Pitti Immagine has revealed the second Guest Designer for its 110th edition, scheduled for June 16 to 19, 2026, in Florence.
It's DSM Kei Ninomiya. The spirit of DSM, the first label by Dover Street Market, takes center stage through the vision of Kei Ninomiya, the Japanese designer acclaimed for his conceptual approach and already at the helm of noir kei ninomiya, his personal label developed under the aegis of Comme des Garçons. During the days of Pitti Uomo in Florence, DSM Kei Ninomiya will stage the Spring/Summer 2027 menswear collection with a runway event in the distinctive style that sets him apart.

"Going to Florence, I felt a sense of both its historic, solemn side and its open, welcoming atmosphere. Pitti Uomo is a historic event that supports creativity. I also appreciate the very positive and open-minded attitude of everyone involved. I am honoured to have been given this opportunity," said Kei Ninomiya.

Kei Ninomiya is a Japanese designer known for his innovative, modular approach to construction. After studying French literature in Tokyo and attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he joined Comme des Garçons as a pattern maker. Under the mentorship of Rei Kawakubo, who directed him to establish his own label within the CDG umbrella, he launched noir kei ninomiya in 2012. His sculptural, meticulously crafted work debuted on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar in 2019.

The new Dover Street Market brand was launched in June 2025 with the SS 26 collection of DSM Kei Ninomiya. The DSM brand will act like a vessel to nurture all kinds of creative endeavours, projects, and experiments. It is imagined as a panoply of different categories, sometimes encompassing collections of varying sizes, appealing to a range of tastes, sometimes purely product-based, and always without borders and pre-conceived ideas about what a brand should be and how it is sold and when. DSM brand will be its own brand, working in concert with in-house designers as well as with outside partners with their own visions and ambitions. It's more accessible and thematic from his own brand, noir kei ninomiya, and for all ages and genders.

"It was with a sense of spontaneous enthusiasm that we wished to invite DSM Kei Ninomiya to the exceptional context and audience of Pitti Uomo," commented Francesca Tacconi, special events coordinator at Pitti Immagine. "In this project, Ninomiya distances himself from the structural complexity and experimental audacity of noir, revealing an absolute versatility in shifting skins without weakening his vision. Inclusive, ageless and agender, the wardrobe signed DSM Kei Ninomiya opens up to a broader and more transversal community: it captures a contemporary sensibility, reflects its collective and authentic energy, and remains attentive to a plurality of voices. Yet it firmly resists any limiting definition, avoiding the allure of labels in order to affirm a full and radical creative freedom."

Pitti Immagine Uomo 110
June 16 - 19, 2026
Fortezza da Basso - Firenze