Francesca Liberatore Spring 2026

The Francesca Liberatore Spring 2026 show opens against a backdrop of swords—rendered in the flat, graphic language of street art, but unmistakably evoking the imagery of the X of Swords from the tarot deck: that moment of difficult reckoning before a new chapter begins. It’s an apt visual framework for a collection Liberatore has titled Alètheia—the Greek word for truth, specifically the kind that has been hidden and is now coming to light.

The designer is direct about the circumstances behind the collection. The season’s turbulent backdrop—geopolitical, cultural, personal—pressed hard against the act of making clothes. Her response was not escapism but a kind of deliberate grounding: returning to what she knows, to the craft itself, and to fabrics salvaged from an earlier era when quality was assumed rather than marketed. Bedlinens and heritage textiles are reworked into ivory jackets and overcoats; the handwork of a bygone period becomes the foundation for something present-tense.

The silhouettes are generous and unrushed. Raw-edge jersey, cotton voile, and jacquard are cut in oversized circles; printed laces and florals are scaled up until they lose their original domestic associations and read as something more architectural. Skirts are built from interchangeable halves; backs tie off into shoulder straps or belts; totes double as headphone cases. There is a practical ingenuity running through the construction that sits comfortably alongside the collection’s more overtly feminine details—broderie, inlay work, a stained-glass quality to some of the prints.

Sony’s WH-1000XM6 headphones appear on every model—worn as both styling element and conceptual prop, standing in for the noise cancellation that the collection itself seems to be proposing as a survival strategy. The headphones contrast well against the rawer, more handcrafted pieces and add an unexpected modernity to the collection.

“The Sony headphones worn by the models act as both insulators and receivers of that longed-for calm. A collaboration that harnesses high-end technology to support humanity and its survival.”
— Press Release

The colour story is one of the collection’s stronger suits: ivory and neutral bases punctuated by lobster red and deep navy, combinations that are quite unexpected but work well together, their contrast softened by the moodier, mistier tones elsewhere in the palette.

The pace throughout is slow and intentional. Liberatore isn’t chasing a trend cycle here—she’s making a case for clothing as a considered act, for craft as a form of resistance, and for femininity as something that doesn’t require justification.

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