GQ and San Francisco’s Legion of Honor stage a pre-Super Bowl runway event featuring Thom Browne

A fashion-and-sports showcase lands at a landmark museum during Super Bowl LX weekend

San Francisco’s Legion of Honor became the setting for a high-profile pre-Super Bowl fashion event as GQ staged the second edition of its “GQ Bowl” runway show in the city. The program was timed to Super Bowl LX, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, and brought together fashion industry figures, athletes, entertainers and invited guests for an evening built around a designer presentation and a museum backdrop.

The show centered on the debut of Thom Browne’s Fall 2026 collection, presented inside the Legion of Honor’s galleries. Browne, who leads the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s board as chairman through the end of 2026, used the museum environment to frame a production that blended tailored silhouettes with sport-referencing details and performance elements.

Runway details and notable participants

The event included a runway presentation featuring Browne’s signature suiting language—structured jackets, strong proportions, and skirted looks among them—alongside winter-forward outerwear and technical fabrics. The staging incorporated the museum’s Rodin holdings, with a theatrical reading drawn from Dante’s Inferno delivered by actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II during the program.

A mix of celebrities and athletes appeared in the show and front-row crowd. Reported participants and attendees included performers Queen Latifah and Teyana Taylor, and athletes such as DeAndre Hopkins, Justin Jefferson, Sauce Gardner, Damar Hamlin, DeVonta Smith and Victor Cruz. The night also drew creators and fashion personalities, reflecting the event’s positioning at the intersection of entertainment and menswear culture.

• Venue: Legion of Honor museum, San Francisco
• Format: gray-carpet arrivals, runway show, and an afterparty
• Designer focus: Thom Browne Fall 2026 (menswear and womenswear)

A product reveal tied to the runway

One of the event’s notable commercial moments was the debut of Browne’s first sneaker collaboration with ASICS, shown as part of the runway styling. The broader production aligned with GQ’s stated concept for the “GQ Bowl” as a fashion event attached to football’s biggest weekend, extending Super Bowl week programming beyond sports venues into San Francisco’s cultural institutions.

The museum setting turned a pre-game weekend party into a hybrid of runway theater and Bay Area landmark tourism.

Why it matters for San Francisco’s Super Bowl week footprint

With the championship game set for Santa Clara, major Super Bowl week activity has been spread across the Bay Area. The Legion of Honor event added a high-visibility cultural stop on the San Francisco side of that map, signaling how national media and brands are using the region’s museums, waterfront and event spaces to build parallel programming around the NFL’s marquee weekend.