Expect Perfection with Martine Rose
LONDON, United Kingdom — Scrawled in a sans serif font, the phrase Expect Perfection graced the front of a t-shirt. Sounds about right if you know a thing or two about British menswear designer Martine Rose. Her eighteenth year shows little signs of slowing down for the rarest of menswear designers of this time. So considered are her worlds that while you may not find them all to one’s personal taste, one must admit that there is incredible wealth to admire.
To add more admiration to the fount, hearing that Rose allegedly declined to participate in the 2025 Met Gala red carpet (as did Telfar) warms our hearts ever so slightly given her nearly two-decade track record inspiring the broader menswear industry from the highest levels to the high street — with very limited recognition from said industry gate-keepers. Asking Rose to show up would have added even more performative lip service to an already fraught Met Gala this year.
The irony, of course, is Rose is one of the few menswear designers — period — providing a complete worldview that espouses the very sensibility and curiosity of the modern dandy. Rule-breaking, smooth, consummately expressed — Rose’s designs speak to today’s reality of multiplicity and offer a range of options to suit any predilection. Loyal to her tradition, Rose showed her latest Spring / Summer 2026 collection in a now non-existent London Fashion Week Men’s since the menswear season will now be combined with womenswear come September.
One might argue that Rose’s runway styling is intentionally off-putting, whether it be exaggerated prosthetic noses in SS25 or uncomely wigs on her models in SS26. It is in the imagination that the clothes ultimately do stand out. Consider a pair of plaid-patterned shorts with lace trimmings that encourage a bit of a brainstorm on how to style with ease. Nothing is so cookie cutter or so prescribed, but each look is layered piece by piece with elements that are signature stamped by MR. The mix of fabrications continues in her outerwear staples in nylon and leather, this time in longer lengths and cape-like proportions. These pieces are proof of yet another successful world-building exercise that has real continuity with her prior collections.
Her growing awareness and investment in entry-level pieces can serve the top-line well if distributed wisely. Her Everything Must Change tee was made available immediately following the runway and will certainly be a test of traction. For those willing to wait, her leather belts with geometric silver hardware and genre-bending footwear — from deconstructed football cleats to backless loafers with a slight heel — are exactly the fashion fantasy needed to inspire consumers to actually spend. The athlete is apparent in Martine Rose, just like the musician — Kendrick Lamar is a long-standing client. Rose has found these archetypes and granted them a wardrobe to rock with outside of their chosen profession. Rose respects a fandom and what it means to present a persona in and outside the arena. We’re big fans, what can we say?
All images courtesy of Martine Rose