This was Alessandra Rich’s first time showing during London Fashion Week. Despite living here since her brand’s inception in 2009 (only to move all company operations to Milan during Covid) the designer has been presenting her collections in Paris since 2010. “London is home and it was time to return. Our core business is here, a big part of the women we love. They are all so cool and diverse—coming from every part of the world. That is the magic of London that you don’t find anywhere else,” she said during a preview of her spring 2026 collection.

Rich held appointments through the LFW weekend and a presentation on Monday—all in her Mayfair apartment, decorated in the blend of seduction and girlyness that is characteristic of the brand; there were plush carpets, velvet furniture and a series of very sexy photographs from the 1973 Pirelli calendar by Brian Duffy hanging in the entrance hall.

Titled Bright Young Things, the collection was full of Rich staples—cool occasion wear that straddles the balance between formal and informal employing lace, ribbons, puff sleeves and sharp cuts. “We want women to feel empowered. I don’t think women should feel like they need to be dressed in masculine clothes to prove that they are strong. Many of my clients are businesswomen. They wear my clothes to the office,” Rich said. She added that her collections also work across generations: “We have so many clients that ask for a size bigger or smaller so that their daughters can also wear the clothes.”

Standouts included a white silk dress with a bustier of black ribbon and Chantilly lace embroidered with sequins; a long black evening dress with a low cut, bow décolletage and the tea dresses—a yellow silk with a floral print and a red jacquard—which will most likely be best sellers.

Rich said the inspiration for the collection was (as you can guess from the title) the 1920s: “The term was used to describe this bright group of young people—models, actors, poets, artists—who lived a life of excess,” she said. “It’s not so much about the clothes; it’s rather the mood of freedom I am trying to convey—to be overdoing it a little. I worry that nobody is really overdoing it any more.”