Charlie Constantinou SS26
Charlie Constantinou’s SS26 “Season 5” unfolds like a slow exhale from night into morning, a considered evolution that feels less like a spectacle and more like a study in how clothes can hold light, memory and movement over time. Shown as part of the NEWGEN program at London Fashion Week inside the concrete arteries of 180 Strand, it is a collection that privileges construction over noise, asking the wearer to come closer, to pay attention to surface, weight and the quiet drama of color in motion.
Season 5 charts a deliberate passage from night into day, a chromatic narrative that sets the emotional temperature of the show before a single hemline is clocked. It opens in graphite greys and shadowy tones, a noticeably darker beginning than in previous seasons, before the palette dilates into washed blues and turquoise, earthier browns and greens, and finally flashes of reds and electric purples that read like a sunrise hitting concrete. Rather than using color as a finishing touch, Constantinou uses it as a structural device. Models walking in color coordinated groupings so that hues don’t just decorate the silhouette, they articulate it, almost like chapters in a continuous, process led story. Season 5 feels architected more than styled, each tonal shift nudging the eye from shadow to clarity, from interiors to exterior world.
The textiles are not merely chosen; they are engineered, manipulated until they seem to retain the ghost of every hand and process that has touched them. Linens and cottons are paired with technical fabrics, giving light pieces an unexpected weight and resilience. Shirts and dresses that look almost air drawn yet carry the structural assurance of outerwear when in motion. Surfaces are worked until they become their own topography. Hand brushed inks, puff printing, irregular dyeing and warped finishes translate into garments that feel tactile even from a distance. A washed grey tee ruched to pull at the side of the body, nylon trousers layered under a detachable brushed silver skirt, or a darted jersey dress that sharpens as it moves. These pieces fold Constantinou’s ongoing love of technical detail into silhouettes that still feel intimately wearable.
What resonates strongest this season is how history is present but never loud. It flickers at the edge of perception rather than dictating the narrative. References from medieval Europe, the Middle East and East Asia surface in armor suggestive shoulders, breeches hinting trousers and geometric patterning. Less quotation, more reinterpretation, allowing the garments to feel grounded without tipping into costume. Technical fabrics swish audibly against these historical echoes, pairing protective knee pads, zippers that function as both closure and ornament, and metallic accents that glint like contemporary chainmail under the runway lights. The result is a wardrobe that sits in a productive tension between then and now, merging Constantinou’s gorpcore and London streetwear codes with a sense of timeworn resilience.
Season 5’s accessories extend this idea of garments as living tools, expanding and contracting around the shifting demands of a day. Constantinou’s now signature expandable quilted bags return, coated in silver pigments and new finishes that catch and diffuse light, their modular construction allowing them to shift in volume as easily as the collection shifts in tone. Footwear, developed in ongoing collaboration with Demon Footwear, pushes further into modularity with detachable coverings and gaiters that turn shoes into protective, adaptable shells. Presented in partnership with Icelandic skincare brand, BioEffect, the show’s ecosystem feels holistic; a universe calibrated around care, surface and longevity rather than novelty for its own sake.
What lingers after Season 5 is not a single look but a sensibility. One that sits comfortably within a more conscious fashion conversation, where awareness and longevity matter as much as impact. The collection is materially expansive yet disciplined, structured and process led. Rooted in the interplay of color, fabric and history to create garments that are designed to endure, adapt and transform rather than burn out on the feed. For a wardrobe built with eyes wide open, one that invests in pieces capable of carrying stories across seasons, Constantinou’s Season 5 offers precisely that; clothes that respect the body, the day, and the long, evolving life of a thoughtfully edited closet.
