London Fashion Week continues with a diverse mix of experimental presentations, romantic silhouettes and playful takes on familiar fashion codes. From Ahluwalia’s latest Puma collaboration and Susan Fang’s fusion of traditional craft with 3D printing to Patrick McDowell’s celebration of sentimental dressing, designers are using SS27 to explore ideas of movement, memory and personal expression.
Elsewhere, Lulu Guinness revisited its iconic Lips Clutch, MYAT transformed its presentation into a constantly changing performance, while Natasha Zinko turned Collins Music Hall into a panopticon-inspired spectacle in collaboration with OnlyFans. Masha Popova, meanwhile, channelled the faded traces of summer holidays through worn-in fabrics, washed textures and beach-inspired details.
Together, the collections reflect the breadth of London’s fashion scene, where established signatures are reworked through new materials, unexpected settings and increasingly theatrical approaches to presentation. Here are some more of the highlights from London Fashion Week…
Ahluwalia unveils third Puma collaboration with ‘Revel’ collection
Ahluwalia debuted the third drop of its collaboration with sportswear brand Puma, with bright trainers and fringed tracksuits appearing alongside sharply cut satin and sheer dresses and sculptural skirts. The footwear came in silver, cobalt blue, red, terracotta and patent black, with contrasting stitched details echoed throughout the ready-to-wear collection. One male model wore a black Puma zip-up tracksuit with white piping over long black fringing, while terracotta sportswear was paired with red-and-silver trainers. A cream double-breasted suit was also styled with the brightly coloured footwear, making a strong case for wearing trainers with tailoring rather than gym clothes.
The collection also featured dropped waists and balloon hems, giving skirts inflated, sculptural shapes, while fringe added movement to everything from eveningwear to sportswear. The colour palette ranged from cobalt blue and vibrant green to sky blue, with the the runway framed by a vast watercolour-style backdrop of pale blue, pink and soft yellow, resembling a sky just before sunset. Its softness contrasted with the grandeur of the Rosewood ballroom and the collection’s more slimly fitted pieces.
Ahluwalia explained that she had been experimenting with silhouettes that took up more space than those in previous seasons. “When I drape, I think about pulling and constriction,” she said, “whereas I think that some of the pieces in this collection are about pushing. I was thinking about pushing into space.” The idea was particularly apparent in the eveningwear, where sharply cut satin dresses sat alongside fuller skirts, sheer fabrics and cut-outs. One dark brown dress exposed the waist through angular cut-outs, while another look paired a softly draped ivory top with a long green skirt covered in shimmering embellishment.
The designer also revisited the nipped-in waist, a silhouette that has been appearing across the London Fashion Week runways, this time through structured outerwear. Military-style berets and pointed shoes gave some looks a more disciplined finish, while Ahluwalia balanced these sharper elements with playful details and movement. The result was a collection that combined athletic influences with elegant tailoring and expansive, sculptural silhouettes.
Susan Fang fuses romance, craft and 3D printing for SS27
Susan Fang presented her SS27 collection at the Barbican’s Lakeside, combining romantic details with 3D-printed elements. Chinese porcelain references appeared across blue-and-white floral prints, while transparent layers, pearls and three-dimensional flowers added to the collection’s softer side.
The show space was surrounded by reflective silver balloons, with models navigating stepping stones across the water as they moved through the collection. The setting added another unusual element to a show that already played with ideas of illusion and perception.
Bright shades of scarlet, vibrant blue and neon green cut through the softer palette, particularly across the 3D-printed pieces. Flowers and lace were recreated through 3D printing, while footwear included sculptural designs that played with shape and perspective.
Inspired by M. Butterfly, the collection also brought traditional craft into the mix. Broken porcelain was reworked into accessories and embellishments, while jade was repaired with gold to create flower jewellery. The beauty look followed the same contrast, with Anna Cofone pairing structured, high-shine sections with braids, flyaways and soft tendrils.
Lulu Guinness reimagines iconic Lips Clutch for London Fashion Week return
Lulu Guinness returned to London Fashion Week for the first time in over a decade, unveiling a new collection centred around a striking reimagining of the brand’s signature Lips Clutch, described as one of the most recognisable motifs in British fashion.
First introduced in 2004 in crimson snakeskin, the Lips Clutch’s bold, lip-shaped silhouette quickly became synonymous with the brand. It captured Lulu Guinness’s witty, statement-making approach to design, transforming a playful accessory into a true work of art.
Now, 25 years on, the brand has reimagined its bestselling bag in a distinctly surrealist new form. The undulating silhouette suggests a smile while abstracting the original design, with a tactile quality that makes it almost impossible to resist picking up.
The new shape sits at the heart of a wider collection that includes glossy, crinkled-leather handbags and graphic jewellery in bright gold. Together, the pieces mark a fresh creative direction for the brand while remaining rooted in its most recognisable and enduring codes.
MYAT turns SS27 into a constantly changing presentation
MYAT presented its SS27 collection, The Same River Twice, at the Hellenic Centre in Marylebone, turning the space into a living installation rather than a traditional runway. Six models continuously moved around a central see-saw, changing and re-wearing looks as they went, meaning the collection was constantly shifting throughout the presentation.
