On the spring runways, clothes too cute for school

Scrolling through the spring/summer 2026 shows in London and New York, it felt less like fashion week, more like a slumber party that got wildly out of hand. I knew something had shifted when a model walked Simone Rocha’s runway clutching what looked like a comfort plushie. Technically, it was a leather pillow, scalloped in broderie anglaise, but it had the same effect: a prop you’d carry if you were brave enough to bring your weighted blanket to work. It was funny, touching, and a little absurd, exactly the mood of spring/summer 2026.

After years of muted tailoring and “quiet luxury” wardrobes that looked suspiciously like HR training videos, designers gave us recess. The runways leaned into the textures and talismans of girlhood—lace trims, puffed skirts, and sparkly flats. Not as infantilisation but as reclamation of girlhood reframed with grownup agency. What’s striking is how viable it feels. A pinafore at the office? Why not. Bloomers under a blazer? Stranger things have happened…

The interpretations varied wildly, each designer giving their own spin on what it means to flirt with the joys and angst of adolescence.

Inside the doll house of Sandy Liang

The princess of all things cute, New York-based Sandy Liang mined the Y2K bedroom with unapologetic precision: think skirts that double up as PVC wall organisers for secrets and Polly Pocket dolls, and Tabi shoes dotted with bunnies, all of it inspired by Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty and other childhood obsessions. The sweet dresses with ruffles and Peter Pan collars were balanced by ’80s-inspired power-shoulder blouses and miniskirts. After all, why be one girl when you can be many?

The past lives of women at Erdem

The designer Erdem Moralioğlu conjured up the world of a weird and wacky real-life 19th-century medium named Hélène Smith. His spring/summer 2026 collection leaned into the period while playing with contrasts—rigid silhouettes like panniered skirts, corseted bodices, streamlined evening gowns and stiff Calvinist collars in sumptuous silk, all balanced by giant slouchy bows, louche dressing gowns, floaty shirts, and trailing bits of lace and ribbon.

Chopova Lowena’s high-school reunion

Designer duo Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena of the brand Chopova Lowena have become the ones to watch at fashion week. Their show this time was dedicated to American high-school culture and offered up a vision for what happens when the “weird girls” become the cheerleaders—there were pom-poms swinging from safety-pinned miniskirts, bejewelled eyebrow stickers, and loops of Pippi Longstocking braids. Faux-fur bags and the brand’s signature pleated skirts landed this collection squarely with the girls who still belt Avril Lavigne or Evanescence at karaoke hour.

Prom night at Simone Rocha

The Irish designer’s teenagers weren’t the glam sort. Instead, Simone Rocha’s girls embraced the awkwardness of adolescence, like they had been dragged to a dance they were only half into. Sparkly tops and gauzy hoop skirts were paired with quilted bed jackets and PVC raincoats, easing up on the usual ruffles but trailing ribbons and bows galore. Boyish briefs added a slightly gamine touch, while models hugged ruffled pillows with their arms crossed in a mix of defiance and ennui. Classic teenagers. Crocs and shiny shoes made the look feel casual, cheeky, and entirely Rocha.

Workwear for a girl’s world at Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams was exploring what a uniform might look like if you were a nurse or a factory worker, but her uniforms were for not for your regular employee. Think chunky bracelets shaped like toilet rolls, hot-water bags printed with skulls, bodysuits embroidered with adorable kittens... Williams gave the most mundane aspects of girlhood a kooky, kitschy twist.

The return of Queen Anna Sui

Anna Sui, faithful to the pinafores and babydolls that have made her an icon, sent out a collection that was less nostalgic and more prescient, quietly leading the return of boho with frills and lace on handkerchief-hem dresses, peasant blouses, and more. Special mention for the doggy backpack that she first introduced in 1994, brought back in 2022, and then revived in a new form as a playful, platypus-like bag this season.

The heroines of Yuhan Wang

London-based, Chinese-born designer Yuhan Wang wants to prepare her women for a dangerous world, but rather than chainmail, her armour of choice features lots of lace (layered under the looks as stockings, shorts or gloves but also in the form of a tiered dress or frilly skirt, and even shoulder pads covered in black lace), graphic tees printed with kittens, and perhaps a swan-shaped bag. No damsels in distress here.

Stephen Jones’s colourful daydream

Crowning the chaos, milliner Stephen Jones’s exploration of colour included the Zzz, a satin eye mask ringed in feathers that’s become an internet favourite. There was also a fluttering, lemon-yellow headdress that imitated a halo of dainty birds’ wings, a glossy green fedora topped with a bubble dome, and a blue straw hat tied and topped with a bow. This was headgear fit for a new generation of Royal Ascot attendees.