London Fashion Week A/W 2026 demonstrated a newfound focus. The schedule was more condensed, the ideas more defined. Amongst warehouses, galleries and pop-up catwalks, young designers displayed their work based on the processes involved, from visible
construction, local manufacturing, self-referential narratives, and experimentation with materials.
There was less interest in visual spectacle lacking substance; instead, there was an emphasis placed on the development of strong brand identity through the implementation of repeatable design systems. It is the emerging group of London-based designers, who are exacting in silhouette, definitive in voice, and thoughtful in partnering, that demonstrates London’s direction of movement.
In The House Of Solo, we identified 10 Fashion designers/Brands to keep your eyes on as they help define the future of London fashion.
YUHAN AO
Yuhan Ao’s work begins when most fashion stories begin to end, not with an inspirational board but with labour. A London-based designer whose background lies in growing up around linen production in China, he views clothing as a form of structure and memory as a way to create methods, an approach that fits well with the recent resurgence in design intelligence over noise. At LFW, What the Hands Remember was structured by layering, wrapping and deconstructing tailoring, restraint with backbone, garments designed to hold emotion but avoid sentimentality. He describes “making the invisible visible,” and I see it in his choices, in the emphasis on handcrafted products as a place, and in refusing to remove the evidence of being created from his designs.
Ao is one of the newer London designers who treat the construction of a garment as the story, the silhouette telling the story. With so many other large gestures during a crowded season, his quiet and direct use of design language speaks to confidence, and it’s the type of language that buyers can take and apply to their wardrobe without watering down the idea.
HECTOR MACLEAN
Hector Maclean’s ascent to prominence has been fueled by a rare combination of technical romanticism and a clearly defined authorial perspective. Escape followed a family history of migration through military-inspired tailoring with softening details like Scottish lace and Polish references without slipping into costume. The emotional logic is straightforward: “War is part of my history and the kind of trauma and pain that creates carries down through your family for generations,” he explained. The press coverage of his show highlighted his continued commitment to deadstock and repurposing fabrics sustainability as a material discipline, not a caption.
Maclean understands how to turn drama into wearable elements like corsetry, pleating and sculptural drapes that photograph well, but still sit on the body as clothing. His Westwood roots are evident in his conviction: fashion as a message, but as a product that is refined. As the overall climate of uncertainty continues to define our overall mood, his “sombre strength” positioning feels culturally relevant and commercially viable.
THE OUZE
Jewellery had a real authored moment this season, and The Ouze’s presentation demonstrated the point of process as aesthetic, rather than backstory. Their LFW profile explicitly states the “proof of the human touch”, fingerprint marks, hallmarking, etchings and The Process Is the Point was the installation that presented that belief with finished pieces displayed next to wax models and half-constructed objects. Vernon’s own framing is direct and helpful: “We wanted to demonstrate the process of creating jewellery, instead of just the finished piece.”
In a luxury market that is increasingly spooked by uniformity, The Ouze is offering collectability with integrity pieces that appear to have lived a life prior to reaching the wearer. The Ouze’s insistence on visible making also reflects a larger shift: consumers purchasing the story and residue of an item, not polish.
CLARA CHU
Clara Chu has consistently approached elevating the unremarkable domestic items, packaging, the inexpensive and functional into accessories that challenge value. Her LFW debut, Handwritten Notes, focused on the elastic band, an ordinary item that was treated as a design system with pieces that loop, flex and fasten, and were built to be swapped and reconfigured over time.
Chu is discussing a reality that the industry generally does not address: we are surrounded by “stuff”, and design has to respond to it. Her work takes circularity and makes it fun and visually engaging, rather than punitive and that will be important moving forward, especially as consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about waste, yet still expect to experience pleasure. Additionally, she sits in a solid niche: accessories that are conceptually sharp, have press appeal, and can be retailed more easily than experimental ready-to-wear.
AGRO STUDIO
AGRO’s strength is developing the personality of a garment through its construction, like corsetry, tailoring and leatherworking techniques used to create a silhouette that functions, while avoiding collapse into costume.
The Wanderer (LFW 2026 A/W show title) drew on the notion of infinite journey, utilising Icelandic sheep skin, leather aviator layers, hand dyed knits and glossy metallics, and motifs that referenced American labels re-interpreted through folklore.
AGRO is part of a London tradition that combines craftsmanship with club style; however, they have evolved into a brand capable of dressing culture and selling to individual clients. Their made-to-order business model and atelier roots make sense given the shift in the market towards less mass production, and the technical authority of the garments ensures that the clothes do not rely on stylistic gimmicks to function.
DREAMING ELI
Dreaming Eli’s world is feminine, literary and intentionally provocative “demicouture” romanticism with tension inherent. Trombatore, a Central St Martins MA graduate sponsored by the Isabella Blow Foundation, described AW26 as a tribute to the role of female friendships as the foundation of life: “Female alliance…the profound connections that become life’s true anchors,” she explained in the press release. On the catwalk, this translated into distressed and layered textiles like lace torn and burned, then embellished with pearl encrustations and new three-dimensional printed accessories made in collaboration with Harry Mack, extending the pearl filament language of the brand into body jewellery and headpieces.
Dreaming Eli understands how to build a brand mythology that is larger than a single collection, and she supports that with product codes, corset mini dresses, sculptural draping, and signature neutral colours that fans can return to. The collaboration with Harry Mack demonstrates smart ecosystem thinking: taking a runway idea and transforming it into objects that can travel quicker than a gown, while maintaining the emotional premise.
