Fringe and quantity had been the headline pattern from Edeline Lee’s spring/summer time 2026 London Fashion Week show.
The Canadian-born designer apprenticed with Alexander McQueen in London and John Galliano in Paris, the place she learnt the significance of proportion and symmetry.
When the Princess of Wales wore Lee’s asymmetrically pleated plait midi skirt throughout a go to to Cornwall it put her firmly on the mainstream map.
This assortment had a dedication to proportion we’d count on from Lee, however this time she led with quantity and house.
The show included a gray gown that ballooned on the hip then tapered towards the hem, its development each beneficiant and disciplined. This piece set the tone for the show – daring shapes with inside construction sufficient to make them extra wearable than dramatic.
Throughout there was a transparent stress between enlargement and restraint.
Lilac and white skirts hung with lengthy threads that caught each step; a mint inexperienced skirt was gathered to swell, but fell into clear panels so the motion didn’t really feel chaotic.
Sequin detailing appeared in locations, usually edged into fringe at hems, however at all times anchored by easy, unadorned bodices.
The higher thirds of the seems to be had been largely high-necked, sleeveless or gently ruffled collars; decoration stayed under the waist.
Colours within the assortment had been a basic spring palette of pastels, corresponding to lilac, mint and sky blue.
Later nevertheless, deeper cobalt, crisp whites and flashes of silver entered, used sparingly in order that they stunned fairly than overwhelmed.
Fabrics appeared resilient; hems had been beneficiant however not impractical; volumes, even when massive, appeared engineered to carry form fairly than collapse. The gray opening gown, for example, appeared as if it might retain type even after hours of put on; fringed skirts and flowing panels supplied motion with out asking an excessive amount of of the wearer.
Of course, the extra dramatic items carry caveats. Balloons and fringe make for placing visuals however are more durable to put on, however Lee appears conscious of the trade-offs: for each outsize silhouette, there was a scaled-back variant.
The instruments she makes use of of fringe, quantity and shine are supplied in multiple dimension, so to talk.
Compared with final season, spring/summer time 2026 feels extra enjoyable and structured. Lee sharpened her give attention to the latter: the way to droop cloth, the way to let form carry power. The items felt much less like experiments and extra like well-thought-out statements.
The standout trends, like many of her contemporaries, seemed to be fringe and quantity this season. But for Lee they posed as greater than trends however instruments for giving girls house and presence.
It is a restrained, assured assortment that refines Lee’s exploration of house and motion into one thing tangible: high-necked tops pared again to the purpose of purity, skirts that balloon or fringe with out dropping management and pastel tones minimize by way of with flashes of cobalt and silver.
By anchoring fringe and quantity in disciplined chopping and a rigorously stepped color palette, Lee turned the garments right into a commentary on the ability of proportion and how extreme quantity can body, fairly than swamp, the physique.
It is a pattern that’s certain to catch on subsequent season.