Between Utility and Refinement: Uma Wang’s Menswear Reflects a Changing Masculine Ideal

Voluminous silhouettes and beautiful tailoring were highlights of Uma Wang's latest menswear collection. 

Set in the context of Shanghai’s rapid transformation in the first quarter of the 20th century, Uma Wang’s Autumn/Winter 2026 menswear collection examines a period when the city became a crossroads of global influence and local tradition. Drawing on this moment of cultural exchange, the designer presents a wardrobe that reflects how shifts in urban life, work, and leisure reshaped the way men dressed, then and now, through a balance of tailoring, volume, and material innovation, writes Antonio Visconti. Photographs by Francesco Brigida

Jackets are softened with

relaxed construction.

UMA WANG anchors her menswear collection in a defining moment of cultural convergence: Shanghai in the early 1930s. It was a period marked by accelerated exchange, when Western modernity entered daily life alongside deeply rooted Chinese traditions. 

Rather than treating this era as nostalgia, Wang approaches it as a framework for examining how clothing reflects social change, cultural adaptation, and evolving modes of masculinity.

The collection presents a renewed menswear vocabulary shaped by the lifestyle shifts of the time. As urban life expanded to include new forms of entertainment, leisure, and work, dress became more fluid and multifunctional. Wang translates this historical shift into garments that move confidently between formality and utility, reflecting a modern wardrobe built for varied contexts rather than fixed occasions.

Silhouettes span the full range of classic menswear, from tailored shirting and structured jackets to pragmatic workwear and protective outer layers. However, traditional tailoring is consistently challenged. Jackets are softened through padding and relaxed construction, while linear graphic elements disrupt expected proportions. Cotton fabrics, typically associated with rigidity, are manipulated into more fluid forms, introducing movement and tactility into otherwise disciplined shapes.

By using a pivotal historical moment to examine contemporary dress, Uma Wang delivers a collection that is both intellectually grounded and practically relevant

With minimal decorative elements, 

cut, fabric and proportion were key. 

Material development plays a central role in grounding the collection. The interaction between texture and construction recalls the tactile memory of historic Chinese textiles, not through replication but through reinterpretation. Surfaces appear worn, layered, or subtly distorted, suggesting time, use, and transformation. This treatment reinforces the collection’s central theme: clothing as a record of cultural and personal evolution.

Wang’s approach to design remains deliberately restrained. Decorative elements are minimal, allowing cut, fabric, and proportion to carry the narrative. The garments resist closure, with finishes that appear intentionally unresolved. This sense of incompletion is not accidental but conceptual, reinforcing the idea of history as an ongoing process rather than a fixed reference point.

The result is a menswear collection defined by controlled tension. Strength is present, but it is not rigid or monumental; instead, it is adaptive, thoughtful, and understated. Wang positions masculinity here as responsive rather than dominant, shaped by environment and experience.

Uma Wang offers a clear and disciplined statement in this collection. By using a pivotal historical moment to examine contemporary dress, she delivers a collection that is both intellectually grounded and practically relevant, placed between tradition and modernity, without leaning too heavily on either.

Scroll down to see highlights from the Autumn/Winter 2026 menswear collection