London Fashion Week is back for the AW26 season. Established houses such as Erdem, Burberry, and Mithridate have all shown collections this week, but it is also the city to be in for emerging talent. Here, I’ll be diving into the best of the London York Fashion Week AW26 shows.

Burberry

Images Courtesy of Burberry

Burberry, as always closed London Fashion Week, with a show space that drew inspiration directly from the city’s architecture and infrastructure. A replica of Tower Bridge anchored the room while rubber flooring was finished with resin puddles designed to echo London’s rain-soaked streets. Unlike the past few collections that leaned into the English countryside and outdoor music scenes, Burberry Winter 2026 is pure street style. Outerwear was the highlight of the collection with pleated silk poplin and ruffled-collar trench coats cut from fluid faille. Classic Burberry check rainwear appears throughout the collection on belts, cuffs and double-faced wool pea coats. The colour palette is dark and rich consisting of a foundation of black and champagne white. Accentuated by ink blue, dark brown, burgundy, plum and of course Burberry beige.

Oscar Ouyang

Images Courtesy of Oscar Ouyang

For Autumn/ Winter 2026, Oscar Ouyang imaged a group of young men throwing a party at the country home of their parents. Not in protest, but suspended in that bright, reckless hour where music outruns consequence. The collection channelled the grandeur mood of Saltburn, with some models wearing masquerade masks designed by milliner Noel Stewart. Military jackets are softened by tweed and paired with distressed jeans and woollen trousers. Knitwear played a key role in the collection with Fair Isle and Cashmere jumpers. As well as a tweed-looking fabric made from tinsel and crochet. A colour palette formed largely of black, white, grey and cream was cut through by red and gold rosettes that flared at the shoulder.

Erdem

Images Courtesy of Erdem

The Autumn-Winter 2026 collection from Erdem marks the 20th anniversary of the brand. With a collection titled ‘The Imaginary Conversation’, it brings together characters from the past twenty years with their looks and garments re-contextualised and re-imagined. Dresses were renewed through cuts, silhouettes, materials, or motifs. Some are spliced or collaged together in floral jacquards or embroidered fragments.

Ostrich feathers are applied to mini coats, pencil skirts, and bags, or mixed with sequins and tulle on deconstructed dresses. Straight-cut denim jeans are made fanciful when paired with cropped bodices in textured satin. This collection is a poetic statement about the brand’s past and future and, more than anything, is a celebration of what is yet to come.

Patrick McDowell

Images Courtesy of Patrick McDowell

Inspired by the work of photographer George Platt Lynes, the Patrick McDowell AW26 collection explores vulnerability, beauty, and control. Elongated lines, softly structured tailoring, fluid body-aware shapes, and delicate florals define the season. Resulting in pieces suited to both day and evening engagements, from elegant dresses to satin blouses. There were clear references to the 1940s with exaggerated hourglass waists. While pussybows were seen on dresses, blouses and tucked into double-breasted outerwear.  

Mithridate

Images Courtesy of Mithridate

The autumn/winter 2026 Mithridate collection, from creative director Daniel Fletcher, traces the idea of a figurearriving in a new place. This notion was brought to life by a replica of a large Wisteria tree seen in the centre of the Tate Britain showspace that represents the first wisteria plant brought to London from Guangzhou. In the show notes, Daniel says he has now “found confidence in what they are doing and a rhythm between China and London.”

The collection drew from quintessential Britishisms from broad-shouldered coats crafted from tweed to naval peacoats. Sporty layers were seen through detachable collars and collegiate colours as well as number motifs that are fast becoming synonymous with Mithridate. Knitwear techniques speak to the idea of a journey, too, with Aran sweaters and Fair Isle jumpers that have origins in Scotland and Ireland as key components.

Mithridate’s new home in Borough, London, can be seen in new motifs across the collection from green glass bottle prints and florals inspired by wild blooms. Two-piece mini dresses offer a fresh take on evening wear, especially when worn under duffel coats.

Joseph

Images Courtesy of Joseph

For the first time in eight years, Joseph returned to London Fashion Week with a collection that explored the craft of a sculptor. Creative director Mario Arena explains in the show notes that he ‘found inspiration in the skill of sculpture by creating softness and lightness in mediums that are flat, and re-envisioned them into effortless pieces with structural shapes, deep folds, and movement. I wanted to push the boundaries of craftsmanship used to create the collection and reimagined new silhouettes in hard and soft forms.’ The collection placed an emphasis on texture through fluffy snake print coats, crinkled leather dresses, and metallic tops and skirts. Despite the voluminous silhouettes, each look is extremely wearable and refrains from overpowering.

Tolu Coker

Images Courtesy of Tolu Coker

For Autumn/ Winter 2026, Tolu Coker presented her first collection since graduating from NewGen- a personal collection rooted in self-confrontation, told through her own voice and experience. Designed and produced locally in London, clothing tells of two worlds. Comfort codes that speak to home through hooded forms, athletic ease and protective layers, while sculpted tailoring, sharp lines and corsetry tells of progression. Flounced skirts show softness and movement against a disciplined cut and construction, and tailoring borrows from traditional menswear principles. British wool, upcycled leather, and deadstock denim appear across the collection, alongside reclaimed satins. As for prints, British heritage tartans are reimagined in a bright, expressive palette.

In the show notes, Tolu Coker explains that “for AW26, I wanted the clothes to hold softness and protection alongside discipline and structure. It’s a wardrobe that moves between worlds, because that’s what social mobility asks of you, and the pieces have to be strong enough to carry that story.”

Read more Fashion Week coverage here.