Addressed: How to Hack the Runway
Addressed is a weekly column about the act of getting dressed. Anything and everything is fair game for discussion—from animal prints and vintage clothes, to unpacking what it means to be a grown woman in a baby tee. Download the Vogue app, and find our Style Advice section to submit your question.
Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking closely at the spring 2026 collections, breaking down the big ideas beyond just “buy this new thing.” Of course, we all like the shiny and the new, but the secret to a well curated wardrobe is not a wardrobe full of designer wares, but one that allows for fun and experimentation.
We’ve already looked at styling tricks we can borrow from the shows. This week we’re “hacking” the runway— meaning we’re looking at all the ways you can get a high-fashion fix without spending on high-ticket items. As a bonus: You can show up at the most fashionable event, and never worry that you’ll be accidentally twinning with someone else.
1. Go to the Source
Designers have always loved a reference and in our post-modern era they have developed a penchant for “elevating the mundane.” It’s a funny proposition, of course: Here’s a Chinatown shopping bag, only now there’s a logo on it so suddenly you covet it. Me? I take pleasure in hunting down the real thing. At Michael Rider’s Celine collection, models walked the runway in leather plimsole shoes and little contrasting socks, but do you know who makes a great leather plimsole in a lot of different colors? Repetto. (You could be even more hardcore and get the groovy jazz shoes worn by actual dancers and take them to a cobbler to add leather soles.) At Fforme, Frances Howie took her cues from surfers and had a couple of pieces custom-made from real scuba material. If you like the look, you could invest in a sporty scuba top made for actually going underwater, and pair it with jeans or maybe even an elegant satin skirt. Your research process will likely yield even more gems than you had originally thought about, and when you finally find the piece that speaks to you—and only to you—it will make your ’fit even better.
2. Ransack the Archives
There’s only one thing that designers like referencing more than everyday essentials, and it’s… themselves. Mrs. Prada famously lives for a cheeky self-reference—remember how her spring 2025 collection was full of her greatest shoe hits of the past… and then some? I’ll confess that immediately after seeing the show’s livestream, I found a pair of the original Prada oxfords from spring 2011 on TheRealReal—for only $40. This season, after Dario Vitale’s extraordinary Versace debut, inspired by Gianni Versace’s own late’80s/early ’90s wardrobe, I ran straight to eBay, searched “vintage Versace jeans,” and voilá! A world of colorful jeans in their original retro fits was suddenly at my disposal.
3. Get Crafty
Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut was without a doubt one of the most awaited—and dissected—shows of the season. His opening look, a modern pantsuit with a cropped jacket, which had already been seen on Michelle Obama, caused a mini-sensation. As it turned out, it caused a stir at the Chanel atelier too, when Blazy chopped off the bottom of a jacket he was wearing himself, his team reportedly gasped. So why not just… go on the hunt for vintage blazers, scissors in hard, until you find the one that works just for you? (Of course you could also take it to a tailor, but we love a DIY spirit!) This is how you make fashion yours.
