Since 1906 Montblanc has been refining not only the art of writing, but of travel, too. Making leather companions to accompany the gentleman as he roves the globe, notebook and Montblanc fountain pen in hand, the brand has long aligned its design language with the needs of travellers. Yesterday morning, that legacy was reframed via an immersive showroom concept at Salone dei Tessuti in Milan. For the AW26 leather collections, Montblanc leaned into softness, modularity and a warm, red-brown palette that felt distinctly tailored for modern day exploration.
Counting the expanded Writing Traveler family, a softer take on the Extreme pattern and new light technical shapes, the collection served to bolster the German brand’s focus on practical, travel-ready luxury that doesn’t compromise on style. Highlights included the grain leather Writing Traveler Briefcase with its considered internal organisation, alongside new Crossbody and Mini Crossbody styles, a supple Extreme Backpack and Weekender and featherlight Panorama bags in honey and bauxite. Options for every occasion, wherever you go.
Building off of Wes Anderson’s Let’s Write short film – released alongside the Montblanc’s debut ready-to-wear collection last September and starring Anderson himself alongside Rupert Friend and Michael Cera – the new offering found itself in that same cinematic universe. In the film, the trio embark on a trip aboard the snowbound Montblanc Observatory High-Mountain Library train, and with this presentation, the brand proposed a series of ‘train stations’, each displaying something new and cementing Montblanc’s conviction that “writing has the power to become a transformative journey”.
Guests, including Emma Roberts, Jamie Campbell Bower and Montblanc brand ambassadors Zinedine Zidane and Waris Ahluwalia, were invited to get up close and personal with the lux leather pieces, which sat pretty atop the Montblanc Desk, an emblematic installation dreamed up by artistic director Marco Tomasetta in 2024. Plus, under the shadow of Montblanc’s Tree of Writing – reimagined for the new season as a symbolic wishing tree – attendees could task a calligrapher with penning them a personal message, grounding the journey back in the intimacy of the written word.
Photography courtesy of Montblanc.
