The windbreaker has become the “resistance jacket.” That’s what it was renamed at the beginning of the year, when Donald Trump fancied Greenland and Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen had to appear at a press conference to remind him that the island was not for sale. He did so shielded by a windbreaker in the blue of the European Union, which political analysts interpreted as a symbol of pride and national sovereignty.
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“The Inuit people’s ‘anorak,’ being a traditional garment of the country, has the same formality (etiquette) as a diplomatic suit,” noted Patrycia Centeno on Instagram, an expert in political and corporate aesthetics, who considered its choice a challenge to Trump’s imperialist codes, as loyal to suit and tie as condescending to those who skip it (just ask Zelenski). Fashion also seems to have taken note, making the windbreaker an ally both to face climatic whims and to add a touch of rebellion to the return to the office.
The technical jacket now flooding stores and social media could be considered the posh descendant of the Arctic parka. The development of nylon in the mid-20th century dismantled the enveloping Inuit coats to put them at the service of sports performance. They were much lighter, improved movement but had not lost their insulating qualities. The windbreaker reached elite competitions and, with the running fever of the eighties and nineties, became the emblem of a new lifestyle, devoted to outdoor leisure (and which Ralph Lauren would integrate into his particular American dream) and body worship.
This season’s designs refer to that era of chromatic saturation and urban comfort (perhaps as a visceral reaction to the coordinated beige sets of recent years), a territory so magnetic that it ended up seducing the stars of hip hop and pop music of the nineties. In 2024, Berghaus even reissued its Trango jacket and made the person responsible for turning it into a Britpop icon, Liam Gallagher, the face of the campaign. As trend analyst J’Nae Phillips explained in her newsletter Fashion Tingz, the success of these windbreakers is due to “three very specific emotional phenomena: practicality, nostalgia, and irony, without fully leaning towards any of them.”
A hyper-feminine duo
Although brands have been introducing them in their collections for several seasons, if we have to point out a culprit for this retro-sporty fever, we will find it in Saint Laurent. Anthony Vaccarello reversed style codes in the Spring-Summer 26 show, elevating nylon to office and haute couture material. For the day, he reinvented the maison’s trench coats and safari jackets with a certain technical sensuality, while the night was dominated by theatrical and voluminous dresses, designed to fold and be stored almost like a tent. But the big effect wouldn’t come from the runway, but from the front row. The creative director uniformed his three muses, Hailey Bieber, Charlie XCX, and Zoë Kravitz, with windbreakers of eighties features that ended up eclipsing the collection itself and for which there is still a waiting list today.
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The novelty is not so much in the garment, but in its new manual of use: combined with lingerie pieces and pumps, Saint Laurent’s windbreaker jumps from the gym to sneak into the most exclusive wardrobes (and clubs). It is a friction formula that Miu Miu and Prada have also been practicing. In their latest collection, yellow and red windbreakers were layered over hyper-feminine satins and transparencies. An equation that has fully caught on in the street, becoming the match for hyper-feminine garments, whether grandmother-inspired skirts or complicated capri pants.
Towards a neo-sporty tailoring?
Beyond its virtues as a mid-season garment, some brands directly propose it as a sartorial alternative. Fendi opened the floodgates in its summer proposal, passing the executive suit through the utilitarian filter, with a set of technical jacket and pencil skirt. A duo that has already reached the streets of Copenhagen, through coordinated sets with flowing skirts or, failing that, tailored bermuda shorts.
The baton would be taken by Stella McCartney, who slipped in a nylon jacket with sporty volume, combined with dress pants and pumps. A similar pirouette to Lacoste’s, which has decided to blur the boundary of its tennis heritage to pair its waterproof anoraks with structured skirts and formal pants.
And if the office has surrendered to technical performance, maybe it’s time to find a worthy successor to the blazer.
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The famous Cassandre jacket by Saint Laurent
With a cinched waist, by Damson Madden
With clean lines, by Rains
Cargo style, by The Frankie Shop
With gingham print, by Parfois
Light Re-Nylon jacket, by Prada
In retro-flavored colorblock, by Bobo Choses
With a play of layers and zippers, by Loewe
Functional trench coat, by BIMBA Y LOLA
With a side button, by Massimo Dutti
With a discreet animal print, by Ganni
Retro-flavored, by ASOS DESIGN
With a peplum silhouette, by PULL&BEAR
With an autumnal rust orange, by & Other Stories
