London AW26 Fashion Week opened with a conviction that is thoughtful, political, poetic, and deeply rooted in craftsmanship. While the week stretches across several days, a few designers have already presented their collections. The early shows of fashion designers like; Paul Costelloe, Tolu Coker, and Joseph have set an emotional tone for what to expect the rest of the week, and offered collections that felt reflective of our times: heritage honored, identity explored, and elegance redefined.
Paul Costelloe presented a show that was highly rooted in heritage. Him opening the London Fashion Week is no small task, but he delivered, and presented amazing work. His opening the show required presence, authority, and a clear point of view. All this was exuded through his designs and opening. Paul Costelloe, known for his unwavering commitment to traditional tailoring and textile excellence, in the London AW26 fashion week presented a collection that felt like a love letter to British countryside heritage.
His designs interpreted heritage through a contemporary lens. There were rich tweeds fabric, structured wool coats, and sharply cut suits that redefined quiet confidence. The silhouettes were the perfect amount of rigid and flexible, it was strong yet wearable, refined yet grounded. Costelloe reminded us through his designs that luxury is not always about spectacle. Sometimes, luxury is about attention to the little details that matter. Sometimes it’s about precision, and restraint. His collection honored classic craftsmanship while introducing fresher tailoring lines, softer shoulders, and slightly exaggerated outerwear proportions.
There was something comforting about watching the designs from his collection in this season of the London fashion week. He displayed garments that felt built to last, both in construction and aesthetic relevance. The brand subtly emphasized legacy, not just in fabric, but in familiarity. Color palettes leaned into earthy browns, moss greens, and deep burgundies. These colors especially feel powerful and make layering a lot easier. This season outerwear was the hero: long belted coats, heritage check patterns, and structured capes that evoked stately British elegance.
Tolu Coker, a British-Nigerian designer, for the London fashion week delivered one of the most emotionally resonant shows of the week so far. Tolu is known for weaving themes of diaspora, migration, and Black identity into her collections, and this season felt especially intimate. Tolu embraced fashion as a means for storytelling through her designs that made the runway a visual narrative experience. Tolu explored a fusion of traditional and modern themes of memory and belonging in the London SS26 collection that consisted of tailored pieces layered with symbolic detailing, structured blazers that met with fluid skirts, and sharp suiting that was softened with draped elements, that felt almost ceremonial. There was strength, but also vulnerability.
Tolu in her choice of colors for this season’s London fashion week balanced neutrals with deep indigos and burnt tones. These color choices felt rooted, grounded, and powerful. Fabric manipulation was subtle but meaningful. Nothing felt decorative for decoration’s sake. Her show wasn’t just a highlight because of the clothes, it was a highlight because it felt necessary, and deeply resonating. The collection felt archival yet futuristic, and political yet poetic. Each model felt like part of the story rather than simply a hanger for clothes. The outfits were rooted in traditional tailoring with garments that honored personality with traditional classics.
Joseph’s London AW26 collection focused on proportion and layering. His pieces consisted of oversized coats in creamy neutrals floated over slim trousers. Knits were sumptuous, tactile, and intentionally understated. The tailoring pattern used was fluid, less rigid, and more breathable. His return to the London runway signaled a recalibration of quiet luxury, but with warmth-infused refinement that felt rejuvenating.
Joseph reminded us that minimalism is not about absence. Rather he displayed a collection of clothes that had the right precisions, and craft. In a season where maximalism often fights for attention, Joseph leaned into subtle power. The audience response reflected appreciation for this restraint. In many ways, Joseph felt like the grounding center between Costelloe’s heritage tailoring and Tolu’s narrative expression. For his London fashion week display, he played on textures like: matte wool against silk finishes, structured leather balanced with soft cashmere. And his color choices stayed within the palates of creams, charcoals, camel, and muted blacks.
The first days of any fashion week set the emotional temperature. And London’s temperature right now feels introspective even though we are only at the beginning of London AW26 fashion week. Paul Costelloe through his collection reaffirmed the value of legacy. Tolu Coker in her designs and collection demanded space for cultural truth with a fusion of modernity. While Joseph refined the language of minimalism and modern elegance.
Together, these early shows formed a dialogue about identity, sustainability of design, and the importance of building fashion that holds meaning beyond fast trends. Across the shows that have already taken place, tailoring has dominated. Whether traditionally, narratively, or minimally. Structure and craftsmanship is taking the lead this season. There is less gimmick, and more thoughtfulness. From heritage tweeds to brushed wool and fluid silks, the fabric choices are doing emotional work this season.
London Fashion Week is not screaming for attention. It is inviting us to look closer into the memories that are stitched into fabrics, structured silhouettes that embrace and express identities, and histories tailored into coats we wrap ourselves in during the winter. In many ways, London continues to be one of the most expressive top fashion cities, that balances tradition and rebellion in a way that feels organic rather than forced.
