The Studio. Magda Butrym SS26

Magda Butrym‘s The Studio is a collection devoted to the intimate and sacred space where the creative process unfolds – the place where the designer feels at ease, fully in her element. It is here that she designs for her – the woman she has envisioned for over a decade. Within this sanctuary, dressing becomes a ritual of pure pleasure, self-expression, and daring beauty.

Magda’s spring–summer 2026 collection is defined by the idea of instinctive chic. It carries the deliberate sense of having just emerged from the studio — undone, spontaneous, and unconstrained. Reimagined in hyper-sensual forms and defined by abbreviated lengths, the collection exudes a palpable taste for the risqué.

Something slightly askew in an otherwise perfect look – that is where chic emerges. Hence, see-through stockings turned into pants are paired with buoyant peplum blouses; broad-shouldered, waist-cinched leather jackets are worn nonchalantly as dresses; and lingerie-inspired, lace-trimmed ensembles reveal satin underpinnings that peek seductively from beneath. Layers of lace separates create a look that is at once undone and frivolous — liberating, self-pleasing, and unapologetic. A duo of full-skirted silhouettes contrasts – yet harmonizes – like white and black swans: one paired with a silk camisole, the other with a masculine leather coat.

The cloud-like draped hats, created in collaboration with Noel Stewart, accompany most looks like cherries atop a cake, underscoring the collection’s cheeky, light-hearted redefinition of ladylikeness.

The collection’s title is not only an ode to Magda’s creative sanctuary in the heart of Warsaw but also a reference to Paulina Ołowska’s painting The Studio, which depicts a woman painter inspired not only by another woman’s body but also by her character. The warmth, vulnerability, and understanding conveyed through the female gaze – so poignantly captured by the Polish painter who sat front row at the show – set the tone for the collection’s outlook on femininity, reveling in all its unexpected twists and turns.

Drawing equally from fine art traditions and pop culture, Ołowska’s vision of women fuels Butrym’s own. The glamorous, full-skirted heroines of the artist are iconified through a lens that fuses Slavic motifs and sylvan settings with fashion-forward sharpness and cinematic allure. In her practice, Ołowska tells not only her own stories but also those of other women — a perspective that intrigues Magda, encouraging her to draw cross-generational inspiration from figures as diverse as Leonor Fini (with her surrealist visions), Deborah Turbeville (and her mysterious dames), and Sarah Lucas (and her leg-centric silhouettes). Femininity here is not constant; it is a spectrum in flux. She is many.

After the fashion show came a theatrical shift in setting – from runway to studio. For this occasion, I had the utmost pleasure of creating six large-format moodboards offering a rare glimpse into the creative process behind the collection, while simultaneously paying homage to Ołowska’s practice. In her extensive oeuvre, the artist often exhibited personal boards of inspiration as a form of self-retrospection – an act mirrored in Magda’s tribute.