is chic.”
That sketchbook was one of my favorite things to look through. It has sketches, collages, material swatches, writings from Simone and others, and personal items that have no obvious reason to be in a fashion sketchbook but feel completely right: a candy wrapper, a breakfast receipt, and an instruction leaflet for an inhaler. The inhaler is because Simone carries one everywhere. He wears it around his neck like part of his accessories.
Simon Cracker has been upcycling since 2010, and talking to Simone, it is clear it comes from a genuine place and not from chasing a trend. The idea came to him while working somewhere with an excess of deadstock garments. He collaborates with Emmaus, to source donated garments and deadstock fabrics. The process is to wait for the right pieces to arrive and build from there, which is why Simone works on multiple collections at once. One of his favorite parts is the dyeing process, which he says makes him feel like a witch cooking with a cauldron. For FW26, Simon Cracker is also working with Lineapelle, though Simone made sure to request deadstock leather only.
The fittings happened over two days, and it was a pretty chill. I got to see Simone and his team execute the styling in person, and find hidden gems here and there throughout.
These splattered paint effects were created to mimic mold. You might be surprised by how they are actually made. The garments are painted and cycled through a contraption that mimics the tumbling cycle of a washing machine, over and over. And that t-shirt print of an old man drinking? That is Simone’s grandfather.
From here, you can see how Simone translates his references into the designs. Those bows, by the way, are shaped with zipties.
Simone also loves to use silicone as part of his designs. Here you can see colored silicone (pigmented with natural dye) added as detail to the glasses, and in the other photos, he is setting the pleats of the sleeves with silicone on the hems.
And we cannot forget Simon Cracker’s signature Cracker Boy. This season, we are also finally getting an “it” bag from Simon Cracker (photo 2).
By show day, the backstage was packed. The number of photographers there would have made you think a major celebrity was on the lineup. There was one, actually — Chadia Rodriguez, a singer who is a regular in Simon Cracker’s front row, walked the show this season.
Korean artists Gaho, Ejae, and YOUNITE members Steve, Hyungseok, and Woonsang were among the attendees.
Simon Cracker x Dr. Martens made a comeback too, and they looked really good this season.
Remember that tumble-wash technique Simone uses to paint the jackets? You can see that technique applied on the mini jacket-skirt in the photo above, and in these photos below. That jacket in photo 3 is my favorite.
And the final detail of this collection is the “REALLY DIRTY” messages written across two looks, and one look that is, well, for real dirty. It’s a reference to Prada’s Menswear FW26. Simone looks up to Miuccia, he says Miuccia is my Zia — she is an aunt too.
I asked Simone whether he had ever imagined building the kind of community that now surrounds his brand. Over the past three and now four seasons, I have followed his work, I keep seeing the same faces and uniformity in vibe and energy outside the venue, on the runway, in the crew. His shows get described as inclusive a lot, but for Simone it has never been about trends or politics. The people wearing and representing his clothes are genuinely part of his world. “Even the celebrities that come and wear my clothes, they are not paid to show up,” he said. “They come because they want to.” His goal for the future is simple: to create collections that speak for themselves. “I don’t like to write the press kit,” he added, laughing.
After the show, I caught a quiet moment between Simone and his mom. That felt like the right place to end this.
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