Looking to the past to predict the future has long been a foundational element in any fashion designer’s collection. Take the Y2K trend, for example: bandage dresses, heeled flip flops and choker necklaces resurrected from more than twenty years gone by. Yet, for Spring/Summer 26, the designers at London Fashion Week reached much, much further back into the archives—back to a time before cars, radios, and even the modern day fish tank was invented—yes, that last one surprised me, too.
From there, they plucked on one key feature: the exaggeration of the hips through bustles, panniers and crinolines—the cage-like frames that sat beneath large skirts—producing pieces that are as beautiful as they are steeped in history. Take Patrick McDowell’s big-hipped blazers, Simone Rocha’s voluminous frocks, Natasha Zinko’s gothic gowns, or even Erdem's vintage-like evening attire. But why the return of the attention-grabbing petticoat?
