This season, McDowell steps back from theatrics to offer a collection where every piece conveys a sense of fluidity and quiet, understated drama.
Patrick McDowell doesn’t just design clothes—he tells personal stories with his collections. Since launching his eponymous label in 2018, the British fashion designer has been creating bold, theatrical, and upcycled designs that marry unexpected inspirations and contemporary design.
This season, though, the 30-year-old designer is shifting his focus, crafting a new collection that is pared-back and commercially viable rather than highly structured and opulent. Instead of staging spectacle, McDowell whispered in fluid fabrics and elegant proportions in his Fall/Winter 2026 collection.
Titled “The Gaze,” the house’s latest offering took inspiration from American photographer George Platt Lynes, whose luminous portraits—many capturing ballet dancers—bathe their subjects in a soft, tender glow. “His work was super soft, sculptural, and very sensual, and I thought it’s an incredible inspiration to base this collection on,” McDowell said in an interview with British Vogue.
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He unveiled this new collection of “fluid fabrics and elegant proportions” at the headquarters of Rambert, Britain’s oldest dance company, on Feb. 20, 2026, during London Fashion Week. And every element of the show conveyed a sense of fluidity and quiet, understated drama. The runway was set against a handprinted backdrop of a chiseled model—dancer Jonathan Luke Baker—posing on a rock, emphasizing a sculptural and intimate atmosphere.
The spatially dramatic, quietly immersive setting reflected the collection, which “explores intimacy, vulnerability and control through elongated lines, softly structured tailoring and fluid, body-aware silhouettes,” according to McDowell. Unlike his past collections, the designer avoided big shapes and complex embellishment and focused his gaze instead on delivering “beautiful real clothes.”
This concept was clear from the start, as the opening look showcased a voluminous white A-line skirt styled with a black ribbed knit sweater. “It felt very casual, but for me, that’s something super beautiful. I think George might have liked it too,” McDowell said.
This season, pronounced hourglass shapes and sharply cinched tailoring paid homage to Dior’s iconic “New Look” of the 1940s, while peplums flared from jackets and dresses, further defining the waist.
Pussy-bow blouses peeked out from beneath structured coats and tailored waistcoats, as double-breasted outerwear lent the collection a composed, cultivated polish. A thread of old Hollywood glamour ran throughout—embellished cups, masterful draping and precise sartorial sculpting conjured a bygone elegance—yet felt assuredly modern rather than nostalgic.
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Buttoned dress coats and neatly cut waistcoats anchored the softer moments. McDowell’s signature florals surfaced repeatedly, woven through sculpted dresses and sharply tailored separates, adorning a flower-strewn shirtdress and culminating in a corseted evening gown rendered in hazy purple-and-black blooms.
McDowell’s signature florals brought more life to the collection, blossoming in sculpted dresses to sharply cut coordinates. It was also brought both femininity and edge to a shirtdress, as well as a corseted evening gown in purple and black hazy florals.
McDowell continued to emphasize the beauty of the female body with ease and sophistication through sculpted overcoats and wool jumpsuits in a gentle purple hue. Structure mingled with the designer’s signature playfulness through voluminous tulle skirts and tailored jackets with rose-shaped buttons.
Amid the collection’s sleek yet intricate designs, the final look proved the most challenging for the designer to create. The bridal gown, according to McDowell, was made from vintage silk damask that was sourced from Italy and covered with tulle from a Parisian couture house. “And it’s finished with handmade organza, flowers. I think there’s about 200 of them,” he added. “Each one took a very long time to make. Painstaking but incredibly beautiful.”
Watch the highlights of Patrick McDowell’s Autumn/Winter 2026 show below:
