Kent & Curwen turns 100 this year, and Daniel Kearns marked the occasion at Westminster School by sending models past heraldic crests in clothing drawn from a specific strain of British mischief. The reference point is the Night Climbers of Cambridge, a 1930s society led by Noel H. Symington under the pen name Whipplesnaith, whose members scaled college rooftops after dark as an act of athletic defiance.
Kearns treats that nocturnal sport as a lens for the fall-winter 2026 collection, filtering institutional British dressing through the perspective of the men who treated its buildings as a personal playground. The result shows on the runway in gathered capes that sit over tailored trousers and dress shirts, their pleated high collars recalling something between a Victorian riding garment and a Cambridge gown.
Patent leather trenches in black and powder blue add a slick urban weight, belted at the waist with brass-tipped hardware, while a cherry red half-zip sweater pinned with a gold brooch nods to the military and sporting insignia that Kent & Curwen has produced since 1926. Slim, cropped trousers in navy and charcoal repeat across nearly every look, and that consistent lower half is what lets Kearns push the upper body into wilder territory.
A lilac crewneck sweater worn over a lavender shirt with exaggerated cuffs makes its case through color and proportion alone, the soft knit balancing against stiff cotton at the wrist. Glen plaid suiting in olive and gray takes a different route, pairing wide peak lapels with oversized shirt cuffs that spill past the jacket sleeve in a gesture that mixes Savile Row tailoring with undergraduate dishevelment.
The centenary argument lands most clearly in a full denim look, trucker jacket layered over straight-leg jeans with lavender knit cuffs visible at the hem. The codes stay recognizable, but the wearer decides what to do with them after dark.
Kent & Curwen Fall/Winter 2026 Collection
