Everyone’s a Preppie
Photography and words By Dio Anthony
New York, NY — On September 9, 2026, Jack Carlson revealed his F/W ’26 collection for J.PRESS at La Capitale on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The biannual Preppy Convention, as I like to call it, was in full swing—and for the first time since he took over as President and Creative Director, womenswear was in the mix.
This year’s location—a ballroom-esque event space—opened the show to hundreds of attendees, a few of whom I’ve come to expect at every show now: New York “Fashion Bros” and Instagram stars. People who usually live inside my phone, and have for years—like the high-energy Dais Burleson. At the J.PRESS show, they exist IRL.
There were menswear inner-circle figures like Elliot Duprey and Mordechai Shlomo Rubinstein, in addition to Carlson staples like models Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Juanel Hernández, and Victor Netland. All three, except for Victor, who missed the Spring ’26 show, have walked the J.PRESS catwalk since Carlson’s reimagining of the brand. Associating a brand or “feeling” with a face can be helpful, and it’s a practice Carlson, like many names in fashion, has been using ever since his days at Rowing Blazers. I call them J.PRESS boys—honorary members of the Preppy Convention.
With every year, there has been a new experience for me in these spaces. This year, I sat at the very front of the runway. Quite literally seat 1-1. Prime real estate for first impressions of the models, the styling, and the collective world Carlson is building with every seasonal drop.
After what felt like a theatrical Spring show—which included new editions of TAKE IVY for every attendee, props like textbooks and a paddle, and even had one model walk barefoot—this year’s show seemed to take a more subtle approach.
Standouts for me were a bright cobalt blue raincoat against an equally bright red knit (look 5). An eveningwear situation (look 4) best described as a dinner jacket and trousers against a crisp white shirt and black bow tie, balanced out by a blue baseball cap and multicolored suspenders—reminding us that this is fun. I mean, that’s what Carlson’s J.PRESS is about, right? Letting the stuffiness of prep evaporate and swapping it with Technicolor. This look in particular felt like a meet-cute between old-school formalwear and American sportswear. It was cheeky and felt very Ralph Lauren-coded.
One bit of styling that felt incredibly cinematic to me came with look 16. A dark green plaid wool overcoat falls over a camel checked sport coat, pale blue knit, striped shirt, and tie before giving way to a pair of deep scarlet velvet trousers and black embroidered evening slippers. It shouldn’t necessarily all belong together, and yet it does—timeless, patrician, a little decadent, and impossibly rich.
Look 12, worn by aforementioned Carlson favorite Juanel Hernández, transported me to 1959’s North by Northwest. A sharply tailored grey Prince of Wales check suit—with an umbrella in tow. Very Cary Grant. Very timeless. The bold frames he wore with it gave it a flair of Malcolm X.
Spanish model Ansel Menéndez closed the show in what felt like the biggest departure from the J.PRESS of old. A navy crested blazer and striped tie sitting above a pair of dramatically wide, high-waisted grey pleated trousers, recalling the oversized Oxford bags of the 1920s and ’30s.
Distinguished and classic: the hallmarks of Carlson’s tenure.
