FeedBora Aksu

Bora Aksu · SS27 · London19 September 2026

Bora Aksu's SS27 show at London Fashion Week: seventeenth-century menswear cut for women after the painter Mary Beale, corsetry with its boning on show, inside St Cyprian's church

Bora Aksu's SS27 show took a Gothic Revival church off Baker Street and a seventeenth-century woman painter as its frame, and the craft under it came from Gaziantep, in south-east Turkey, made by hand before it was cut into the clothes. Mary Beale is the reason the collection is built on menswear. She worked as a professional portrait painter in London when almost no woman did, and her husband Charles ran the studio around her. The waistcoats, structured shoulders and masculine closures are her sitters' clothes, cut for women. Antep embroidery is a pulled-thread technique that takes months per piece, and Aksu had it made in Gaziantep by the artisans who still do it, in cream and pale pastels, so a regional craft walked the official schedule inside a designer collection.

The weekly

NewsletterWeekly One email a week. Every post from the week, and what didn't fit on a slide. Free. Never shared. Unsubscribe any time.

The post, as it ran

01BORA AKSU SHOWED SS27 INSIDE A MARYLEBONE CHURCH, WITH HAND EMBROIDERY FROM GAZIANTEP THAT TOOK MONTHS A PIECE.

02THE COLLECTION WALKED ON 18 SEPTEMBER 2026 THROUGH ST CYPRIAN'S, CLARENCE GATE, A GOTHIC REVIVAL CHURCH BY NINIAN COMPER BUILT BETWEEN 1901 AND 1903, DRESSED WITH FOLIAGE FOR THE SHOW.

03THE STARTING POINT WAS MARY BEALE, THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH PORTRAIT PAINTER, ONE OF A SMALL BAND OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN ARTISTS IN LONDON WHO KEPT HER FAMILY ON HER STUDIO.

04AKSU TOOK SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MENSWEAR INTO WOMENSWEAR: TAILORING, STRUCTURED SHOULDERS, WAISTCOATS, SHIRTING AND MASCULINE CLOSURES.

05AGAINST THE TAILORING, CRINOLINE AND LACE, SHEER LAYERS OF RUFFLES, AND CORSETRY WITH ITS BONING ON SHOW, SO SOME DRESSES READ AS IF WORN INSIDE OUT.

06THE SILHOUETTES WERE SCULPTED AND CLOSE, A CHANGE FROM THE VOLUME AKSU USUALLY RUNS.

07THE PALETTE SAT AT VANILLA, CREAM AND PASTEL, WITH DARKER ACCENTS TEMPERING THE SWEETNESS.

08THE EMBROIDERY IS ANTEP WORK, A THREAD-PULLING CRAFT FROM GAZIANTEP IN SOUTH-EAST TURKEY, MADE FOR THE COLLECTION BY ARTISANS THERE IN CREAM AND PALE PASTELS.

09THE ROOM READ AS BRIDAL. THE COLLECTION'S OWN LOGIC WAS A WOMAN WHO EARNED HER FAMILY'S LIVING WITH A BRUSH.

Open on Instagram