And just like that, this is my last review of 2025 – one that sat on the shelf a moment too long. But perhaps the untamed beauty, intimacy of scale, and contemplative energy of this London presentation make it a perfectly fitting year-end conclusion.

Paolo Carzana is a wizard: what he does with plant dyes and fabric is beyond mortal comprehension. Practice makes perfect, and years of mastering his craft have led the designer to his most accomplished collection yet. Inspired by Mother Earth and her super-nature – supernatural colours that defy belief, and the textures of plants and worlds in the making – Carzana sent ethereal, air- and earth-born messengers down the Reading Room of the British Library for his spring-summer 2026 fashion show.

Fragile, fragmentary garments in a myriad of tones – from aquatic to earthy, from translucent to sun-burnt – drape the body like air or liquid, leaving behind an ephemeral, haute-poetic impression impossible to counterfeit. The alchemy of Carzana’s looks was completed by Nasir Mazhar, whose equally transfixing headwear heightened their spell. Asymmetrical fabric drapes – abstract, shell-like bonnets and paper scrolls evoking feathers – deepened the organic potency of the collection.

The London-based designer moves slowly, refusing to abide by the fashion industry’s relentless logic of more, more, more. Let 2026 be the year we rethink old ways of operating – and make space for a new generation of designers to truly capture hearts, just like Galliano and Gigli did back in the day.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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