23 September 2026 |
This season, London Fashion Week was full of creative triumphs. From McQueen’s highly anticipated homecoming to Christopher Kane’s Mulberry debut, the week was filled with top tier collections that reminded us how important creative voices in London are. Here are 10 moments we couldn’t stop thinking about…
Mithridate Paid Homage to the New Romantics
For Spring/Summer ‘27, Daniel Fletcher turned his focus to the New Romantics and the dresscodes the young creatives paraded around the Blitz club in London in the 1980s, not too far from the brooding Space House building where the show was held. A sense of ‘anything goes’ was clearly at the core of the collection. Victorian and Edwardian tailoring met pink ballerina looks, military inspired shirts and jackets, rugby tops and bicorn hats by renowned milliner Noel Stewart.
Bubble hem party dresses were given military accents, while other silhouettes reframed classic tailoring. A gown covered completely in feathers with a matching bicorn hat, brought some of that 80s drama the New Romantics were known for to the forefront. Elsewhere low-slung fringe briefs and exposed clip corsets show Fletcher’s provocative approach to seduction. Cummerbunds find their place over silk shirts, along with the preppy style codes the brand is well known for with striped school scarfs, polos and a new monogram to boot, Mithridate wanted us to get creative and express ourselves.
Ahluwalia Makes a Case for Joy in the Form of Resistance
Priya Ahluwalia explored joy as a form of resistance this season, dialling back embellishments this season, showcasing photographs of members of the black panther movement at home and at rest, the collection was full of sumptuously cut dresses, sartorially elegant suiting and sportier looks from an ongoing collaboration with Puma. Silk robe like trench coats, oversize knit tops and of course berets synonymous with the Black Panthers were the order of the day.
Fringing adorned several looks including satin trousers and dress hems, while sharp double panelled blazers, wrap around trousers with cummerbund hems —a recurring motif this season and split sleeves blouses had a West African flair.
A bespoke mural, created in collaboration with New York’s Calico Wallpaper, served as the runways backdrop, emulating human connection as something radical. The piece was inspired by the bodies of water that link continents, a fitting metaphor for migration community and Ahluwalia’s Nigerian and Indian heritage.
Erdem Explores Tension Between Masculine and Feminine
Inspired by John Cocteau’s 1920s muse Babette who was a trapeze artist and female impersonator, Erdem Moralıoğlus Spring/Summer ’27 collection explored the space between masculine and feminine. Barbette, stage name of Vander Clyde Broadway, a Texas born man who moved to Paris and took centre stage of the avant garde movement there. Barbette donned jewelled bras and feathered skirts during performances but could also be seen in double breasted suits bending gender rules which was no small feat in the 20s.
Erdem invited to the theatre turned concert venue, the Roundhouse in Camden, presenting a dramatic collection filled with high collared Edwardian shirts, wool coats, crystal studded bodysuits and tuxedo jackets paired with equally sparkly pants and bras that —a direct reference to Barbette himself.
Labrum Concludes its Osmosis Trilogy
The final chapter in Foday Dumbuya’s ‘Osmosis’ trilogy was one to remember. Spending the last two seasons looking at how music and textiles move and travel through generations, this seasons collection, ‘Hands of Osmosis’ delved into craft and how we share the knowledge carried in our hands.
A noticeably lighter offering, jackets were relaxed yet retained their structure. Wide cut trousers and easy fit shirting were standouts, while women’s looks were soft and fluid moving effortlessly down the runway. Textured fabrics, elevated suits and outerwear and were custom made with intricate embroidery of scenes honouring Dumbuya’s grandmother who is a produce seller in Sierra Leone. His ongoing partnership with adidas also made an appearance this season, integrating sportswear with his tailoring style and tied together by a floral motif inspired by Nigerian Adire fabrics. A new collaboration with Dr Martens was also present on the runway in the form of a reworked 1460 boot.
Burberry in Full Bloom
Daniel Lee’s first collaboration in his tenure at Burberry saw him seek out legendary textile designer Celia Birtwell and what a match made in heaven it was. The collection was far from the pristine and polished look that have become synonymous with Burberry over the years, this season an element of fun and perfect imperfect could be seen in the slight tarnish and smudge seen on the materials as models sauntered down the runway.
Set in a white space in the Chelsea school of Art, where Celia Birtwell once taught, the runway was more of a blank canvas for Lee, sending a variety of looks with Birtwell’s iconic happy face designs and much newer botanical patterns, along with Burberry’s hero item –the trench coat. Bubble hemmed trench dresses, sumptuous silk faille and taffeta trench coats, perfect for Spring, were wrinkled and lived in. All in all, a very creative and innovative new aesthetic for Burberry.
KNWLS’s Heroine Comes Undone
KNWLS’s return to the runway saw the brand’s heroine unravelled, with deconstruction and reconstruction creating intentional chaos throughout the collection. Gabardine wrap skirts, made from the hems of trench coats balance precariously on the hips of models parading down the runway, while distressed lace and jersey vests drape from waistlines, clipped in place or suspended by invisible threads.
