Carrousel Dreams: Enter the Fantasy

Editor Sahir Ahmed and stylist Marissa Baklayan report back from London.

Friday, September 13

10:35am Waking up in The London EDITION, the first thing that came to mind was the room service from the night before. Caesar salads, mac & cheese, chicken noodle soup, and peppermint tea materialized like a dream before our droopy eyes. London, crisp and cold, greeted us like the early days of a New York winter.

Our first show of the day is Di Petsa, and we’re already late. Knowing shows tend to start at least 15 minutes late, we're hopeful as we get into our car. Outside, a man eager for his photo op waved Marissa down for a selfie before someone from the PR team urges us inside.

We entered just as the lights dimmed for the show to start, and with our seats too far into the corner, we decided to stay at the entrance, steering clear of judgmental gazes from the front row.

Fashion is a fantasy, defined by how well the illusion holds. Designer Dimitra Petsa looks to ancient myths for hers. Rather than go the quiet luxury route of subtle, yet expensive details like cashmere inside the pocket of a dress, Petsa’s fantasy virtually drips down the runway. SS25 told the Greek tragedy of Ariadne and the Minotaur. Flowy drapery recalls the “Wet Look” dresses of her SS20 collection.

Being late to a show has its pros — watching from the entrance means being one of the first to exit. Avoiding the queue, we head back to The Edition for a work session and brunch.

1:21pm Ancuta Sarca brings us back to 180 Strand. Outside, a crowd of protestors swarms the entrance with signs that read: “Fashion represents us all!”; “Beauty has no boundaries.”; “Love all shapes, all sizes” — among other statements.

2:33pm I ruminate on the collared silver pumps and the protestors on our way to Yuhan Wang.

There, we obsess over the boxing gloves, this season being inspired by female fighters from around the world. Wang mixes lace, silk, and leather with the same prowess with which she marries the feminine and the masculine.

4:45pm We stop by a pub before Puppets & Puppets and head there after a pint.

A favorite of New York’s downtown scene, in February designer Carly Mark announced a pivot — from ready-to-wear to accessories — and a move — from the New York Fashion Week circuit to London’s. A practical decision, with Mark citing the cost of producing full collections not aligning with her community’s ability to afford them. By focusing on bags, Mark is playing it smart, recognizing the brand’s strengths, and paring back as she figures out what this next chapter might mean. The presentation felt more like a performance piece than a fashion show, and for a designer who started as a fine artist, that makes perfect sense. Not only smart, it seems Mark is having fun again.

7:05pm We head out to our last show of the day, Natasha Zinko. Styled by Betsy Johnson, the show felt like an eerie reflection of our collective obsession with all things plastic. After the show, we run into musician Brooke Candy, who describes the collection as “psych ward meets plastic surgery.” Candy is a sage. Zinko is her favorite designer, enough so that she recorded a video of every single thing that came down the runway.

8:03pm Should we stay for the afters? We pause for a moment and look around, staring blankly at the frantic crowd building around the bar, jostling for vodka sodas. No… 

We head to the hotel for a nightcap and our beds.

Saturday, September 14

12:24pm The pigeons must chirp louder in New York, or these walls are really that thick. We sleep in until noon — partly jet-lagged, but mostly drained after yesterday’s marathon of shows. We start the day slowly, lounging at The Edition’s Berners Tavern, before heading out for Nensi Dojaka that evening, our first and only show of the day. The most A-list front row we’ve seen so far. We see British actress Simone Ashley, poet-model Kai Isaiah Jamal, and former i-D editorial director Olivia J. Singer sporting a charm-maxed Miu Miu bag.

Dojaka is a genius with form and feminine sensibility — how the clothes hug the body. And the tights? Fab. 

8:53pm After lingering at the cocktail party for a moment, we head to The Face’s, where I log off.

Sunday, September 15

1:13pm Today feels like a Saturday. Our first show of the day is the whimsical Simone Rocha whose SS25 show is taking place at the Old Bailey, England’s central criminal court. The show was the most romantic we’ve seen so far, like flipping through a book of fairytales. Oversized tulle bags and voluminous skirts, ruffles, sparkles, and crystal embellishments — all with Rocha’s signature.

6:35pm KNWLS casting was perfect. Mar loved the fascinators, which felt like a modern, avant-garde nod to headpieces from the 30s and 60s. Designers Charlotte Knowles and Alexander Arsenault have clearly found their groove.

8:36pm Now what?

London’s fashion week parties are sparse, unlike New York where two or three potentially okay parties share the same night. But we also don't want to be boring. In the end, we settle on another early night at The Edition (yes, we do just love it that much).

Monday, September 16

11:46am We wake up with Ashley Williams on our minds. I order a car for what turns out to be a three-minute ride. “You know it’s just around the corner, right?” our driver turns to me and says. “Yes,” I reply, unashamed of not checking before ordering a car. “It’s a better way to show up anyway.”

We see musician Harmony Tividad outside in the cutest Ashley Williams look, serving her best take on "office siren." Mar, also in Ashley, stops to take a photo.

The show was about growing up — how strange it feels when your perspective shifts and the things you once thought you understood become foreign. Models appeared as if thrown out of a time machine from the 2010s, with slowed-down versions of songs like Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” eerily soundtracking the scene. Each look captured the uneasy transition from adolescence to adulthood, where milestones slip out of reach, and the promises of maturity begin to fade.

At Burberry, Daniel Lee brought together outerwear, eveningwear and casualwear, which ironically felt very New York. Who wouldn't benefit from an outfit that can carry you from the office to the cocktail hour in the middle of a chilly winter?

6:02pm After, we treat ourselves to an end-of-the-week dinner at The Edition’s Berners Tavern. Tuna Tartare with a punchy wasabi dressing, Galician octopus with smoky chorizo sauce, to-die-for mac & cheese, and Rib-Eyes, seared and served with Béarnaise sauce, and too many glasses of wine selected by the Berners’ in-house sommelier. It's safe to say that after dinner we're feeling ready for Mowalola.

The FOMO that’d come with missing the show was enough to get us dressed and out the door. We see stylist Betsy Johnson and friends and squeeze in next to her as the show is meant to start. It starts an hour later, voices whispering that the hold-up is, of course, Ye and Bianca, notorious for being the last ones in. They never show.

As the show unfolds, Mowalola parades around the dark space with a microphone in hand — not for dramatic effect, but singing! While debuting unreleased tracks, models stream into the space as videographers and photographers move around them. The show felt more like watching the making of a music video than a fashion week presentation. As always, the show radiated heat, centering Blackness with bold statements like latex tube dresses emblazoned with "EBONY," an abundance of miniskirts, and cropped fur coats that I can only dream of stepping out in.

Tuesday, September 17

London Fashion Week had a similar energy to New York’s, albeit with a quarter of the parties. What felt most familiar was the sheer abundance of new talent that defined the week — from Fashion East’s Johanna Parv, Olly Shinder, and Samara Scott to CSM alum Aaron Esh. At its heart, this season was about storytelling.

Each designer this week told a different kind of fantasy. Ashley Williams' nostalgic take on adolescence captured the emotional volatility of growing up, while Di Petsa reached further back, weaving a mythic world rooted in Ancient Greece. Nensi Dojaka presented a hyper-feminine fantasy of sensuality, while Natasha Zinko pulled us into a chillingly familiar plastic reality. Burberry offered a more modern tale, where eveningwear, outerwear, and casual wear blended to create a new kind of practicality. In every case, London’s designers constructed worlds of their own, but, in the end, the question stands, how well will the illusion hold? We'll just have to see.

Until next season!