Florentina Leitner SS26
Beep, beep! Florentina Leitner just drove up. Watching this label grow up before my eyes has been one of my absolute joys during Paris Fashion Week. The unicorns have been replaced by muscle cars this season, a definitive 2000s vibe that revs with teenage rebellion. Picture skater girls as little vixens on wheels, neon lights flickering off glossy miniskirts and slick leather caps. I hope this collection never fully grows up because there’s such joy in revisiting the best, most reckless era of one’s life.
Florentina Leitner’s SS26 collection, aptly titled “My Heart Will Go On”, is an ode to summer love and the messy perfection of youth. Inspired by Harmony Korine’s cult classics Gummo and Spring Breakers, Leitner injects her usual whimsy into a nostalgic Americana dreamscape filled with suburban daydreams, hot girls, and skater boys. It’s a world where innocence collides with chaos under fluorescent lights, where love stories are told in eyeliner and asphalt.
And this season, Leitner brings a major pop culture twist through an unexpected yet genius collaboration with Paul Frank. Julius the Monkey (and yes, Bunny Girl too) make their comeback; only cooler, cheekier and infinitely more fashion. Printed tees, flirty tops, and Y2K micro skirts are scattered with Paul Frank’s unmistakable icons, rendered in Leitner’s candy bright palette of fluorescent pinks, acid greens, and electric blues. Denim, washed out whites and speckled blacks ground the energy, turning this sugary rebellion into wearably cinematic style. Silhouettes blur boundaries between skater casual and dreamy couture, a juxtaposition only Leitner could pull off. Oversized hoodies meet neon skirts that catch light just like teenage hearts while baggy shorts pair daringly with printed bikinis. Those who know Leitner’s storytelling magic will recognize her use of costume as narrative. Bunny ears nod to Gummo’s outsider beauty, while Hawaiian flower prints embody that last gasp of summer freedom. It’s escapism on wheels, somewhere between the LA suburbs and Miami’s humid nights.
Accessories here weren’t afterthoughts, they’re character arcs. Monkey shaped backpacks swing beside bow hair clips in leopard print and neon green. Pink braided hair keychains dangle like friendship bracelets of years past. And the Melted Potato jewelry collab, the hoops and chunky tropical blooms added a sugary charm that tied it all together.
“My Heart Will Go On” feels cinematic not in the Titanic sense, but in the way first love feels like a film that ends too soon. It’s the thrill of first kisses, the freedom of late night skate rides and the bittersweet realization that some summers are meant to live forever in memory. Leitner invites us to live that luminous chaos again, through fashion that doesn’t just reference nostalgia, but revives it with heart.
