LEBLANCSTUDIOS SS26: Museum of Common Oddities
The presentation was constructed to provoke thought and dialogue of tension amid both the political and fashion worlds.
Photography by Krischan Singh
With constant nationwide and worldwide events taking over news headlines and social media platforms, fashion and the arts can feel obsolete. But what if we linked them to tell a deeper story? That’s what LEBLANCSTUDIOS did for their Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Museum of Common Oddities. The presentation was constructed to provoke thought and dialogue of tension amid both the political and fashion worlds.
Unlike many fashion shows and presentations, the Museum of Common Oddities was accompanied by tranquility, empathy, emotion, and cultural innuendos. Co-founders Angelo Beato and Yamil Arbaje, who come from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, confront societal trends, gestures, and interactions in SS26 through Caribbean and Latin American militants, spectacles, and everyday people. Beato and Arbaje want you to think, “What are garments to an immigrant? What is a suit to someone exiled? Can a piece of cloth become home? Is it time to blend in or to stand apart?”
Another way LEBLANCSTUDIOS acknowledges tension is through the contrast of the materials, colors, and structures of the garments in the Museum of Common Oddities. Much of the collection takes us back in time with various blazers, including a wool one with a leather collar, a cotton one, and an elongated, close-fitting shirting blazer. The variance displays the difference in feelings of comfort and discomfort associated with different garments.
Photography by Krischan Singh
Fashion is a form of resistance, especially when designers refuse to conform to trends and stick with the nostalgic styles our ancestors once proudly wore during a different time, where political tension was different yet still parallel to today’s climate. They exhibit this through a yellow cotton shirt with asymmetrical seams, a linen pajama shirt contrasted with distressed denim stripes, and a shirt and skirt that bears the archival faces of two Dominican girls, found in the General Archive of the Nation in Santo Domingo. This bridges both the cultural similarities and differences Beato and Arbaje experience between their time in New York City and the Dominican Republic.
They also create their own rendition of the Dominican Chacabana shirt through las alforzas (pleats) in three variants: an aviator jacket in nylon wool with padded sleeves and collar, a military-printed shirt, and a color-blocked silk shirt. While they focus on genderless clothing, the Museum of Common Oddities introduces a feminine element to their tailoring with a uniform shirt from the Popular y Secular party.
Photography by Krischan Singh
Beato and Arbaje reconstruct denim with their own materials to create pockets by shifting the hem to the knees. Pleated trousers are paired with invisible waistbands that can be worn formally or casually. They add texture, pattern, and drama to waxed cotton fabrics with polka dots, drapery on skirts, and plastisol.
Throughout the Museum of Common Oddities presentation, models portrayed themselves engaging in everyday activities effortlessly, dressed in eloquent clothing, as a form of resistance and storytelling—through dancing, going out for drinks, playing cards, conversing with others, playing board games, reading, writing, public speaking, and simply taking a walk.
