Most character collabs I’ve tracked in six years of trend forecasting are noise. They launch loud, sell out for a week, and get quietly donated by January. But this one caught my radar on opening day — and for once, it’s not a merch drop. It’s an exhibition.
Inside Snoopy in Style NYC, 25 Little West 12th Street. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
Snoopy in Style NYC opened Sept. 2 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, and it’s a 16,000-square-foot, 10-zone show curated by The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. Archival pieces, brand-new designer commissions, and installations that trace how a 75-year-old comic character kept reinventing himself without losing his silhouette.
The fashion résumé I actually believe in
Here’s the part that made me sit up. Snoopy has been dressed by Chanel, Hermès, Dior, Armani, and Givenchy over the decades — and some of those pieces showed in a 1990 exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. That’s not a licensing deal with a cartoon; that’s a character with a genuine fashion résumé.
For a dog who spends most of his time in little more than his own bare-chested, black-eared design, the résumé is surprising. The new generation now getting its turn: BODE, Christopher John Rogers, Coach, Collina Strada, GAPStudio designed by Zac Posen, Kith, Levi’s, LUAR, Sandy Liang, and STAPLE, each creating new looks for Snoopy and Woodstock.
Snoopy and Woodstock designs by BODE. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
What I noticed, walking the racks, is that nobody is doing “cute dog wearing tiny clothes.” Melissa Menta, SVP of global brand and communications at Peanuts, told me the designers were given complete freedom to interpret the character. The result looks like it — each house is clearly making him their own, while Snoopy keeps the personality he deserves.
Designer-commissioned Snoopy and Woodstock pieces on display. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
Why a cartoon character works as a fashion canvas
This is the trend lesson buried in the show, and it’s the one worth stealing for your own wardrobe. Charles M. Schulz gave Snoopy almost nothing to work with: a white body, black ears and nose, and an economical hand-drawn line. No visual complexity. What he has instead is personality.
That’s exactly how the best capsule staples work. The fewer variables in the piece, the more room there is for the wearer to make it theirs. A well-cut blazer, a good pair of dark denim, a simple shirt — they don’t compete with you. They let your styling do the talking. Snoopy’s “deceptively simple” design is basically the capsule wardrobe philosophy, proven over 75 years.
Archival and new pieces side by side in the exhibition. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
Menta puts it better than I would: “What I think is really at the heart of it for designers is the simple art and beauty of Charles Schulz’s line. That, coupled with the multi-faceted personality of Snoopy, makes it easy for designers to want to make their own mark.” The show deliberately places archival work next to the new commissions — a timeline of how different generations interpret the same character. That contrast is the most useful part of the visit.
Beyond the racks
The fashion is the headline, but the rest of the show is why I’d bring a friend:
- A dedicated tennis installation — exploring Schulz’s relationship to the sport, his friendship with Billie Jean King, and his advocacy for Title IX and the Women’s Sports Foundation.
- Joe Cool’s Listening Lounge — a DJ booth, rare Vince Guaraldi albums, archival material, and music-inspired merchandise.
- A New York chapter — including the fact that the newspaper syndicate that originally debuted Peanuts was based right there.
The tennis installation. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
It’s on view until Sept. 26 at 25 Little West 12th Street in New York City. Details on the official Peanuts site.
Joe Cool’s Listening Lounge zone. Photo: Peanuts Worldwide.
Worth It or Skip It: Worth it — if you’re in New York before Sept. 26, it’s a genuine design show wearing a pop-up costume. Skip it if you’re only after buying merch; the racks are impressive, but the installations are the real story.
The character-as-capsule-canvas idea. The brands that understand Snoopy’s spare silhouette — and yours, by extension — win. For your own wardrobe: pick three staples with almost nothing on them (no loud prints, no busy hardware). Then let the way you combine them do the character work. That’s the Snoopy move, and it never goes out of style.
FAQ
Sept. 2–26, 2026, at 25 Little West 12th Street, Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.
Some of the archival pieces Snoopy wore over the decades — by houses like Chanel, Hermès, Dior, Armani, and Givenchy — were shown at the Louvre in Paris in 1990. This show follows on from a previous presentation in Paris and expands the concept for New York.
BODE, Christopher John Rogers, Coach, Collina Strada, GAPStudio designed by Zac Posen, Kith, Levi’s, LUAR, Sandy Liang, STAPLE, and others — each with complete creative freedom.
A note from Sophie: I went in expecting a clever merch pop-up. What I got was a small masterclass in why less is more — from a dog. Stay on the signal.
Transparency: this piece was developed with the assistance of AI tools for research, outlining, and editing; reporting and editorial decisions were made by me.
Keep reading on the radar: Building a capsule wardrobe: the 3-staples method · Fall trend signals: what’s actually worth following