If living can be considered an art, there’s little doubt that the Italians have mastered it. This season, Tod’s joins the chorus singing the praises of la dolce vita—not the tourist’s ideal of Aperol spritzes and Vespa rides, but something with solidity and emotion behind it. The spring/summer 2026 collection is a paean to the Italian art of living in all its ease and effortlessness, and it is told, as Tod’s always tells its stories, entirely in leather.
As the house’s material par excellence, leather is handled here with an unparalleled fluency, often elevated to unexpected forms. If you think it an unusual choice for a story of breezy coastal chic, it’s only because you haven’t seen it done the Tod’s way.
The collection’s prevailing directive is lightness—seen in the effortless drape of the garments and their unfussy silhouettes. Creative director Matteo Tamburini plays with warm, earthy tones of saffron and umber, lending a sense of ease to otherwise carefully tailored coats and skirts. For every piece in a sunny yellow, though, there are just as many in black, white, and slate grey. The result is a summer wardrobe with an unexpected edge—one that dares you to wear a black leather skirt to the beach without a second thought.
Ahead of the collection’s Milan presentation, Tamburini offered a glimpse into this more brooding take on the Italian summer fantasy, turning his Instagram into a public mood board. He posted images of the melancholic, introspective paintings of Italian artist Felice Casorati, and photographs by Claude Nori depicting scenes from Italian summers past, frozen in time. This is not the Italy of postcards, but something harder to articulate—and harder to forget.
It’s not all sombre introspection, though. Tamburini infuses the collection with wit and humour—delightful quirks of craftsmanship appear throughout. In the hands of Tod’s artisans, leather becomes shape-shifting. A series of wraparound tops that appear to be silk foulard are, in fact, made of supple leather in alternating stripes. Similarly, a collection of crisp white shirts in lightweight poplin features carefully cut strips of leather appliqué.
There is an equally compelling focus on the unfinished and imperfect. Leather skirts and dresses come with angular hems and visible seams; a soft suede jacket features visible stitching and perforations—a homage to the intricate detailing found on the Gommino loafer, the enduring Tod’s silhouette first introduced in the 1970s. Where the house usually conveys quiet luxury that conceals its own workmanship, this season our attention is drawn deliberately to the process: the hand, the seam, the stitch.
The approach might seem at odds with the idea of an effortless Italian summer, where everything appears to fall into place without intervention. Yet these details suggest that la dolce vita, as languid as it sounds, rests on something deeper and more deliberate. Picture a perfectly draped leather top, its seams left visible, its weight impossibly light—the work behind it invisible until you look closely, and revelatory when you do. What Tamburini and Tod’s are proposing is a way of dressing—and by extension, of living—that frames the art of life as a considered ritual. The sweetness, it turns out, is in the craft.
Below, get a closer look at the Tod’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA Singapore.
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