The Central Saint Martins BA Fashion class of 2026 (@bafcsm) decamped from the beloved Granary Square south of the Thames to show their graduate collections in Bold Tendencies, a multi-storey car park turned arts centre, in the heart of Peckham. Running from my delayed number 36 bus, I soon met up with the other fashion laggards and climbed the pink stairs up to the 10th floor where the show was due to start. The collections themselves saw the designers at their most conceptual and ambitious, unfettered by the corporate restraints of whether a piece is commercially viable. Below, I explore COLD’s favourite designers of the night.
Chi Wei (@ichili._)
When dressing up, the first place to turn is often the jewellery box. Chi Wei visited the feeling of nostalgia for her childhood family home through a kitschy lens. Beadwork grounded the foundations of the collection. See the crochet skirt embellished with citrus orange slices that might have been cut up by an adoring grandparent, or the floral peacoat that fluoresced under the lights. Peep-toes were worn with turquoise tights, a slap of nude lipstick and flatcaps. In another look, a Hello Kitty bow was tacked onto a peter pan collar faux fur jacket. Cut out at the sternum, stacks of thick necklaces were revealed that clacked like Newton’s Cradle toys down the runway.
Danna Reyes (@dan.na.reyes)
Danna Reyes excelled in her collection “Hay Fiesta en el Pueblo”. Dubbing it a kind of Mexican maximalism, Reyes explored her roots growing up in the border town Laredo, Texas, and the eclectic unravelling of the American dream. Motifs of modern warfare and references to the “War on Terror” were spattered throughout the collection. A woven top depicted the twin towers in the style of a traditional Afghan war rug, and a skirt, à la Prada’s SS00 lipstick print, was instead covered in bullets. Elsewhere, we see a Mickey Mouse mask soldered to a hennin as layers of tulle unfurl into graphic barbed-wire shorts. Most pieces were literally dirtied with “American soil” collected at the British John F. Kennedy memorial in Runnymede, Surrey. Reyes notes the grime marring the pieces signifies the crossing of the Rio Grande river into the US, reclaiming the immigrant identity that is too often slurred.
Matteo Dunkley (@matteodunkley)
After prepping for months on end for his final collection, Dunkley changed creative direction just 8 weeks before the deadline. Relying on intuition to shape the work, he further developed a material technique that first debuted in his pre-collection. Ironing wax pellets into shetland wool allowed for a structure to emerge that could be manipulated when wet and hold geometric stability when dried. The simplicity was such that a rectangular cut could be pleated and cinched by ribbons at the waist. The final look was most successful. A cardamon yellow knit was contorted and gathered up by a green and pink bow, and paired with a block print skirt. Lest we forget the baby blue ballet flats modified with tongues that flicked up at the ankles.
Arora Nielson (@sl333pingbeauty_)
Nielsen reportedly began rooting for inspiration amongst her local community in North London using her phone to document glimmers of spirituality and the sacredness found in daily life. She then edited the photos and meshed the curated imagery into jacquard knits that underpin the collection. The opening look featured a hoodie with billowing candy pink sleeves tipped with a feather plume headpiece. Trompe l’oeil cargo pants were stenciled with pockets and seams. Elsewhere, a cable knit jacket cocooned the body, the ruches contoured by hues of blue and yellow, whilst humanoid figures clung to the shoulder. Cobalt blue socks crept up to a mustard pencil skirt. The most eye-catching piece appeared as a wearable placard. The top exaggerated the shoulders into a restrictive ‘T’, stretching from beneath the model’s chin to display a Notes app shopping list from March 2025 (“Eggs/steak/avocado/fruit/carrots MEDITATE”).
Harley Angrabeit (@hxxacism)
Angrabeit was influenced by the varied sartorial choices and identities seen at Ridley Road Market in Dalston, especially local aunties and uncles. One look sees a satin duvet-like dress accented with SALE stickers and a bedazzled lemon clutch being propped up by a comically large wooden hanger. A silk top plunges into a houndstooth drop–waist skirt, with coils of ultramarine blue sitting just below a dash of neon. Fruit tags, printed receipts and glitzy jewellery all occupy space in Angrabeit’s joyful design language.
Polina Kadilnikova (@sunkissseeed)
In her collection “Casualties”, Polina Kadilnikova explores the fading memories of those fleeing occupation and the longing for a city that has been changed by intense militarisation. Silhouettes frequently reference traditional Ukrainian dress amidst cultural erasure. In one look, a vyshyvanka, a type of embroidered linen shirt, is translated into a white bodysuit with aggressive shoulder pads. Peppering the bodice and radiating out are circular stamps of luscious grass or blue sky, a reminder of home. A recurring motif in the collection is the caltrop, an angular piece of metal dropped from drones to pop the tires of invading military vehicles. Here they manifest as triangular helmet embellishment or sink into the fabric of an airy gown.
