​London Fashion Week went hyper experimental this Sunday, with surrealist couture from Erdem, disgruntled debutantes at Simone Rocha, conceptual picnics Kent & Curwen, and full-on ergonomic sporty chic at Johanna Parv. 

Erdem: Surrealist chic

No designer can boast of more unlikely muses than Erdem Moralioglu, whose wellspring this season was a wantonly obscure surrealist artist named Hélène Smith.

Though that very obscurity helped inspire another great collection from Erdem. Bloomsbury couture at its best.
 
Catherine-Elise Muller, know artistically as Hélène Smith, was the dubbed the “muse of automatic writing” by the early Surrealists over a century ago. Copies of those texts were embroidered on lace chess piece sheaths densely embroidered with fabric petals and flowers, or on superb starch tulle corset cocktail or moulded bustier dresses.

Smith’s other claim to fame was her belief that she was a medium, able to communicate with the deceased Victor Hugo or Cagliostro. She also believed that through trances she had voyaged to the court of Versailles, Rajasthan and even Mars.
 

See fashion show

The Versailles cycle represented by high lace-collared gowns and shirts or structured paniers riffing on Marie Antoinette. While her imagined sojourn in India mangled with her space trip in neon crushed embroidered linen sculpted dresses, worn on the cast marching in courtesan ribboned shoes.
 
A selection of mannish blazers and striped double-breasted jackets were in turn inspired by psychologist Théodore Flournoy, who published a book on her voyages entitled, “From India to the Planet Mars”.
 
Smith ended up dying in complete obscurity, but this Sunday in a magnificent show under the columns of the British Museum she galvanized a moment of fashion glory.
 

Simone Rocha: Disgruntled debutantes

The afternoon led us to the Mansion House in the City of London, an apt location for the theme of Rocha’s highly experimental – even by her standards – collection.

See fashion show

A long show – by London standards – of 52 looks, most of whom jumbled up epochs and eras in an occasionally disconcerting, though oft times, beautiful manner.
 
For next spring, Rocha loves sateen georgette, floral jacquards and silk organzas, cutting them into crinolines, Venetian tailcoats or hoop skirts. Before promptly covering many of these very looks in transparent plastic coats and trenches, finished in confetti prints.
 
“Disgruntled debutantes… A young woman forced to wear her mother’s clothes,” was the Irish designer’s definition of this spring/summer 2026 collection.
 
That was apparent in the opening looks: a refined organza crinoline embroidered with tiny flowers, combined rebelliously with a silver sequin bra with black lace trim. Then followed up by an oversized trapeze dress over which was plastered too huge fabric flowers. 
 

See fashion show

“I really wanted to push a button when it came to my fundamental codes,” added Simone, referencing the crinolines exposed through semi sheer organza. Before adding a soupçon of perversity by covering many dresses with mini corsets.
 
Revealing that when it came to her own mother’s wardrobe, Simone would wear her skirts as dresses pulled up high, the better to expose shoes. A vital part of Simone Rocha’s business, which this season featured platforms with Georgian moulding or Perspex escarpins.
 
Her women’s clothes were deliberately not too ladylike, with lots of exposed underwear. But her menswear was positively foppish: scarlet red jacquard cloaks worn with trumpet lilies, or a ruffled soutane seen on a model carrying a ruffled satin pillow.
 
All driven on by a great soundtrack by Frederic Sanchez that included chunks of Marianne Faithfull with the Prague Philharmonic and the demonic sounds of “King Night” by Salem.
 
No one could fault Simone for not taking risks in this performance, which won her a huge cheer and prolonged applause when she took a smiling bow. 
 

Kent & Curwen: The united parks of London

A distinctive change of gear and tone at Kent & Curwen, where designer Daniel Kearns lightened mood and materials, even as he kept a tight focus on the brand’s three lions logo and DNA.
 

See fashion show

Nice also to see an artfully produced show by producer Robin Scott-Lawson, where a set of ten 10X20 foot LED screens projected images of multiple London parks featuring kids at play, football games, boat trips and splendid giant plane trees. Guests even received smart striped blankets – ideal for a picnic on Sunday, in a sunbathed UK capital. 
 
An ideal backdrop to the clothes. They blended haute-couture fabrics like jacquard and chiffon with techy nylons, so the clothes managed to operate on multiple levels. Creating an agreeably conceptual take on such a storied brand as Kent & Curwen. 
 
Draping a fab short tennis dress or a superb ivory coat dress, where a blazer met a plissé chiffon skirt. Dreaming up white multi-petal swimsuits for girls, and shirts for guys in this co-ed show. Going positively Japanese with chiffon minis topped by feathered bra tops.
 

See fashion show

Before returning to the brand’s roots in bold graphic rugby colors used in pink and blue trench coats. And respecting its English roots with some great sweaters embroidered with fabric roses, and a bravura finale of Photoshop English floral pants and tops for Kearns most investigational collection for this house.
 

Johanna Parv: Sports, fashion, action

All-action women at Johanna Parv, where the cast dashed about the catwalk in her bold and brilliant vision of transformative sporty chic.
 

See fashion show

Using techy fabrics, Parv creates clothes that manage to be sporty, yet professional. Protective yet chic. Practical in changing weather conditions, yet sleek and stylish. Plausible from a bike ride to board room.
 
Kicking off the action with gym exits – taut shirts and tops, dissected with her action bags. Followed by impeccable sporty jerkins and pants cut diagonally at the ankle to suggest speed. Clever use of angled zips and ties made the clothes look and be multi-functional. 
 
The result was a collection that reinforced women’s independence via fashion. From the updated sheriff’s dusters in anthracite to the charcoal nylon track jackets, blousons and culottes. Also including her a hybrid bags, worn sometimes as backpack, other times as ergonomic fanny pack, and even as wrap around messenger bag, attachable to a bicycle frame.  Hence its name – ‘Frame‘. All of them looked cool.
 
“Johanna Parv brings out the inner Lime rider in us all,” commented insightfully BFC CEO Laura Weir.
 

See fashion show

In her program notes, the Estonia-born designer referenced reading “Streetwalking the Metropolis” by Deborah L Parsons – a famed study of female writers’ experiences and perceptions of negotiating the urban landscape. This collection seems ideal for today’s urban jungle.