The next stop on the Fashion Month tour lands us in London as English sensibility takes over the streets. This season’s London Fashion Week was the first under new British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir, as designs of whimsy and glamour met sophistication. For her first season, Weir plans to make London “a sensational showcase of creative fashion design talent.”
This year, like many others, we will see the debut of the spring line from many veteran brands, while also debuts of collections from upcoming designers. Heritage houses like Erdem and Roksanda leaned into handcraft and storytelling, while newcomers brought streetwear, surrealism, and softness into bold conversation. This season, London didn’t just show clothes, it staged a manifesto for what fashion can be when whimsy meets purpose.
Burberry
Amongst many notable houses, Burberry is a name easily recognizable and associated with many things. Of course, our first thought goes straight to their iconic plaid pattern with those intersecting lines of camel, black, red, and white that have become synonymous with British luxury and timeless style. However, Burberry’s identity and legacy extend far beyond its signature check.
Burberry is a brand that has continually reinvented itself, balancing heritage with innovation. From its origins as a purveyor of durable outerwear for explorers and soldiers to its modern-day presence on global runways, Burberry has mastered the art of storytelling through design.
For this season’s collection, Creative Director Daniel Lee turns to notes for inspiration. Musical notes become his muse as the collection explores the inextricable link between fashion and music. “Musicians have always had incredible style, and together with fashion they form a really strong culture,” said Lee, who tapped Benji B to source songs from the archive of Black Sabbath, one of his favorite bands, for the show. As guests arrive at Perks Field within Kensington Gardens, they are met with the house’s signature scene with a simple melding of town and country.
Spring 2026 – London Fashion Week
The collection features Burberry’s signature trench coats with mod-inspired tailoring reimagined through Lee’s bold lens. Burbery Check chainmail dresses add a flair of festivity as he blends artisanal precision and tradition with modernity. Playing on the festivity, hand-embroidered crochet deceives the eye as it mimics both sculpture and lace, creating an illusion of delicacy layered over structural precision. Mirror embellishments sit within the crocheted web, and adorning denim pieces adds a whim of edge.
Lee reinvents the house’s classic trenchcoat silhouette as he combines various fabrics, including macramé, cotton, and raffia. Leather mimicking lace, creating a tactile paradox that blends toughness with delicacy throughout the trench coats and accessories. The collection’s material’s sculptural weight becomes softened by intricate cutouts and floral motifs. The designs reflect an armor masquerading as elegance, to protect and project. Sturdy boots with equestrian flair pair with each design as soft-lined bags with stud details and fringe compose the edgy balance throughout the collection.
As evening wear appears, icing mini kilts adorned with pink, green, and silver sequins in Burberry check capture the light. Silky bomber jackets and tie-dyed suits make appearances, adding a touch of the unexpected. Speaking of the unexpected, the most notable design of the collection is a classic double-breasted comic book trench coat with oversized labels and structured shoulders. With giant comic strip panels featuring stylized characters printed all over, Lee nods to the classic influence of British entertainment. Again, hand-crocheted and embroidered motifs appear again as they are paired with flat lace-up boots and oversized bags of fringe. Perfect for the Burberry festival goer who appreciates lightness blending with punk edge.
Richard Quinn
Elegance and grace mixed with timeless silhouettes come to fruition as Richard Quinn graces the runway with a collection that embraces femininity. Richard Quinn’s collection, titled “A Night at the Opera,” is a masterclass in theatrical elegance and emotional spectacle. To fully encapsulate the opera, Quinn stages the show at the historic St. John’s Sinfonia Smith Square, a concert hall in a former church built in English Baroque style. In doing so, the show blurred the lines between fashion, music, and performance.
The Opera unfolds as a plush beige carpet lies, while a live chamber orchestra and singers hum. Amplyfying the soft collection, crystal chandeliers, swag curtains, dense flower arrangements, and a wooden pipe organ romanticize the venue.
With this show, Quinn elevates his collection into a full-bodied performance, where fashion, emotion, and music converge. As models glide through the hall, the English Chamber Orchestra plays live, weaving a sonic thread that echoes the drama and elegance of each look. With each step down the runway, the gentle score matches as gowns swell with every crescendo.
