études studio ss26 | surroundings

What happens when a streetwear giant pauses to look up from the scroll? For Autumn/Winter 2025, BAPE® trades digital noise for human presence, and lands on a message that’s essentially radical: connect with people.

Instead of chasing virality, the Harajuku brand homes in on three human drivers — Music, Sports, and Art — and builds a collection around the energy that moves between them. It’s sharp, graphic, and grounded in real-life rhythm.

In the Music section, titled Rhythm of the Streets, there’s a play between loud and quiet. Signature motifs like the Shark Hoodie and BAPE STA™ come layered in Tree Edge Camo and the new Art Camo, a graphic-heavy remix filled with stencil-style tags and logomania. Elsewhere, sequinned varsity jackets and velvet track pants tap into hip-hop references — a timeless aesthetic. One standout piece is the black leather Shark Hoodie, cut from heavyweight hide with exposed zips and attitude to match.

Sports (or Spirit of the Game) opens with snowboard-ready silhouettes, such as oversized puffers, colour-blocked shells, and salopettes, alongside American football jerseys and rugby shirts that reinterpret past BAPE® collections. Texture plays a big role here: satin sleeves, mesh layers, distressed denim and even faux-fur trims create movement across pieces built for utility and presence.

In the artistic Canvas of Creativity, things take a slower, more tactile turn. Cloud Camo gets a new outing on sashiko-style denim, and souvenir jackets arrive embroidered with twisted, overgrown takes on traditional Japanese flora and fauna (a.k.a. the traditional ‘karakusa’ pattern). A Tree Edge pattern made from stitched felt suggests a kind of wearable collage, while cut-and-sew knitwear proves the brand’s ongoing obsession with material detail. 

Shot in a surreal, video game-like dreamworld called BAPELAND, the campaign features three archetypes — a DJ, skater, and rapper — each representing a different part of the collection’s spirit. The setting is strange and borderless, but the cast feels grounded, like real people in real clothes, not just avatars.

The women’s line holds its own, using the same graphics and ideas but shifting the proportions and tones. There’s burgundy Tree Edge camo, iridescent down jackets, and crystal-studded Shark Hoodies, alongside PU skirts and fluorescent knits styled in ways that feel tougher than cute. It’s a collection that hopes to celebrate their uniqueness through pieces that mix the deeper message with the creativity of streetwear.

Even the kids’ collection goes in with full force: matching camo sets, rider-style hoodies, and a healthy dose of BABY MILO® — including new varsity jackets, plush toys, and crossbody bags shaped like the iconic character. It’s about inspiring the next generation of main characters, rather than recreating mini-me versions. 

The full collection is now available in-store and online.

photography. Courtesy of BAPE®
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Paris might be the capital of couture, but this season, it’s speaking with a Venetian accent — and it’s louder than usual. Rene Caovilla has landed for July’s Haute Couture Week with a made-to-order capsule that sets the city alight in fuchsia.

Founded in 1934 on the edge of Venice, Rene Caovilla began as a family-run atelier crafting refined evening shoes. By the ’60s, the Maison had already stepped into the world of couture, catching the eye of fashion’s elite with its signature mix of Italian precision and ornamental flair.

The Venetian maestro, long entwined with the upper echelons of French haute couture, spent decades working alongside Valentino, Chanel, and Dior — all while tucked behind the curtain of couture’s golden era. But the new Couture collection isn’t stuck in the past. It’s busy rewriting the script in head-turning hot pink. 

Crafted entirely in its Fiesso d’Artico workshop and made to order, the edit fuses two polar instincts: the wild, unfiltered energy of the jungle and the obsessive precision of couture craftsmanship. What emerges are five knockout styles, each designed to shimmer, strut, and slightly misbehave. The hero boot, a sheer tulle silhouette embroidered with more than 1,400 tiny flowers and butterflies, took 120 hours to complete — and definitely looks it. Its co-star is a 105mm ankle boot drenched in over 8,000 hand-applied crystals that catch every flicker of light, as if it owes you something.

The rest of the cast is strictly invite-only. Three more styles — the Jungle pump, slingback, and a high-gloss revamp of the house’s SuperCleo sandal — are only available on request, either in-store or via Caovilla’s social channels. All arrive in the same jolt of fuchsia satin and tulle, bedazzled with crystal detailing and a healthy dose of attitude.

Discover more here.

photography. Courtesy of Rene Caovilla
words. Gennaro Costanzo

Heads or tails? With Marine Serre, it’s rarely that simple. After making headlines at La Monnaie de Paris in March with a collection that sliced through old-school glamour like a loaded coin, Serre is back, and she’s doubling down. This season’s visual campaign, HEADS OR TAILS, lands with a cinematic wink and a closet full of attitude: like a femme fatale on her own terms, juggling radicality and realness before her second espresso.

Directed by photography duo Julia & Vincent, with film by Adrien Lallau, the campaign kicks off in Paris, naturally. Set in a Haussmann apartment at dawn, Act I: Morning in Paris rewires the codes of bourgeois femininity with the cool detachment of a Nouvelle Vague heroine. Whilst it all looks girlish at a glance, the power-play attitude still dominates: a woman alone, in charge, and entirely unbothered by expectations. This is even more evident in the wardrobe: power suiting with cinched waists, bold shoulders, and all the cinematic drama of the 1950s and 1980s, but made for 2025’s fearless morning-after heroine.

If you think ballet flats and sailor stripes spell “well-behaved,” Serre disagrees: her All Over Moon ballet flats are made for darting out windows, and there’s enough bite in those pearls to snag a nonchalant lover. The Aurora bag (lean, clever, a brand-new arrival) slides into the shot with an arched brow, while the Strike bag (now reimagined) makes an entrance twice: pure black on black, or rooting for team Tan.

Two more acts are on their way, stretching this game of seduction across new cities and new moods. For now, we watch as Serre flips heads, and the world lands on her side.

Watch Act I: Morning in Paris here.

photography. Julia & Vincent
words. Gennaro Costanzo