5 Luxury Fashion Brands to Watch

In less than a month, the fashion week wheel once again begins to turn, starting first with SS27 presentations in Copenhagen in August and ending with Paris in October. Somewhere between the two, a handful of labels will emerge as the new darlings of the fashion world. Of course, by that point, insiders will already be looking ahead. These are the labels we're watching before they become impossible to miss.

Julie Kegels

Antwerp has a storied legacy of producing excellent, eclectic designers, not least among them the renowned “Antwerp Six” – graduates of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The latest alumnus to make waves amongst the fashion set is Julie Kegels – a finalist for the prestigious LVMH Prize 2026. The eponymous womenswear brand is grounded in the belief that women can hold a multitude of identities in any given day. She employs artisanal techniques and sustainable materials to create sculptural silhouettes that are still very wearable. In her last collection, Kegels’ line drew from a restrained palette, punctuated with jolts of jewel tones, while playing with the tension between prim and undone – pencil skirts layered with garter belts, shrunken cardigans with knee-high peep-toe boots, perhaps in a nod to Miu Miu. It’s perfect for women who refuse to pick a lane.

Petra Fagaström

While Antwerp has its Royal Academy, London, of course, has Central Saint Martins, known for producing generations of artists such as Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo and Harris Reed. The latest name to watch is Swedish designer Petra Fagerström, who launched her London-based line just last year after graduating from CSM. Her signature lenticular pleating – a couture technique in which hundreds of individual pleats are hand-sewn into place – and her love for leather, sequins and faux fur (even in S/S collections) provide a thoroughly refreshing tonic against monotonous minimalism. Fagaström made her London Fashion Week debut in February, so here’s hoping she shows again in September.

IAMSIGO

Following a hotly tipped Copenhagen Fashion Week debut last year and being crowned the Zalando Visionary Award winner, Bubu Ogisi’s IAMSIGO, a Lagos-based slow-fashion house, has captured the industry’s attention. With the use of master craft techniques like hand-weaving, glass blowing and fibre knotting, it’s easy to understand why the brand sees its contemporary wearable art as a vessel for preserving African cultural heritage. And wearable art it truly is. The SS26 showed huge scallop-trimmed raffia hats, chain mail capes, glass bags and wholly beaded skirts – precisely the kind of pieces that make for future heirlooms.

Bonnetje

Copenhagen-based brand Bonnetje’s entire raison d’etre is circularity. In fighting against fashion’s perpetual throwaway culture, it reuses defunct materials to create new silhouettes, primarily by reconstructing old suits. The result is an interesting mix of masculine and feminine silhouettes, paying homage to time-honoured tailoring techniques by turning certain parts of the suit inside out to expose hidden seams, pockets and linings – components of many of the garments we wear, but rarely properly appreciate. One of my favourite pieces from the latest collections has to be the body stacked with layered suit collars or the skirt comprised entirely of buttoned cuffs.

GAYLE

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One look at GAYLE’s “dark glamour” designs and you’re immediately nostalgic for bygone decades of 00s gothic-grunge and Victorian opulence. Kimberly Gayle, the designer behind the brand, has selected a totally monochromatic palette, opting instead to add depth with texture from Mongolian fur trims, fringed cuffs, and leather bodices. It’s all very grown-up Taylor Momsen and Heidi Slimane’s Saint Laurent, with as much kohl eyeliner as you’d expect.