Laura Andraschko SS26
There are fashion week debuts and then there are Laura Andraschko fashion week debuts. This season, she didn’t just present a collection, she staged a social commentary disguised as a fever dream at Paris’s iconic Raspoutine Club. Monte Carlo, her SS26 collection, reads like a love letter written in lipstick and tax code to the eternally glamorous, hopelessly scandalous French Riviera. Stating loudly what Absolutely Fabulous fans have known for decades, “the south of France is full of criminals” Andraschko’s tongue in cheek narrative gave us a fresh reason to forgive the excesses of the ultra rich. Beneath all the 007 casino chic and champagne bubbles, the collection hints at the raw truth of retreat; hiding out in Monaco isn’t just about glamour, it’s about guilt. Yet somehow, Andraschko makes tax evasion look good enough to trend on the runway.
Known for turning venues into living mood boards, Andraschko chose Raspoutine’s red lit velvet sanctum as the perfect site for her play on beauty, danger, and self indulgence. The setting’s decadent gloom set the tone for a show that pulsed between high‑stakes play and femme fatale fiction. The last time we saw this designer, she sent us Après Ski at the Connétable, a privileged Courchevel tease of an ingénue on winter break. This season, that ingénue has aged into her thirties, traded her innocence for poker chips, and started dating the kind of man your mother warned you about.
Andraschko’s attention to craftsmanship borders on obsession. Among the 42 looks shown, a beaded poker chip gown glittered like vintage Baccarat glass, while a leather playing card dress strutted down the runway with the kind of subversive humor only true insiders caught. Familiar signatures returned; sculpted hip silhouettes and a softened shoulder that eased into wearable elegance. Her palette, an indulgent spread of black, crimson, emerald, and buttery yellow, shimmered under the crimson lighting like wealth itself, refusing to apologize.
Even the accessories carried wit. Those signature Andraschko riding boots, now reissued in patchwork tweed and snakeskin, bridged English equestrianism with Riviera bad behavior. Open toe wedges hinted at summer scandal on yachts moored somewhere off Antibes.
When asked about the collection, Andraschko summed it up best: “The tailoring is sharper, the fabrics richer, and the overall spirit more mature. Monte Carlo is about indulgence, where beauty meets danger.” There’s power in that honesty, a creative “F you” to a world policing pleasure and pretending the elite don’t have their vices. Whether aimed at the government, society, or the industry itself, Andraschko’s message sings through her materials.
With styling by the designer herself and art direction from Carola Monteleone, Monte Carlo didn’t just evolve the brand, it defined a moment in modern European fashion where humor and hedonism finally shook hands. Julia Hobbs’s appearance on the runway sealed it, This is a label that doesn’t just court attention, it earns it with wit, craftsmanship, and, yes, just a little bit of crime chic.
