Vintage Showroom In Your Bedroom, Ralph Lauren’s Latest Runway Show, Trends From Pitti Uomo, New Pants Made In The Bay Area and more

Weekly Roundup #129

Jun 22, 2026

Welcome back to the Weekly Roundup series, where I share my favorite discoveries with over 12,900+ readers every week.

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— Victor Kernes

I. THOUGHTS ON RALPH LAUREN’S RECENT RUNWAY SHOW IN MILAN

Ralph Lauren held its second runway show in Milan this year, this time featuring the Men’s Spring 2027 collection for Polo Ralph Lauren and Purple Label, with a special title of “Dream Racers.”

Six months ago, I wrote about how well-received the Fall 2026 presentation was. People were talking about it all over my feed, and enthusiasts like Zach (@aimeleondad) even recreated entire looks in his driveway, using only vintage and pre-owned clothes from his personal wardrobe.

This time around, I’m not so sure it hit the same.

Maybe it’s because the previous show was the first one in Milan in over 20 years, or perhaps because this latest one leaned a little too much towards the preppy side of the spectrum, whereas last time it was more balanced, and touched on multiple areas in the menswear realm (western, prep, ivy, casual tailoring, and formal tailoring, etc.).

There was also a little too much plaid for my taste. I’ll admit, Look 38 caught my attention when I saw the plaid anorak layered underneath a dark double-breasted blazer. That pop of color looked sick. Everything else that followed felt a bit too loud and colorful, at least, that was my initial reaction.

Overall, the Polo collection reminded me a lot of what we’ve been seeing at J.Press since Jack Carlson took over last year. Lots of color and bolder branding. He even chimed in with a post that mixed images from his book, Rowing Blazers, the last two J.Press seasons, and looks from the recent Ralph collection that were clearly inspired by the latter. He expressed flattery and love for Ralph, but I also noticed the similarities right away.

Purple Label was solid as always—I’m a big fan of clean, elegant, and minimal outfits, which Purple Label achieves in its sleep. I don’t ever see myself buying anything from that line, but it’s sure pretty to look at. The linen jungle jacket in Look 12 was amazing—I bet it’ll cost upwards of $4,000.

Here’s a link to the full video of the runway show. What did you think about it?

Source & Imagery: ralphlauren.com

II. TURNING YOUR BEDROOM INTO A DOUBLE RL-INSPIRED VINTAGE STORE

Junior Varsity Vintage (@juniorvarsity.vintage) caught my eye a month ago when they shared a video on Instagram of their Double RL-inspired booth at Thriftcon in New Orleans.

It looked SO sick, and I’m glad I gave their account a follow.

Now, the owner, Brett Johnson, has turned his bedroom “into a RRL inspired appointment-only vintage store,” and it’s such a cool idea that I had to include it in today’s newsletter.

I LOVE what he’s done—his room looks like an actual display within a Double RL store.

I’ve seen people decorate their homes in a similar manner, but not to the level of an actual showroom in their house.

III. RECAP OF WHAT I SAW PEOPLE WEARING AT PITTI UOMO

Pitti Uomo happened again this week, and while I wasn’t in Florence enduring the 90º weather, I did catch all the “heat” people were wearing, and identified a few trends from this year’s trade show that I wanted to share with you.

Last year, the color was black. Like, all-black, head-to-toe.

This year, it was the opposite—everyone was wearing cream.

I also noticed people were wearing red as a pop of color, like Shay Thompson (@iamshayt), featured in the middle image above. You can see a few more examples of people wearing red shirts, hats, and bandanas in this video from the official Pitti Uomo account.

As always, tailoring was on full display. There were a bunch of different types of double-breasted jackets, mostly with large peak lapels. And of course, lots of linen suits everywhere (see above, left and right).

There were also still quite a few relaxed fits and some slightly oversized silhouettes.

I have no idea how the heck folks in attendance were able to wear layers all day long. Kudos to them, but I’m sweating just looking at all of the photos and videos.

Surprisingly, I noticed a decent amount of denim being worn, which again, shocked me. Chambray is one thing, but if I were to wear jeans in that type of weather, I’d be drenched in sweat within five minutes.

If the weather is anything like what I experienced a few years ago when I was in Europe for the summer, then I have no clue how everyone’s not in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops.

I get that it’s a fashion show, and the idea is for people who work within the fashion industry to dress over the top and go full peacock mode, but still.

Source & Imagery: instagram.com/pittiuomo_official (source), instagram.com/olvh (imagery)

IV. ANOTHER ARTICLE I’M READING ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF MENSWEAR

I read another article this week on the middle of menswear, this time written by Ashley Ogawa Clarke for Vogue Business, titled: “The Middle is Very Seductive”: Inside Menswear’s Value Shift.

It was a very different take on this topic. It focused more on the value that menswear enthusiasts get from products made of high-quality materials, including deadstock and hand-dyed fabrics, that have a high level of craftsmanship and quality, despite a higher price tag.

The brands they included in the article, like Kaptain Sunshine, Evan Kinori, and Carter Young, are more niche and less common household names compared to brands like Buck Mason or J.Crew, but if you’re deep into the menswear game, you more than likely know about them.

I disagree with the notion that those brands fall into the “middle.” If there’s a small step below luxury, these brands are right there in terms of price point.

Each brand’s aesthetic is vastly different from a luxury brand like Dior (example used in the article), but there are still some similarities in terms of wearing things to “flex” and own as status symbols.

Spending $500 on a shirt is a lot of money. At a certain point, yes, you’re paying for quality, but also for scarcity, as the brands I’ve listed below (similar to the ones above) tend to have smaller size runs, and there’s a “coolness” factor in owning something that sells out quickly and may never be restocked again.

The brands I’ve been thinking about that fit into the category described in the article that I think are still cool and worth checking out, despite the higher price points, are:

I’ve been wanting to put together a lengthier article on this topic—some of my favorite multi-brand retailers in San Francisco carry these labels, and while I may only be able to buy one or two things a season, I still love checking out things in person, trying them on, and getting a feel for the quality.

If you’re interested in reading more about my take on this, I shared my thoughts a couple of weeks ago on “reasonably priced menswear” after reading Derek Guy’s article for Bloomberg.

Source & Imagery: vogue.com

V. HBT FATIGUE PANTS HANDMADE IN THE BAY AREA

Hendrix Park is a new brand on my radar, and it only makes one thing: pants.

Now, they don’t make just any old pair of pants. Their pants are handmade in Sausalito, CA—a small city north of San Francisco, just over the Golden Gate Bridge—of dead-stock Japanese fabrics, and by one single guy: Rix Cannell.

The pants have a higher rise, a wide leg opening, and a long inseam (34 inches, thank goodness), which are exactly the type of details I look for in a pair of pants.

UPCOMING MENSWEAR EVENTS

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P.S. Playing basketball in black tie—hell yeah.

P.P.S. The mini-tote bag hype train was still full steam ahead at Trader Joe’s this week—did you pick one up? I heard these were reselling for a $100 bucks each in Korea last year.

P.P.P.S. Had to include this. I want to be this excited about everything in life.

Presentable

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