All The Highlights From London Fashion Week SS26

DAY 1: Thursday

Harris Reed – The Aviary

This edition of London Fashion Week marked a pretty big milestone for Harris Reed: the designer’s tenth season on-schedule. And, true to the brand’s sartorial codes, the designer took the opportunity to dive even deeper into world building. Set in the swanks Gothic Bar at St Pancras Hotel, ‘The Aviary’ played on the label’s signature Victorian gothic silhouettes through the contradictions of freedom and containment. Models, dressed in crinolines and corsets, stepped onto the runway in a blaze of yellows, blues and pinks (detailed in black, naturally) — with Reed continuing his collaboration with luxury wallpaper experts Fromental to create a series of bespoke fabrics for SS26.

DAY 2: Friday

Paul Costelloe – Boulevard of Dreams

Old Hollywood called out to Paul Costelloe this season, who infused his SS26 collection with all the glamour, sparkle and drama of the silver screen. Reimagining the spirits of California in the late 1960s — specifically drawing on Hollywood royalty Sharon Tate — the designer pulled on some of the decade’s most iconic styles. Think swing dresses, tweed suits and trapeze coats, dressed in an explosion of sugary pastels and coral-toned florals, topped off with equally as vibrant earrings by Ivy J Studio Jewellery. 

Makeup artist Yin Lee cites the designer’s Hollywood muse for the season as the driving force behind the accompanying beauty looks. ‘Paul’s inspiration this season was Sharon Tate, and this idea of taking a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard,’ she told C&TH. ‘So we decided to also bring a hint of the 60s with the makeup look. This season we used Laura Mercier products, blending the brand’s foundations and concealers to build a glowy, sunny look. We also had this beautiful coral blush going on. And for the eye we went for a doll-like look with big lashes; I actually mixed two different shades of the Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Shadow – Midnight Blue and Vanilla Kiss – to create that pop of blue on the lids.’

With blue eyeshadow, Twiggy-style lashes and glowing, dewy skin — as well as sculptural beehive hairstyles crafted by Cos Sakkas at Toni&Guy — it was all too easy to believe that these models had stepped straight off Sunset Boulevard into the streets of London.

Mithridate – Edge of Seventeen

The grandeur of the Royal Opera House set the scene for Mithridate’s SS26 presentation — and the sophomore show of its new creative director Daniel Fletcher. ‘Where my first collection was about establishing the new DNA of Mithridate – built around staples of the British wardrobe – the second let me build and play on this foundation while telling more of a story,’ the designer tells C&TH. And the story in question? ‘I was looking at the 1980s and imagining this story between town and country. I loved this idea that this group of revellers start their day in the countryside, and then they go into London and end up on the King’s Road, and it becomes more hedonistic and darker.’

This collision of urban and rural is explored on Fletcher’s mood board, a jumble of Kate Moss, Diana Spencer, Twiggy and the Prince of Wales — ‘on the farm in his Barbour jacket, of course,’ says Fletcher. ‘I’m obsessed with the idea of old gentry in the English countryside, how they hold this place in high society — but are actually just as chaotic as the rest of us living in the city. [The collection is] the clash of those two worlds.’

And so, on the runway, Fletcher sent his models out in bold sartorial combinations representing the two landscapes. Lavish silks and sequins were paired with cable knits and cotton stripes, topped with rugby jerseys and smartly knotted scarves — with hyper-hued pastels and bubble skirts (‘I found some pictures of 80s bathroom interiors drenched in lilacs and with these ruched curtains,’ says Fletcher. ‘Turning that into a little party dress was something that I really had fun with.’) offering a nod to the era.

Bora Aksu

Meditations on the beauty of imperfection sat centre stage at Bora Aksu. Drawing inspiration from a collection of broken dolls for his SS26 presentation, the designer chose to reimagine their imperfections – cracked porcelain cheeks, faded garments and unwinding lace – into a celebration of temporal beauty and the signs of time. ‘Broken dolls remind me that beauty does not lie in perfection but in the traces of love, time and survival,’ noted the designer. ‘Through this collection, I wanted to create a world where flaws and cracks are celebrated not as weakness, but as strength and beauty.’

