Sweaters are a fall constant, but this season designers have pulled them out of the daytime wardrobe and into evening. The new ideas come from unexpected categories: Dries Van Noten’s Fair Isle sweater set and Chloé’s matching balaclava and sweater are the clearest examples. Styling also leans on opposites. Satin dresses are worn over or under sweaters and chunky knit scarves, and a floral-embroidered sweater is set against dressed-up bottoms. Chloé, Altuzarra, Dior, Dries Van Noten and Prada all showed versions, which makes this a cross-house shift in how knitwear is used rather than one label’s idea.
The knits themselves are built to hold their own after dark. For A/W 2026-27, Diotima and Dries Van Noten play with bold linear and graphic motifs, while Diesel, Louis Vuitton, Sacai and Marni send fiery gradients across the garment surface, and Etro works with abstract shapes and decorative techniques. Silhouette is changing too: Fall/Winter 2026 runways favoured broad or puffy shoulders, and Schiaparelli and Diotima showed knits with mesh panels and cutouts that expose a little skin. A knit with cutouts or a sculpted shoulder already reads as evening before any dressing up is done
The sweater dress bridges the two worlds. Proenza Schouler’s long, slightly slouchy knit dresses were noted for dressing both up and down, while Isabel Marant made the case for the mini sweater dress. The same source notes argyle on argyle at Zankov and a chunkier argyle knit with opera gloves at Khaite, an evening cue borrowed from formalwear
The partner of the evening knit is the dressy skirt or trouser. Fall’s skirt direction does half the work: brocade skirts at Kallmeyer and Dries Van Noten, and beaded satin at Prada, which makes embellishment feel less like eveningwear and more like an everyday detail, while Miu Miu’s streamlined midi pencil skirt is described as suited to a button-down, a knit or a directional top. The formula is simple: let the skirt or trouser carry the shine, and let the sweater supply texture and ease
The balaclava is the accessory that completes the look. It has moved well beyond mountain gear: it has been reinterpreted for urban dressing with new textures, colours and shapes that work with long coats and coordinated knitwear, a conscious gesture of style rather than only a way to keep warm. Miu Miu, The Row, Loewe and Max Mara have all released their own versions. Chloé’s matching balaclava and sweater take the idea furthest, treating the head covering as part of one knit set. For evening, that gives a full tonal knit look, softened by satin or a pencil skirt below
On the Indian side, knitwear splits into a long-established mass-market business and a newer, craft-led design scene. The established name is Monte Carlo, a Ludhiana-headquartered company that grew out of Oswal Woollen Mills, was conceived as a premium brand for woollen winter wear, and later widened into an all-season label. The newer layer is where the experimental knits sit. Nicobar’s knitwear leans on organic materials and earthy tones, with sweaters, overlays and knit trousers for layering, and Cosset Clothing makes sweaters, pullovers and co-ord sets in organic cotton wool. Lovebirds Studio goes for abstract, unconventional designs such as asymmetrical knit dresses with geometric colour blocking, and No Nasties works in organic cotton and low-impact dyes, from lightweight sweaters to chunky cardigans
The most craft-driven names work by hand. Khajoor Studio, founded in 2021 by NIFT Delhi graduate Muskan Soni and based in Jaipur, makes roll-neck sweaters and crochet pairings in natural lahauli wool, and Margn, set up in 2020 by Ranjit Yadav and Saurabh Maurya, began with menswear essentials. Homegrown describes Margn’s handknit approach as functional workwear with a crisp silhouette, and the same piece covers Meko Studio, a slow-knitwear brand with a presence in India and London, founded by Mehak Khosla and built around Indian artisan partnerships. Harper’s Bazaar India adds that Meko uses hand-flat knitting machines that don’t rely on electricity, and lists Peoli’s Haiku Sweater, an open hand-knit with kimono sleeves made from naturally dyed wool and Himalayan nettle. Rounding out the ten is Bitch and Two Sticks, the label of Meghana Kiran, whose colourful deconstructed knits are essentially menswear that anyone can wear.
