Erdem’s Spring Summer 2026 Collection at London Fashion Week

London Fashion Week has always been a stage for the bold, the curious and the visionary. Few designers embody that spirit as consistently as Erdem. This season, the house turned to the extraordinary life of Hélène Smith, the nineteenth century Swiss medium whose visions blurred the line between dream and reality. It was a story rich with fantasy, history and reinvention, and Erdem transformed it into one of the most captivating collections of Spring Summer 2026.

Smith believed she had lived many lives. At times she was a French courtier, at others an Indian princess, and in her trances she even travelled to Mars. These incarnations, which her contemporary the psychologist Théodore Flournoy described as her Romantic Cycles, became her legend and her downfall. For Erdem, however, they became a canvas. Each identity offered a way of exploring the multiplicity of femininity, and the show revelled in this tension between the earthly and the celestial, the documented and the imagined.

The collection unfolded like a séance of fabric and silhouette. Gowns swept across the runway with regal poise, their embroidery echoing the grandeur of Versailles. Jewel toned silks hinted at the richness of Indian courts, draped and layered in ways that spoke of both heritage and fantasy. Then came the unexpected—lighter pieces that seemed to float, delicate organza cut in shapes that felt almost weightless, like clothing destined for another planet. Erdem’s hand was evident in the precision of tailoring, yet there was an ethereal quality that seemed to whisper of other worlds.

What made the presentation remarkable was how seamlessly these contrasting ideas coexisted. The grandeur of history did not overshadow the futurism of dream. Instead, they informed one another, creating a narrative that felt both deeply personal and universally resonant. It was as if the garments themselves were slipping in and out of identities, just as Smith had done in her trances.

London Fashion Week thrives on spectacle, but Erdem’s show was not about excess. It was about atmosphere. The models moved with a sense of ritual, their presence quiet but commanding. The set design mirrored this, creating an otherworldly space that refused to anchor itself to one place or time. In a season where fashion is often pulled in the direction of trends, Erdem delivered something timeless, a meditation on how identity is never fixed but always in flux.

For those who follow Erdem’s work, this exploration of dualities will feel familiar. Yet Spring Summer 2026 felt different, more experimental, more willing to embrace contradiction. It asked questions rather than delivered answers. What does it mean to embody multiple selves. Can femininity be defined by history and yet remain untethered to it. And what happens when fashion becomes the medium through which those questions are explored.

As the final look disappeared from the runway, the impression left was one of beauty not just in fabric but in concept. Erdem had managed to capture the spirit of a woman who refused to be bound by a single narrative and in doing so, reminded us of fashion’s greatest gift. Its ability to transform, to reinvent and to reimagine.

London Fashion Week is never short on ambition, but this season Erdem reminded us that true ambition is not in chasing spectacle. It is in daring to look inward, to confront the stories we tell about identity, and to turn them into something that feels at once historic and futuristic. Spring Summer 2026 was not just a collection. It was an invitation to believe that we too can slip between worlds, even if only for the length of a show.