The Erdem Fall 2026 RTW collection pays homage to the voices and stories of Erdem’s protagonists over two decades of dialogue expression in fashion. Here we see the gowns and coats from Debo and Maria Callas, Madame Yvonde and Radclyffe Hall, in a different guise. They have been renewed with cut or silhouette or material or motif, remixed. As the conversation has continued, so the garment has evolved with each character over time.

As with each of Erdem’s collections, we are held in the tension of a particular moment; a sense of metamorphosis hangs in the air, caught between merging and emerging. We witness Erdem’s women and the clothes they embodied variously draped and layered. Pieces are patchworked and garments are held up against each other. The troupe brings Adele Astaire and Marianne North back before us; we are reminded of a piece of music written by Duke Ellington for Queen and the ceremonial poignancy of the Velazquez infanta. Familiar tropes are inverted or undone as echoes of the past with a different volume in the present. It is as if she has taken everything out of her wardrobe to recreate something new.

There is a beauty to her madness. A bridal dress from Erdem’s first show in 2006 today returns today, with a voluminous gathering of skirts that feels simultaneously riotous and defiant; uplifting in every sense. It is a poetic statement about Erdem’s past and future; as much a celebration of what has been as what is yet to come. The conversation continues.