There’s something about the Copacabana that already feels like history humming under your feet. The ghosts of disco queens, salsa legends, and lovers pressed close on a crowded floor are still in the walls. Which is why Romeo Hunte choosing this space for his Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Dark Academia, just made sense. The man knows drama, and this wasn’t just a runway show. It was a memory. A mixtape with all the songs you forgot you loved until you heard them again.
And here’s the thing: the collection lives in contradiction. But the good kind. The New York kind. Prep clashing with punk, polish flirting with chaos. Watching those looks glide down the runway, you’re transported to the early-2000s with ripped jeans and Blink-182 as well as the perfect prep look with a polo. That tension—that double life—that’s what Hunte nailed.
The details told the story. A jean jacket stretched into a trench, refusing to stay casual. A pinstripe leather blazer with an attached vest like Wall Street finally decided to form a punk band. Kilts and sculpted skirts moving with swagger, proving gender was never the point—attitude was.
Hunte said, “This collection is going to be styled very punk, but still very preppy and tailored.” And you felt that in every stitch. The tailoring was razor sharp, but the energy? It made you want to dance until your eyeliner melted off and your shirt stuck to your back.
Now, let’s talk about that yellow crocodile-effect leather jacket. It didn’t just walk the runway. It glowed like a spotlight you couldn’t dim. It reminds you of those pieces you throw on and suddenly you’re the loudest person in the room without saying a word. No wonder Beyoncé, Colman Domingo, and Xin Liu are already co-signing.
But here’s the part everyone loved most: Hunte himself, breezing through previews in oversized Rocky shorts, a pinstripe shirt, and a graphic tee. Casual, but not careless. “These are our Rocky shorts—I love them and wear them all the time,” he said. And that was the key. Hunte isn’t creating some fantasy wardrobe for fashion robots. He’s designing for people who actually live—who move, who sweat, who dance, who spill a drink on their shirt and keep it pushing.
With Dark Academia, Hunte’s not just giving us nostalgia. He’s remixing the past with today’s grit and tomorrow’s hope. He’s proving that rebellion doesn’t have to be sloppy, and polish doesn’t have to be boring.
At Copacabana, under those famous lights, the message was clear: rebellion can come with a pressed collar, and sometimes the cleanest cut can still throw the hardest punch.