At grounds FW26, identity dissolves into silhouette. Surreal hair sculptures swallow faces while Mikio Sakabe’s universe expands beyond footwear, turning the body into a strange, futuristic landscape.
Photographer Justine Loffredo takes us backstage during Paris Fashion Week at grounds Fall Winter 2026 collection. Hair played a striking role in the collection, sculpted into surreal structures that hide the models’ faces and distort their orientation with some looks appearing to have the hair eat their face. Towering shapes blur front and back, turning the body into something ambiguous and slightly disorienting once the models hit the runway.
Founded by Mikio Sakabe, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, grounds approaches footwear from the ground up. Known for its exaggerated, sculptural soles, the brand merges organic forms with futuristic design, blurring the boundaries between fashion, art, and technology while drawing inspiration from Japanese subcultures. For a brand that started with footwear, before expanding to clothes, it is exciting to see how their universe expands down to the nails.
Photography by Justine Loffredo for VEIN MAGAZINE
