Collina Strada Fall 2026 review.
Satisfyingly weird clothes for weird times! No one does it better than Collina Strada. This season’s collection was a wild mashup of 1980s Victoriana Marie Antoinette vampires. Harsh darkness collided with ethereal lightness in the form of sheer floral maxi dress wonders, deliciously clunky overcoats and puffed shoulders paired with Transylvania-worthy neck ruffs.
Everyone wants to be anywhere but here now. Fantasy and escapism is at an all-time high–at least in the world of fashion, art and entertainment right now. Titled “The World is a Vampire,” designer Hillary Taymour mined the campy side of the eclectic fantasy characters almost all of us dressed up as, once upon a time as little kids. She reinvented it with her signature aesthetic: earthy, elevated grunge envisioned distinctly through the female gaze. Organza layers served as self-affirming protection.
“The world is a vampire, sipping slowly on our warmth and wonder, leaving us pale with longing for a better place,” Taymour stated in the show notes. “It’s draining out there. As the metaphorical and literal weather worsens outside, we withdraw into self-made sanctuaries. After all, a vampire cannot enter unless invited in.”
The time is now: Dracula, dark fantasy and all things medieval, plus Bride of Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights are what pop culture demands and Hollywood delivers. Exaggerated lace-cut out dresses and baggy ruffled plaid dresses won’t help us escape the news cycle, but they might help us forget–or dream–even if for only a moment.
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