Dad's Back, Wax On: The Week Belongs to New Balance

Ralph Lauren was named American Menswear Designer of the Year at the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday, November 2, his third menswear win after 1996 and 2007, presented by Matt Damon. The night's menswear story was relaxed, confident American tailoring worn loosely rather than tightly: white Western suits, satin suits, blazers with denim, and Thom Browne tailoring on the carpet.

Shaboozey's formula summed it up: white Ralph Lauren blazer, white shirt, turquoise bolo tie and matching belt buckle, distressed straight-leg jeans, black loafers. It caps a season where tailoring is back, but softer and roomier than the slim suits of the 2010s.

The shopping lesson is fit first: buy the blazer a touch relaxed, wear it with denim or straight trousers, and let one Western or satin detail do the talking.

November 6 is a double New Balance day. The Made in USA 990v7 launches in Kool Grey, the first new 990 generation since 2022, with a softer FuelCell midsole, pigskin suede and mesh upper, and a Dad's Back campaign. New Balance's own release confirms $200.

The same day, Comme des Garçons Homme's New Balance 1890A pack drops in Black/Charcoal and Beige/Orange: a sneaker-loafer hybrid with a moc-toe apron upper on ABZORB cushioning, first shown at Paris Men's Fashion Week in January.

Together they frame the week's sneaker logic: heritage construction, comfort-first cushioning, and a silhouette that works as easily with tailoring as with denim.

Jordan Brand's Space Jam 30th anniversary collection starts tomorrow, November 5, led by the Air Jordan 41 Space Jam, also called Meteorite, in Light Base Grey and aluminum with a glow-in-the-dark outsole and a 30th-anniversary insole logo. It is $205 via Nike SNKRS and select retailers.

The same evening, tonight at 8pm PT, Yeezy stages Season 01 at its Droam 1 flagship in Los Angeles, its first runway show in over four years, framed as a restart with new numbering. Nostalgia and comeback make the week's sharpest news contrast.

For buyers, the 41 is the current performance model in a mostly retro set, which is exactly why it leads: it wears like a new shoe while carrying the anniversary story.

Barbour and French shoemaker Paraboot teamed up on a two-piece capsule, reworking the Bedale in heavier 8-ounce Oban waxed-cotton canvas with a Paraboot leather patch pocket in the same leather as the Chambord derby, a tartan-lined collar underside, a Spey-derived D-ring and co-signed snaps. Gear Patrol published it November 3, priced at $595 from Barbour.

It lands exactly where autumn menswear is: heritage outerwear, worn relaxed, with texture doing the talking. Wax jackets, long raglan overcoats and textured outerwear sit at the centre of the autumn guides.

If $595 is a stretch, the classic Bedale remains the anchor of the revival at a lower price, and the same waxed-cotton logic carries across the season's outerwear.

Two accessory currents meet this week. On wrists, retro sports watches are back: Timex's Ironman 8-Lap 40th anniversary edition, with a translucent blue resin case, red bezel, engraved caseback, 8-lap memory and 100m water resistance, went on sale at $129 in the US, with three Japan-only colourways from November 20.

Gear Patrol's November 1 roundup adds the CasiOak-style G-Shock GBM-2100LXB-1A2, Seiko's Prospex Alpinist GMT Green and a WM Brown x Timex rectangle dress watch. The consensus is smaller 36 to 39mm cases and green or burgundy dials.

On faces, 2026 eyewear has settled into two poles: bold square and rectangle acetate, tortoiseshell especially, and refined thin-metal, rimless titanium and modern aviators, with smoked translucent acetates replacing water-clear.