Patrick McDowell Fall 2026

At London Fashion Week, Patrick McDowell’s Fall 2026 show felt like an act of quiet seduction. Staged at Rambert, the South Bank dance company, it opened with dancer Jonathan Luke Baker poised semi-nude on a rock, his body sculpted in soft light, a living echo of American photographer George Platt Lynes, whose portraits of couture and male beauty inspired the collection. The mood was sensual, introspective, and stripped of excess, titled The Gaze in homage to the tension between art and concealment that defined Platt Lynes’ work. You can find our previous coverage of Patrick McDowell here.

McDowell’s approach this season was one of refinement over spectacle. He traded the theatricality of his earlier collections for something more disciplined, guided by soft tailoring and sensual texture. Silhouettes were elongated and fluid, with shirtdresses cinched at the waist and flared just past the hips, a nod to movement and ease. A pearl-white silk gown rippled like light over water, while corseted eveningwear in purple and black florals hinted at quiet drama. Even his outerwear - woollen jumpsuits, sculpted coats, and a double-shawl-collar jacket, spoke to a kind of practical elegance.

Accents of old-world glamour threaded through: voluminous tulle skirts, rose-shaped buttons, and Philip Treacy’s sculptural headpieces that seemed to float above the models’ faces like passing thoughts. Before stepping onto the runway, each look was misted with Penhaligon’s Juniper Sling, adding a final sensory layer to the show’s cinematic restraint. It was a presentation that balanced sensuality and commerce with rare control—less about dressing to be seen, and more about reclaiming the gaze for oneself.