The Romantic Surf Wardrobe Exists—And Longchamp Made It
Longchamp spring/summer 2026 reframes surf culture through a Parisian lens: ease, sun-washed colour and elegance.
By Daphne Chen-Cordeiro - published
There is a particular kind of woman Longchamp keeps returning to. She is not chasing trends. She travels with purpose and she’s romantic.
Dress; top (worn around shoulders); cap, Longchamp
For spring/summer 2026, Sophie Delafontaine—granddaughter of the brand’s founder and its current creative director—imagines her at the coast. Not surfing, exactly. More like someone who has absorbed the spirit of it: the indifference to effort and the way salty air changes how you want to dress.
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Jacket; bralette; shorts; Looong shoulder bag, Longchamp
Silhouettes loosen but hold their shape. The colours are reminiscent of summer memories: sunset oranges, lagoon blues, mint, rainbow gradients running across cotton, denim and tweed.
What grounds it is the addition of breezy madras checks. Originating in South India as a lightweight cotton engineered for heat, it travelled through Caribbean dress traditions before embedding itself in the American summer wardrobe. Longchamp uses madras checks on kimono jackets cut in techno-taffeta, a modern synthetic that holds its structure in humidity, and cotton shirts worn loose over swimwear. The fabrics are chosen because they make sense near water.
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Jacket; bralette; shorts; slides; Looong shoulder bag, Longchamp. Charm, Longchamp x Anaka
The rest of the collection follows the same instinct. Swimwear-inspired bralettes, boxer-style jacquard shorts, cropped polos. Straw hats, produced in collaboration with Anaka (a social enterprise-style craft initiative based in Madagascar) reinforce the coastal setting.
The accessories are where the collection becomes most itself. Le Looong, a new silhouette for the house, runs long and close to the body in an East-West format that sits somewhere between shoulder bag and second skin. Its shape carries a faint equestrian note; a nod to the Paris racecourse that gave the brand its name. Buttery-soft supple cowhide, pale gold hardware, adjustable straps: it is a bag designed to move with you, at the beach or in the city, carried by hand or worn short on the shoulder.
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Bralette; shorts; scarf; Le Roseau raffia bag, Longchamp
Le Roseau Raffia returns to a icon first introduced in 1993 (the same year as fellow icon Le Pliage), defined then as now by its sculptural bamboo-inspired toggle. For this season, the structure is reimagined in hand-crocheted raffia, produced with artisans from Anaka and woven as a single piece, then finished with calfskin trim and a carved maple wood toggle tied with leather cord. The result is lighter than it looks, more structured than expected and practical enough for daily use, including beach essentials. Raffia, a well-loved summer choice, introduces texture and warmth without adding weight and ages the way good summer things should.
Delafontaine describes her intention this season as capturing “the art de vivre of the surfer—at once wild and free, yet also feminine and elegant.” You can see it in the small decisions: a tweed jacket thrown over a swimsuit, a silk scarf retied as a bandana.
That is the romantic surf wardrobe. It was never about the waves.
Visit Longchamp’s website to find out more about the new collection.
Photography: Joel Low
Styling: Gracia Phang
Model: Alina K/ Mannequin
Makeup: Rina Sim using Shiseido
Hair: Dorene Low/ Tress & Curvy using Balmain Hair Couture
Photographer’s assistant: Eddie Teo
In collaboration with Longchamp.