Aksu takes deliberate care in presenting this duality — with dainty hand-embroidered flowers and butterflies presented against raw edges and asymmetrical finishes, with gauzy, lace overlays offering a transparent window into the structural goings-on of each garment. To more fully realise this vision, the designer drew upon vintage-inspired fabrics sourced from a small lace manufacturer in Istanbul. Alongside a limited run of unique laces and trims, they were able to supply a selection of dead stock fabrics from the 1980s — cotton, gingham, taffeta and tulle — all bearing the signs of wear and tear that Aksu was looking for. 

Di Petsa – The Archaeology of Self

Audiences were propelled into the world of gods and goddesses over at Di Petsa, with designer Dimitra Petsa presenting a story of self-evolution through excavation. The designer sets the scene as follows: a group of archeologists set out to find the sculpture of a Moon Goddess, and the more they look for her the more they become her. Speaking to C&TH, the designer emphasised how: ‘I think this collection is all about self-metamorphosis. It’s these archaeologists who are looking for this sculpture of a goddess. So we’re seeing this idea of becoming what you look for — and how these psychological excavations help us unlock a truer sense of self.’

Models emerged from clay, as though newly sculpted by the gods, with the designer’s signature wet look codes softly deconstructed into earthen-hued dresses and two pieces boasting silhouette-accentuating cut-outs, edges roughly cut into rippling geometric waves and swirling tassels. These were presented against silks printed with shells and waves, as well as slogan T-shirts claiming ‘FRAGMENT OF APHRODITE’, ‘IMITATION POSEIDON’ and ‘ANGEL OF ATHENS’. But it’s the final looks that truly solidify the transformation: a white sculptural half shirt, half toga, a silver gown encrusted with pearls, and a sheer clay-coloured ball gown embellished with shell-like pleats.

‘I hope the key takeaway from my show is that we should all be archaeologists of our own self, that we should all be intentional about how we colour and poeticize our experiences,’ says Petsa. ‘ I invite everyone to think about our history and our own personal mythology and to take creative agency over them.’

RIXO – We Are One

RIXO made a triumphant return to London Fashion Week – and with the event coinciding with the brand’s 10-year anniversary, founders Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey were more than ready to kick off the celebrations with a party. Taking over a corner of Hanover Square, RIXO unveiled ‘We Are One’, a collection that showcased the brand’s sartorial signatures: bold colours, eclectic prints (this season the brand worked with Liberty on a series of exclusive designs), boho silhouettes and vintage-inspired charm. Spread across two floors, the live presentation consisted of an upstairs party where models danced on stage, while downstairs had been transformed into a recreation of Rix and McCloskey’s university living room – where the two first started their label. 

But this was more than a nostalgic walk down memory lane. Rix and McCloskey also drew on the activism of the 60s and 70s, filling their presentation space with peaceful protest signs and calls for an end to war. ‘It’s a statement of intent,’ explained the brand’s founders. ‘At a time when the world can feel divided, we wanted to create something that celebrates connection and shared humanity. So, as we celebrate 10 years of RIXO, we invite you to join us – not just in wearing beautiful clothes, but in wearing your values. Let’s express our individuality, stand together in unity, and honour the spirit of “We Are One”.’

DAY 3: Saturday

Patrick McDowell – The Lancashire Rose

All eyes turned to Patrick McDowell this morning, who opened the third day of London Fashion Week from Battersea Power Station. The designer, who just a few months prior had been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design by the Princess of Wales, used the occasion to launch the brand’s very first ready-to-wear offering (produced in a small-scale, limited batch at a handful of boutiques). 

McDowell’s muse this season sat much closer to home. A tribute to his late grandmother, the designer’s SS26 collection celebrated the woman who taught him how to sew (on the 1950s Singer sewing machine she had used to make her own children’s clothes) and who was fondly dubbed ‘The Lancashire Rose’. Taking on her ‘make do and mend’ motto, McDowell infused his collection – characterised by elegant silhouettes, sharply cut tailoring and swathes of roses – with sustainable practices. Recovered materials took centre stage – a red satin dress embellished with handmade silk organza rose petals, developed in collaboration with DyeRecycle, and a striking gown and cape rendered in Circ’s fibre-to-fibre recycling technology  – and each garment had its own end-to-end Digital Product Passport created by Certilogo. 

More collaborations could be found with this season’s accessories, which included a limited edition series of bags, scarves and pair of slippers created with Aspinal of London, and a capsule of three hats designed by Niall Daniel White, a member of The Kings Foundation’s Millinery Fellowship.