SELASI
SELASI’s LFW debut positioned endurance as both physical practice and creative state. McKenzie drew upon personal memory, school sports, asthma, the beep test and constructed Stories 005: Endurance using archival P.E. kit remnants from Walthamstow School for Girls and reworked tracksuits provided with support from PANGAIA. Footwear support came from ECCO, and skincare partner Herbar treated “sweat — not as an aesthetic, but as a sign,” integrating backstage care into the logic of the show.
SELASI is a fashion that functions as a cultural project, garment design, scent, music, community, and movement without sacrificing the discipline of editing. The sponsorships were not add-ons to enhance the show; they were extensions of the message. With a crowded field of new-gen talent, McKenzie’s greatest advantage is authorship: a label with a point-of-view that can exist across different media and a material strategy centred on reusing archival materials as opposed to seasonal novelty.
RAQUEL DE CARVALHO
Raquel de Carvalho’s knitwear practice is based on devotion to process: mending, crocheting, domestic machine knitting, upcycling and deadstock. On the Discovery LAB platform at LFW, Devotion treated knitting as a ritual, reworking vintage wool sweaters, deadstock yarns, and sheep skin offcuts into irregular forms, distressed Aran versions, and metallic lace versions.
Knitwear is experiencing a renaissance in terms of technical proficiency, and de Carvalho is situated in a rare intersection of craft knowledge and a modern silhouette’s instinct. De Carvalho’s stated sustainability goals (shifting away from polyamide fuzzy knits toward repurposed sheep skin) read as material decision-making, not branding. If you’re interested in designers who can bridge handwork into scalable ideas, garments and accessories, she is working to establish that bridge.
KSENIA SCHNAIDER
Very few designers have stretched the conceptual boundaries of denim as far as KSENIA SCHNAIDER has, and Denim Workshop took that even farther: treating denim not as a fabric, but as a logic that can be knit, printed, quilted, and reassembled. The show incorporated collaborations with Lee Cooper (which is a continued partnership) and Nemiroff, appearing through a performative “platform” bottle holder accessory and event support. The collection also included BROD-X, which was developed from recycled denim waste, and re-deployed denim’s gold topstitching as a decorative element and a drawing element.
They’ve taken a singular material fixation and transformed it into a complete design laboratory, the type of consistent brand engine that will survive the cyclical nature of trends. The sponsorship here is meaningful because it shows confidence from larger players without undermining the idea: Lee Cooper represents heritage denim and Nemiroff represents national cultural presence, both supporting the collection’s theme of elevating common objects into symbolic status.
KEBURIA
The beginning of the question shows that you can write about how Keburia thinks silhouette is a method of branding. Since he started his fashion label in 2015 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Keburia has developed a language around exaggerating proportion, creating three-dimensional silhouettes with his clothing, and theatrical representations of femininity that travel far beyond Georgia. On the outside, the collection is light-hearted and playful; however, the construction of each piece is very disciplined.
For the Fall/Winter 26 (FW26) collection, which was presented during London Fashion Week, outerwear continued to be the main focus of the collection. The designs were influenced by both ceremonial and uniform elements of clothing. The influence of these styles was evident in the use of braiding, antique-style buttons, fur trim, and the sharpness of the shoulder lines. Additionally, denim was cut away and reworked using hooks and micro-proportions. There was a range of colors in the palette from muted neutral tones to bold color blocks. Rhinestones were used in prints of spiders along with other metal pieces for hardware, and oversized buckles and structured hats enhanced the graphic nature of the collection. The final elements of the collection included large, exaggerated 3-D printed shoes made in Tbilisi, which added an extra layer of caricature to the collection without losing the structural integrity of the design.
Keburia is significant today because the brand is easily recognisable. At first glance, it is easy to identify a Keburia jacket, and that instant recognition translates well to editorial images, performances, and retailers. Additionally, the accessories and shoe segment of the brand is expanding quickly and will continue to support growth. Underneath the visual aspect of the brand is a consistent pattern of cuts and manufacturing located in Tbilisi. This consistency of recognisable image and controlled construction positions Keburia as one of the most ready-to-export voices for London this season.
MYAT
AW26 (Fall/Winter 26) presentation, Antechamber by Erica Myat, used performance as its framework. The performance was staged in a warehouse, a sugar-glass chamber, and had a narrative arc that progressed from concealment to revelation. The performance fits within a larger group of designers in London who are utilising crafts and concepts to address the issue of identity under pressure – including displacement, inherited expectations, and being watched – through garments that have evidence of distress and repair.
Erica Myat’s greatest talent is building worlds using restraint – creating a sense of energy in the space before presenting clothing that continues to convey that idea through manipulating textiles and progressing silhouettes (moving from heavy protective black to transparency, and eventually releasing).
In an era where “the experience” of attending a fashion event usually takes precedence over the product itself, the controlled nature of her presentation signalled that Myat is a designer who is capable of developing a strong voice for her own brand.
London’s competitive advantage lies in its design talent as they continue to develop their own unique systems, like systems for cutting, materials, and for telling stories, as opposed to developing systems based on uniformity. This is due to a variety of factors which include, but are not limited to, family histories, local manufacturing, sports, rituals and subcultures.
Specificity in fashion provides clothing with weight. Specificity in fashion also makes it easier for consumers to make purchasing decisions in a market where recognisable identities are becoming more important than seasonal trends.
If the next generation of designers in London can create both the image and the structure for the fashion industry, then this season has clearly indicated that the next chapter in London fashion history has been initiated.
