This is no ordinary season for KNWLS. In the history of the brand to come, it will be remembered as a crucial marker a defining moment in its arc. Showing outside of its London hometown, KNWLS steps into Milan’s global arena to unveil its most significant project to date: a capsule collection created in collaboration with Nike.
A union of KNWLS’ essential traits poise and grit; severe sensuality and shamelessly self-possessed femininity – and Nike’s elevated athleticism, it is a material expression of the KNWLS protagonist’s psyche: fearless, powerful, fully self-embodied. Tailored to the measures of the KNWLS heroine’s exacting lifestyle, it moves seamlessly from the gym to club, the track to the street.
Early KNWLS staples are amplified by Nike’s industry-beating technical calibre. A corseted jacket and a deep-pocketed miniskirt are interpreted in an ultralightweight, weatherproof plaid darted with reflective thread. The iconic Razr bag is reimagined in rugged nylon and leather, with a sturdy rubber base modelled on Nike’s very first waffle outsole. Corset-laced sneakers develop on Nike’s Air Max Muse, taking design cues from the brand’s own jag-toed Raptor boot, ballet pointes and vintage football training shoes.
The collaboration is also the impetus for KNWLS’ broader Spring/Summer 2026 collection, a precise distillation of the brand’s intrepid spirit. As if plucked from a parallel timeline, garments synthesise distant past and distant future, occupying a timeless space as if it were native territory.
Dome-shouldered coats nip at the waist and jut at the hip, cutting an armour-like figure. Crafted in buffed, skived leather bonded to neoprene, they bear the hallmarks of medieval battle gear, passed through a prism of space-age futurism. Styled with ultra-slim leggings and denim jeans with anatomical construction details, and ruffled Victoriana tops with contrast grosgrain trims, this dominant silhouette emblematises the temporal tightrope that the collection walks.
As well as the far-gone past, KNWLS reflects on its own history, too. Signature pieces are revisited, reworked, reimagined. A fan-favourite batwing-sleeved hoodie becomes the point of departure for a cropped trench with swooping storm shields; elsewhere, it softens into a corseted tracksuit crafted from cold-dyed jersey with a liquid handfeel.
Corsetry, of course, is an expected preoccupation, but it also serves as a means for KNWLS to express the fundamental value of craft in their practice. Exposed, notched seam tapes and grosgrain bands trace the complex compositional architectures of a leather jacket, the contrast tones reading like sporting stripes. Viscose satin jacquards undergo a cold wash dye treatment, appearing as artefacts that have survived unfathomable passages of time.
This season, KNWLS’ pioneering use of TENCEL™ fibres results in fluid jersey button-down dresses and leggings in midnight blue and sandy beige, accented with graphic grosgrain taping and ruched draping along the sleeves. They’re among the numerous examples of craft being pushed to the cutting edge. Scuba-style tops are constructed from cotton jerseys engineered to mimic neoprene; long-sleeved coats and minidresses are fashioned in hefty, spongy bouclé knits, the fabric’s speckled finish echoed in corsets inspired by Nike’s Fenom bra, rendered in the brand’s emblematic Flyknit.
Seen here and now, the KNWLS heroine’s wardrobe is a transcendent proposal distilled – a vision of luxury liberated from the limits of time, context and place.
