Lady Amelia Windsor was amongst the friends lining the stone courtyard as Turkish designer Bora Aksu unveiled his spring/summer season 2026 assortment.
The setting – a pathway framed by rose bushes relatively than a LED-lit catwalk – was the first signal this might not be a typical runway present.
What adopted was a procession of cracked-doll-like fashions in bonnets, harlequin tights and lace caps, pulling collectively each nursery innocence and grownup melancholy.
Aksu’s place to begin was his personal archive of damaged porcelain dolls. “Broken dolls remind me that beauty does not lie in perfection but in the traces of love, time, and survival,” he mentioned earlier than the present.
“Through this collection, I wanted to create a world where flaws and cracks are celebrated not as weakness, but as strength and beauty.”
That concept grew to become the thread for this assortment, which remodeled fragility into energy.
Slimline attire have been trimmed with lace; butterflies and flowers hand-embroidered on bodices; gingham softened into sheer overlays.
Some appears – like a monochrome checked gown layered over black lace tights and harlequin diamonds – evoked Aksu’s signature Victoriana affect.
Others have been virtually regal: a marigold-yellow robe with balloon sleeves and cascading ruffles glowed in the daylight; a pink scalloped gown shimmered with tiny reflective discs at the hem; a blood-red gown trailed with unfastened threads and appliquéd hearts.
Aksu additionally constructed his idea into the materials themselves. The designer sourced deadstock lace from small producers in Istanbul to revive them into diaphanous attire.
Lace-trimmed cottons, pale taffetas and layers of pastel tulle have been mixed with sheer organza and silks, the textiles recalling time-worn frocks however reworked with modern asymmetry, cut-outs and transparency.
Even the headwear, which consisted of lace caps, kerchiefs and little crowns, was a part of a temper that celebrated imperfection.
The palette of the assortment was fittingly fragile as properly. Colours unfolded like pale keepsakes: powder pinks, mushy corals, peaches and powder blues anchored by ghostly whites, shadowy blacks and touches of midnight navy.
What may have been twee was as an alternative unsettlingly trendy.
The cracked edges and uncooked seams recalled Aksu’s theme of damaged porcelain, but in addition mirrored the present cultural way of thinking: audiences are prepared to transfer past polished, Instagram-perfect trend into one thing extra emotional, even a bit uncanny.
Lady Amelia Windsor’s presence in the crowd was a neat punctuation mark: British aristocracy watching a set that deconstructs the concept of excellent dolls.
This love letter to fragility redefined resilience inside imperfection, and maybe it was a touch that “fragile fashion” could possibly be the subsequent huge trend.