With Collection 18, Ludovic de Saint Sernin Turns Toward Clarity and Restraint

Paris-based designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin presented Collection Dix-Huit, Autumn/Winter 2026, outside of the traditional fashion calendar. In place of a traditional presentation, the collection unfolds through a controlled series of photographs. As the brand approaches its ten-year mark, the decision feels intentional. Rather than building toward spectacle, de Saint Sernin moves in the opposite direction, toward something quieter, more internal, and more exacting.

Across the photographs, the clothes carry that restraint forward. Dresses are cut close to the body, often held together by tension—fringe, metal grommets, or lace that reveals as much as it conceals. Leather appears both rigid and fluid, molded into long silhouettes or structured outerwear, while red moves through in flashes, interrupting black. The result is something controlled but charged, where each look feels resolved rather than styled

Ludovic de Saint Sernin Returns to Instinct

Here, the designer reconnects with the impulses that first defined his work. Less concerned with trend or timing, the collection follows instinct. Pieces arrive when they are ready, not when the industry dictates. It’s a stripped-back approach that feels deliberate—almost corrective.

That clarity carries through a restrained palette of black, white, and red. Fringe returns, nodding to earlier codes, but it reads less nostalgic and more structural—used to define movement rather than decorate. Materials—velvet, lace, mesh—build a tactile dimension, giving depth to what could otherwise feel flat. The result is a series of silhouettes that balance softness with precision, garments that trace the body rather than impose on it.

There is no runway, no spectacle—just the work itself. Construction, materiality, and proportion are brought forward as the central language. For de Saint Sernin, the logic is simple: without craft, there is nothing to present. Here, everything is reduced to that foundation.

The collection follows a high-profile collaboration with Zara, making this shift inward feel intentional. Instead of chasing momentum, he pauses—returning to the conditions of his early process, before external expectation. It’s less about reinvention than recalibration.

Key Looks

Leather anchors the collection. Floor-length black dresses with crossing front straps feel almost severe in their simplicity, offset by exacting construction. Knee-length styles in red and beige glossy leather, finished with black lace-like trims that catch and absorb light across the surface.

Separates echo this interplay, beige leather tops edged with black trim, held together by grommets that feel both functional and precise. Outerwear expands in volume, cinched at the waist, with velvet and suede introducing weight and tactility.

Lace and fringe dresses create a controlled transparency, revealing without excess. Skin appears, but only in fragments. Nothing feels overt. Each detail operates with intent, anchoring the garment rather than embellishing it.

Accessories in Focus

A standout is the new Harness Bag, a baguette silhouette suspended from a structured harness. It gestures toward bondage codes, but remains restrained, filtered through the house’s controlled sensuality. Alongside it, the Cleavage Bag family was expanded to include a clutch and a bucket version, reinforcing the brand’s growing focus on accessories as an extension of its core language.

Material remains central. Japanese fabrics meet pony hair leather in beige and black, alongside suede, red leather, and black fringe. Metal mesh is hand-cut and assembled, layered with lace to create contrast and tension, signatures of the brand’s evolving language.

The presentation mirrors the collection’s restraint. Shot by Italian duo Nicola and Manuel, and modeled by Anasofia Negrutsa and Amedeo, the imagery remains minimal and focused. Makeup by Karin Westerlund is nearly bare while hair by Sébastien Richard is brushed back with slight movement, just enough air to keep it from feeling rigid.