This heroine went through various stages of undress as the show continued, inspired by Bettina Rheims’ ‘Chambre Close’, a boundary pushing photography book. KNWLS turns bodily exposure into an act of sensual self-reclamation, making vulnerability a core pillar of its design language. Underwear peeked out from jersey dresses, while garter clips anchored sheer skirts over briefs.
Layered lingerie with straps slipping off the shoulders lent the looks a hasty, undone charm. Elsewhere, denim was sliced open and reassembled along the thigh and brown leather was transformed into an exaggerated swing coat. Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault have once again proven that there is a delicate sort of power in coming undone.
McQueen Comes Home to London
McQueen returned to London this season after nearly 25 years of showing away from home. Sean McGirr’s Spring/Summer ‘27 collection for the Maison drew inspiration from the city’s subcultures, as rigid shapes met more delicate lines.
Darkness and smoke shrouded the venue while Shard Voices performed live, their vocals weaving between the chapel’s pillars, setting the scene for the collection, which leaned heavily into contrasts. Smoked tulle with acid florals were placed on glass organza, and glossy satin was paired with structured leather harnesses. Nocturnal jacquards were tapered into sheer organza hems, while a striking palette bridged classical religious portraiture with washed out, rave inspired neon.
Tailoring anchored the range with extreme, architectural proportions, as sharp “angel wing” jackets contrasted elongated, strict suits. McGirr partnered with Savile Row’s Huntsman, to create three bespoke menswear looks, built with heritage British wools, exaggerated shoulder lines, and high, tight waistlines. Completing the hardware elements, long term collaborator and master jeweller Shaun Leane returned to create handcrafted body adornment in recycled silver, alongside revived archival headpieces from 1998 and 2004. Looks were so varied they could easily be found both on the red carpet and in Fabric nightclub which was the message of the collection, “A celebration of London’s subversive spirit,” as McGirr put it.
Susan Fang Blends Romance with Technology
Susan Fang looked to David Cronenberg’s ‘Madame Butterfly,’ for her latest offering. Having recently designed the costumes for an operatic version of the film, it seemed a perfect subject for her new collection. Returning to the Barbican centre, the show began with a vibrant red dress covered in fluttering floral appliques, gradually moving into the softer pastel tones synonymous with the brand, while hints of neon filled in the gaps.
The looks delved into themes of illusion, seduction, and fantasy, as a four-layered organza dress with embroidered blue floral cutouts drifted through the sheer fabric like floating shadows. Elsewhere, 3D-printed neon lace atop transparent blouses, shorts and dresses counted this delicacy. A beaded qipao recalled Fang’s early design signatures, reimagined through hand-painted broken porcelain accents and delicate petal shaped jade earrings in collaboration with a Beijing master artisan. Fang teamed up with Croc on footwear this season, transforming the Echo Blume in a pastel dream covered in 3D wildflowers, while flip-flops were 3D-printed and the classic style given a pixelated geometric sweep at the sides.
Christopher Kane Puts Mulberry Back in the Game
Christopher Kane made a triumphant return to fashion at Mulberry last week, blending his provocative aesthetic with Mulberry’s signature design codes. Titled ‘City, Town, Country,’ the collection thrived on juxtaposition, here British heritage collided with subcultures, working with the brand’s rich heritage Kane took the design of the clutch on classic Bayswater bag and transferred into an array of looks throughout the collection.
The motif found its way onto the front of a long leather coat, cut into layers on leather skirts and dresses, even hemlines, collars and sweaters couldn’t escape that subtle addition. A sort of recurring logo without the noise usually attached to it. Tailoring, parkas, rugby shirts, and school uniforms shared space with delicate, decorative dresses. Meanwhile, the Mulberry tree motif inspired axe-shaped accents on bags and footwear.
Kane is certainly looking to the future, as many looks seemed better suited to Autumn/Winter than Spring/Summer but in a city like London, where the seasons tend to bleed into each other, the collection may in fact be the perfect balance of light and heavy.
Natasha Zinko Teams up With Only Fans
Examining a life under observation, Natasha Zinko’s latest collection ‘Pay Per View’ looks at life in front of the camera and how social media affects an individual’s behaviour. With a lineup of controversial television stars like Katie Price, Kelly Osbourne and Sopranos cast, Drea de Matteo walking the runway the message was clear, in an age off meta glasses and an attention-based economy where does authenticity lie, and have we become prisoners regulating our behaviours to the camera lenses that seem to forever be on.
The clothes leaned heavily into performance and costume, contrasting exposed lingerie with cowboy hats, tailoring, sportswear, and corporate uniforms. In lieu of a traditional runway entry, the show opened with a man singing opera a cappella from an upper box —outfitted unexpectedly in a pink cleaner’s suit. Though tackling surveillance and the attention economy, ‘Pay Per View’ remained light on its feet, with Zinko’s way of taking serious questions and injecting fun into it.
Text Bethany Berkeley
