The year 2025 marked a period of significant achievement for Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault, the creative minds behind the KNWLS brand. Approaching its tenth anniversary, the label celebrated notable successes, including a highly popular collaboration with Nike and the release of a capsule collection with Miss Sixty. The designers also contributed their expertise to a prominent Italian denim brand and presented their inaugural runway show in Milan during Fashion Week. These intensive endeavors, while rewarding, led to a recognition of the need for better workload management. Consequently, the duo decided to reduce their commitments to the denim brand, while maintaining their ongoing partnership with Nike, reflecting a strategic shift towards sustained creative balance.
The KNWLS Fall 2026 collection exemplifies the brand's adeptness at integrating historical influences with modern design. Drawing inspiration from the Victorian era, the collection features refined silhouettes, including cinched waists, voluminous sleeves, and intricate ruffles, presented in a sophisticated palette of blacks, browns, and grays. This historical foundation is seamlessly interwoven with KNWLS's signature aesthetic of subtle allure, evident in pieces such as a leather corset top with delicate ruching reminiscent of antique lingerie, and a striking leather jacket with broad, abbreviated sleeves and a detachable collar that reinterprets traditional ruffs. The jacket, crafted from skived nappa leather bonded to neoprene, showcases both fluidity and sculptural precision.
Further exploring their creative vision, the designers ingeniously repurposed vintage men's pocket square scarves into a series of prints. These were then applied to ethereal blouses and skirts, meticulously constructed with harness-inspired collars and belts. A notable piece is a slip dress, drawing inspiration from 1930s antique undergarments, which appears deconstructed and reassembled with hooks, clasps, and strings, conveying a sense of artful disarray that, upon closer inspection, reveals meticulous anatomical construction. To anchor these looks firmly in the present, many ensembles are accessorized with new, affordably priced belts featuring elliptical, lacquered metal buckles that evoke miniature spacecraft. The collection also introduces a distinctive interpretation of preppy style, featuring fine merino sweaters with striped mohair V-necks, blouson bodices, and sculpted waists. This season marks a successful realization of the duo's long-standing aspiration to elevate their designs and appeal to a more mature audience, a progression particularly evident when comparing their main collections with the more sensual silhouettes developed through their collaboration with Nike.
Instead of a conventional runway presentation, the Fall 2026 collection was unveiled at an exquisitely curated pop-up store situated near Denmark Street. The collection's lookbook, captured by the acclaimed photographer and director Aidan Zamiri, was showcased within burnished-metal frames on the walls. These displays were complemented by artworks from the designers' extended network of friends and collaborators, enriching the immersive experience. The pop-up also featured a thoughtfully selected array of books from the celebrated dealer Studio Nocturne, alongside innovative concertina racks and industrial-inspired changing rooms designed by Emilia Margulies. These bespoke fixtures are destined to be relocated to the KNWLS studio, establishing a more permanent and refined fitting area. Knowles expressed immense enthusiasm for the opportunity to cultivate such a unique environment and to collaborate with individuals they deeply admire and respect. As they navigate 2026, embracing a quest for balance both personally and professionally, Knowles and Arsenault appear to be embarking on an exceptionally promising chapter.
