Changing of the guard
A SLEW OF DESIGNER DEBUTS SEEMED POISED TO MAKE SPRING/SUMMER 2026 THE SEASON OF LOOKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE. BUT ULTIMATELY, THEY TOOK US BACK TO THE PAST
WORDS BY DIVYA VENKATARAMAN
In time, this era will be remembered as generationally delinquent: fashion at its most flighty and feckless. Fifteen designer reshuffles happened across fashion houses in the past year(ish) — a record number. Soon, the dust will settle, and these designers will shape their own stories out of the historic houses now in their charge. But, right now, we’re in the process of watching it unfold. What a privilege! So where does all that exertion, desire, the months of gossip, the euphoria of ambitions fulfilled — or grief of dream jobs lost — go? What does it do to the fabric of an industry obsessed with tradition but always fiending for newness? The answers are on the runway.
There is a complicated relationship designers must balance when it comes to these storied houses: a pull towards acting as custodians of the collective memory of a brand, and the push towards making a splash. This season, they seemed to lean in favour of the former. But the past, as they say, is a foreign country. Is it better to get your bearings, to make some sense of what came earlier, before venturing out into the wilderness? Six of the season’s biggest debuts might have the answer.