Yuhan Wang – Armor of Roses

With smoke billowing through the room and a red convertible pulled up to the stage, it would be easy to believe that this was the set of an old Hollywood blockbuster rather than a LFW runway. Chinese designer Yuhan Wang channelled the high-octane glamour of mid-century cinema – in particular drawing on David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive – as the cornerstone of her SS26 collection, using the themes of beautiful fantasy and dark disillusion to present a new heroine ready to shape her own story.

The designer sent her models down the runway ready to fight for themselves, dressed in complex combinations of steel armour, lace underlayers and delicate knits in shades of cream and sugary pastels. And while some carried small handbags on their arm, others held aloft swords, burning candles and armoured helmets. Wang also made sure to offer several nods to the home of cinema, with a crystalline sketch of the Los Angeles skyline decorating a little black dress and a series of prints taking inspiration from Lynch’s Club Silencio.

TOGA – Ordinariness, Mediocrity, Versatility

For designer Yasuko Furuta, this season was about making simple things feel unexpected and unique. ‘After showing the previous collection, which addressed form and formality, I wanted to create pieces distanced from the complex and intellectual or the appearances thereof,’ said the designer. ‘But I didn’t want to make something merely upbeat. Instead, I hoped to more simply capture things as they are and generate new forms from them.’

Transforming straightforward details into visually stunning moments – skirts trimmed with reverse-print cascading ruffles, trousers pleated and ballooned along the leg, tailored pieces reconstructed and repositioned back-to-front – the designer offered a playful take on traditional sartorial codes.

Ahluwalia – Affinity

This season, designer Priya Ahluwalia was preoccupied with how the concept of love is expressed, celebrated and remembered across cultures and generations. Exploring the duality of the emotion – its ability to both empower those who feel it and challenge them to be their better self – the designer drew on cinematic depictions in Bollywood films and Shakespearean plays, creative resonances across Motown and R&B ballads, and even the Nigerian goddess of love and fertility Oshun. 

Ahluwalia’s collection built on this push and pull, with contrasts of sharp tailoring and fluid fabrics offering a visual interpretation of the sensation. Channelling an emotive colour palette – scarlet and ruby for passion, soft pinks and blue for tenderness – the designer plays on the ups and downs of love through a whirlwind of clashing colours, textures and forms. As always, sustainability played a key role in the designer’s creative process: the collection spotlights natural fibres, organic cotton, certified viscose and wools and recycled denim.

A series of collaborations also made it to the runway. For the first time, Ahluwalia teamed up with eBay’s Endless Runway to incorporate archive and pre-loved materials directly into her collection – a selection of looks from the show will be available for sale on the resale platform post-show, with proceeds supporting the Circularity Project – and the designer also continued her partnership with PUMA, with a Suede Speedcat rendered into a monotone black and silver statement trainer elevated with a mesh cut-out.

Richard Quinn – A Night at The Opera

A night at the opera was on the cards for guests of Richard Quinn’s SS26 presentation. The designer staged his collection unveiling in the historic Sinfonia Smith Square, with a live performance by the English Chamber Orchestra accompanying the night’s show. Opened by the legendary Naomi Campbell, Quinn ensured this would be a show filled with plenty of joy, drama and glamour; with audiences enraptured from the very first look.

Playing on the intertwining dramatics of song and style, the designer presented a sonata of orchestra silhouettes: full skirts topped with roses and ribbons, rose-hewn capes and puff sleeves, lace overlays offset by velvet detailing and full tulle ballgowns carved with a classic drop waist.

DAY 4: Sunday

Edeline Lee – The Circus

Drawing Sunday’s events to a close was Edeline Lee, who embodied the bold expressions of a travelling circus in her SS26 collection. Turning to the glamorous productions of the 20th century, the designer sought to emulate their traditions and styles through a contemporary lens: a ‘big top’ cast in sugary pastels, circus hoops suspended as sculptural skirts, a ringmaster sash transformed with rouleau tassels (a signature of Lee’s) and swathes of ribbons, ruffles and sequins as a nod to the elaborate costumes worn by performers.

’I’ve always loved the romance and theatricality of the circus,’ said the designer of her inspirations this season. ’Playing with its themes and the geometry of its motifs inspired experimentation with new volumes and structural techniques. But there’s a sadness about it too that I wanted to explore — the beauty of the circus is ephemeral and transient; one night of glittering madness and in the morning it has vanished.’