A closer look at the Victorian hairwork gowns at Ashi Studios spring 2026 couture.
Among all the spring 2026 couture shows, Ashi Studios really stood out as one of the most creative, innovative and unusually crafted of the season. Alongside achingly beautiful tassel-adorned dresses, plaster-like gowns and ornate frocks sculpted to perfection with an air of beautiful decay were a series of gowns covered in twisted, perfectly coifed hair. These aforementioned pieces were all inspired by the sentimental hair jewelry of the Victorian era, which used artful techniques to preserve loved one’s hair. Ashi Studios’s works were expertly and thoughtfully crafted; totally mesmerizing.
“Victorian mourning rituals become the house’s vocabulary: hair braided into a corseted gown, trailing down the back like a spine,” Ashi Studios stated in its show notes. “Keys and death moths worked into fabrication. 18th century corsetry techniques, burned and distressed until they speak a contemporary language.”
It’s a big season for hair in fashion. Hairstylist Charlie Le Mindu even presented his own hair couture show in Paris. I wrote about the Victorian hair aesthetic taking over fashion in June 2024 and I’m glad we’re seeing more of it—it represents a clear desire of hand-craftsmanship and sentimentality in the age of the AI apocalypse.
It also perfectly suits its own kind of special creepy, but ethereally feminine, beautiful feel, an aesthetic that’s clearly on the rise and seen in pop culture moments like the upcoming Bride of Frankenstein (directed by director Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Wuthering Heights (directed by Emerald Fennell) film releases. Both projects are notably directed by women. Hairwork in the Victorian era was also most often done by women. During the era (1837 – 1901) mail order catalogs served as easy access for securing pieces, but some also illustrated how to make your own mourning or sentimental jewelry with hair. Expect more goth femme fashion in 2026.
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