Kidsuper’s Colm Dillane on his SS26 show at the Louvre and his Irish heritage
Paul McLauchlan sat down with Colm Dillane of Kidsuper ahead of his show at Paris Fashion Week to discuss his new collection, a recent collaboration with Puma, and his Irish connections.
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for Colm Dillane. At his Spring/Summer 2026 menswear show at Paris Fashion Week on Saturday, June 28, the American designer transformed a show space at the Louvre into an interplanetary dreamscape where models emerge from the pages of a gargantuan children’s book called, The Boy Who Jumped the Moon.
The text, written by Dillane, almost sounds like a parable of the designer who scaled the ranks of the fashion industry as an outsider, reaching the highest heights of menswear with his guest design spot at Louis Vuitton at 2022, and his ability to constantly outdo himself with extravagant menswear shows.
This one was smaller in terms of capacity—per the museum’s criteria—but no less ambitious. Dillane enlisted actor and comedian Craig Ferguson to narrate the story. On the runway, there were collaborations with Papa Johns, Puma, Kody Phillips, and Mercedes-Benz. The designs featured Dillane’s illustrations from the book and other flourishes reimagined motifs like the stars, moon, and galaxy.
After his show, the indefatigable designer forgoes your typical far-flung or tropical destination to unwind—he typically ends up at a local pub in Rathdowney, Co. Laois, to visit his paternal grandparents and extended family. Dillane will have you know that he’s more Irish than your average American. There are no tenuous ancestral ties to the Emerald Isle in this genealogy pool. He is emphatic about his strong links to Ireland with his father being from Laois. Last year, he was a keynote speaker at Irish Design Week where he discussed the origins of his brand, his renegade spirit, and how a combination of shrewdness and grit propelled him to menswear’s upper ranks.
Before the show, Dillane sat down with IMAGE to discuss the new collection, a recent collaboration with Puma, and his Irish connections, even if his gruelling schedule means he won’t make it back this summer.
What would you like us to know about this collection?
There’s an expectation for me to come up with these amazingly new and rule-breaking concepts for fashion shows, which I love but it’s quite demanding and difficult, because you’re constantly trying to one-up yourself.
I wrote the book, which wasn’t easy, by the way. It’s a children’s book about a boy who’s trying to build a makeshift spaceship to get to a star. He wants to bring the star back home but, on his journey, his machine hits some meteorites and he can’t make the star. He ends up going around the moon, coming back to earth, and everyone’s impressed that he jumped the moon. He didn’t get the star but if he could jump the moon, what else could he do?
I think it’s the story of Kidsuper—I tried for something, I didn’t reach the exact goal, but I accomplished something that I didn’t think was possible. Holy sh*t, if I can do that, what else can I do? It’s about taking risks and realising that not everything pans out the way you want it to but you’ll always learn something along the way.
You recently collaborated with Puma on football uniforms for the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup. How was that?
In Irish, my name means ‘dove’. I’m always putting doves on everything. I collaborated with Puma—which was a dream come true—on designing jerseys for seven of the biggest clubs: Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Moterrey, Al Hilal, RB Salzburg, Palmeiras, and Mamelodi Sundowns. I never thought I would be able to design for one club, let alone seven of the biggest clubs in the world. Soccer fans are the harshest critics so we were pretty worried about it but so far it’s getting positive feedback.
How was your last experience in Ireland?
In three days, I experienced three Irelands: I went to Laois to see my grandparents, I went to a wake in Kerry, and I spoke at Irish Design Week in Dublin. It was one of my best Irish trips because we were constantly moving and constantly seeing different things.
What do your Irish family think about what you do?
When I arrived at the funeral, my family said, “the tailor’s here.” It’s funny to think about their perception of who I am and what I’m doing versus what I am and what I’m doing. When you’re American-Irish, there’s so many people who get grouped into the ‘dumb Yank’ category—I’m definitely part of that, in their eyes. My dad is fully Irish, though, so I’m not that far removed from Ireland. He’s the only one on that side of the family that doesn’t live there.
My cousins love fashion and they love coming to the show. My grandparents don’t understand what I’m doing—which is fine. I have a maths degree from college and they always bring that up, like, ‘when are you going to use your math degree?’ Maybe I should do a collection about Ireland.
What’s your favourite thing about Ireland?
I like the people—they’re conversationalists. You talk to a random person and they’re an incredible storyteller. I love that spirit and the history of storytelling, music, and this idea of entertaining each other.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Photography by Astra Marina BFA.
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