The collection focused on lighter, more revealing silhouettes, with sheer chiffon and organza layered close to the body alongside raw mesh, visible seams and unfinished edges. Gathering, ruching and draping created structure without traditional boning, while looser shapes brought a more relaxed feel to the collection.
Styling by Jeanie Annan-Lewin played with the contrast between the delicate fabrics and more directional details, with pieces layered and rearranged as the models moved around the space. The changing combinations meant individual looks appeared differently each time they came back into view, reinforcing the presentation’s focus on repetition and change.
The experience extended beyond the clothes, with fragrance house Gabar creating a scent-scape for the presentation. Guests were given traditional Chinese fortune sticks on arrival, which were later exchanged for cards that revealed an individual fortune and scent when activated with perfume.
Natasha Zinko joins with OnlyFans for panopticon-style show
Katie Price joined Kelly Osbourne and The Sopranos star Drea de Matteo at Natasha Zinko’s provocative SS27 show, staged in collaboration with OnlyFans. Rather than sending models down a conventional runway, the Ukrainian-born designer placed performers in the individual balconies and viewing boxes of Collins Music Hall, transforming the cavernous venue into something between a theatre, a live social-media feed and a peep show.
The staging drew on the idea of the panopticon, a circular prison design in which inmates can potentially be observed from a central watchtower without knowing exactly when they are being watched. It was an unusually fitting concept for a show created in collaboration with OnlyFans, with the audience constantly shifting its attention between different performers and viewpoints.
The subscription platform made its London Fashion Week debut with an 18-piece capsule collection created with Zinko, forming part of the 42 looks presented during the evening. The collaboration gave Zinko the opportunity to put her own stamp on OnlyFans’ visual identity through shrunken silhouettes, graphic X-ray motifs and everyday pieces, including a brown zip-up hoodie emblazoned with “ONLY FANZ”. The clothes explored ideas of costume and performance, combining lingerie-inspired pieces and exposed underwear with cowboy hats, tailoring, sportswear and corporate-looking shirts and skirts.
The show began not with a model walking the runway, but with a man singing opera a cappella from one of the boxes, dressed incongruously in a pink cleaner’s outfit – Zinko’s favourite look of the night. From there, the atmosphere became increasingly disorientating, as lights illuminated different boxes in turn, revealing an assortment of characters performing simultaneously. As the audience tried to work out where to look next, the show blurred the boundaries between fashion presentation, theatre and voyeuristic spectacle.
Masha Popova brings a worn-in holiday feel to SS27
Masha Popova looked to the traces left behind by summer holidays for SS27, with her “Wish You Were Here” collection turning sun, sea and sand into details across the clothes. Denim appeared saltwater-worn, while fabrics were marked with impressions inspired by swimsuits, sunbathers and shadows cast beneath palm trees.
The collection played with the idea of clothes carrying evidence of where they had been, with faded finishes, washed textures and body-shaped impressions giving pieces a deliberately worn-in feel. The effects made the clothes look as though they had been worn through a summer somewhere else, rather than simply designed to look like holiday pieces.
The presentation continued the theme, with a sandcastle, a boat washed up like driftwood and a makeshift beach bar set against an industrial backdrop. The contrast between the familiar beach references and the surrounding space gave the collection a slightly surreal feel, as though a holiday memory had been dropped into London.
Popova also collaborated with Reebok, reworking the Freestyle Hi in denim to create the “DenimGhost”, with only hints of the original trainer visible beneath the fabric. A “Sand Coated Freestyle Hi” was similarly finished to look as though it had been worn through the shallows, adding another weathered element to the collection.
Patrick McDowell presents ode to clothes worth keeping in love-themed show
Patrick McDowell made a case for falling in love with your clothes with his SS27 collection, simply titled Love. The show explored the sentimental value of the pieces we cherish, wear repeatedly and return to time and again. Staged at Yeomanry House, an army facility in central London, the presentation transformed the unexpected setting with scattered wildflowers and a mirrored runway, creating a romantic atmosphere for the collection’s blooming silhouettes.
The clothes opened in lush shades of green, evoking botanical growth and the freshness of spring. Flowers became a recurring motif, appearing as appliquéd roses and in silhouettes that echoed the shape of an upside-down bloom. McDowell’s personal favourite, the Sylvia jacket, opened the show, reworking traditional tailoring in green-striped silk-wool georgette with a structured form, peplum waist and delicate silk roses.
A strong 1930s and 1940s influence ran throughout the collection, reflecting decades that McDowell frequently draws upon. The palette gradually shifted from green to soft sky blue, while black accents introduced contrast and definition. Accessories from McDowell’s collaboration with Aspinal of London continued the floral theme, with romantic handbags complementing the clothing.
The show concluded with the McDowell bride, dressed in a strapless, double-layered bubble-hem dress and a tightly fitted headpiece – a modern alternative to the traditional lace and tulle veil.
Despite its focus on love, the collection was not about dressing for someone else. Instead, McDowell explored the intimate relationship people have with their own wardrobes and the emotional connections formed.