Études Studio introduced its Spring Summer 2026 collection under the title Surroundings, focusing on the artist’s role and the traces left behind through material, movement, and setting. Instead of using clothing to illustrate a subject, the Paris-based label turned garments into records of activity, objects that register exposure, action, and context. Founders Aurélien Arbet and Jérémie Egry placed Land Art at the core of this season, using it as a tool to examine how form evolves through contact and time.
The collection studies the figure of the artist through design. Familiar silhouettes return, hooded bombers, fluid shirts, wide trousers with tool belts, overcoats, and working suits, but with new proportions and structure. Garments shift between fitted and loose, some cut to follow the body closely, others shaped to open movement. Atelier coats, reinforced trousers, and ankle cinches pull from workwear, while coats with layered weights introduce softness without excess.
Utility defines the finish. Exposed zippers, technical pockets, and contrast stitching give the pieces rhythm. These features don’t decorate, they guide shape and function. The clothes rely on motion. You can read each item through how it might be used, bent, or pushed in practice.
Organic and recycled materials dominate: cotton poplin, ripstop, jersey, mohair, and washed denim. Surfaces appear treated or affected, sun-faded, cracked, or corroded as though altered by light, friction, or repeated use. Whether these changes happened or were built in, the effect suggests wear. The palette stays grounded in material: zinc gray, ochre, charcoal, chalk, and deep bark brown shift with each texture.
Text reinforces the collection’s structure. Slogans like Alternatives are Possible, Second Nature, and Structure of Feeling appear on scarves, t-shirts, and bandanas. These phrases don’t sit as slogans; they serve as another layer of design, extending the collection’s interest in mark-making and repetition.
The show followed a spiral path, a reference to the work of Robert Smithson. Sculptor François Dufeil contributed objects built from salvaged materials. During the presentation, percussionist Amélie Grould played them live, turning the sculptures into instruments. The sound shaped the space and added a physical rhythm to the pacing of the show, linking body and material without separation.
Maia Ruth Lee joined the collection as guest collaborator. Her work, concerned with memory, language, and dislocation, adds a personal register to the season’s themes. Two of her series appear across garments, reinforcing the idea of clothing as a record, shaped as much by experience as by construction.