“A Night at the Opera” – London Fashion Week
Opening the show, Naomi Campbell sets foot on the runway in a slender black velvet column dress with an exaggerated white décolleté. In the center sits a delicate floral appliqué, contrasting against the sensual black velvet fabric. The collection continues as we jump back in time with flapper-era caped column gowns, 1950s Grace Kelly-inspired billowing tulle skirts, and mermaid skirts with a fitted gold sequin bodice reminiscent of the 1970s.
The collection also features gowns with tight bodices and bulging skirts embroidered with dense crystals that catch the eye or delicate florals. Dramatic bows and floral appliques add character to each design while maintaining the romantic sensuality of the collection. Notably, an intricate bedazzled black high-low bustier dress draped over a white tulle meringue skirt captures the eyes of onlookers.
Quinn’s romantic collection is not complete without the ultimate signal of romance, bridalwear. Soon enough, a parade of white tones disrupts the previously colorful palette as billowing silhouettes with sheer veils take over. Dramatic skirts of tulle contrast with slim bodices as the black velvet rests on waistlines and chests in the form of bows and floral appliques. The veils, long and ghostly, trail behind like echoes of memory, sealing the show with a vow to romance, drama, and the transformative power of fashion.
Dilara Findikoglu
Provocative, while unsettling to some, is necessary to understand and challenge, and Dilara Findikoglu takes this ideal and inserts it into the fabric. Dilara Findikoglu is a Turkish designer based in London known for her eclectic and bold designs. While an upcoming designer, once you see her work, you will never forget her name. Notably, she has dressed celebrities such as Bella Hadid, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Björk, Rihanna, and many more.
While not a name brand, Findikoglu is definitely making a name for herself. So much so that not even an hour-long delay to her 9 PM show could deter her guests. The designer transforms Ironmonger’s Hall into an ominous haunted house as the runway sits in a dark room. The room sits silently, only illuminated by a dark window set in the back. A dim light mimicking moonlight through a window shines down on the runway, creating an atmospheric foreboding.
The collection, titled “Cage of Innocence,” symbolizes the societal hold on women. More specifically, the obsessions with virginity, bridal purity, and rural innocence. Consequently, the setting itself poignantly reflects that, as it sets up the setting where men plot to restrict the dreams of women throughout centuries. Through this collection, Findikoglu gives a voice to women who have been silenced across time. With a rather urgent and personal mission, Findikoglu forces us to recognize the constraints of centuries put upon women.
“Cage of Innocence” – London Fashion Week
Findikoglu opens the collection with a startling piece as models stumble onto the runway covered in dirt. Tears streak their face as twigs tangle their hair as the emotions pour from their silhouettes. Ultimately, the collection paints remnants; remnants of what was and what is left of women. These women aren’t timid or quiet; they are starkingly bold, strong, and loud with every stomp down the runway. Moreover, the collection features velvet bustiers and Victorian corsetry carved into the torso. Capes drape down physically and emotionally, carrying weight as metal lines the fabric.
Delicate white and off-white dresses, reminiscent of Giselle, provoke purity and innocence. However, the torn and stained nature provokes a defiled idea of suffering due to such expectations. Tunics are paired with thigh-high boots, alluding to the fetishistic nature of society placed on women. Eyes move continuously, capturing every emotion as pieces pass by rapidly. Soon enough, eyes stop as a sheer, nude bodiced dress adorned with hyper-realistic silicone cherries rest atop the body. Red stains the sheer, nude fabric as unfinished trimming and lace represent both a delicacy and imposed sensuality.
Findikoglu creates a vivid and provocative tone as babydoll dresses are paired with horse-bit headpieces, as the woman is rendered silent. Another piece shows a blonde tail attached to a bondage belt. This bound imagery provokes the constraints of sexuality and the bonds placed by society. As the collection nears a close, Naomi Campbell appears in a dramatic black-out leather design, complementing the previous black-leather looks. The black leather speaks to the rigid results of sexualization and fetishization that result in resistance and reclaimation of autonomy.
London Fashion Week leaves us with vivid collections of embracing femininity, striking resistance, and much more. As London Fashion Week closes, we travel to our next destination in Milan, where classic Italian charm will take over for another week!
