Diotima Spring/Summer 2026 / SS26 at New York Fashion Week entitled BACCHANAL

Diotima Spring/Summer 2026 draws from the profound history of Carnival in the Caribbean and in the diaspora. Carnival, born as a response to colonial domination, is an anti-imperialist act — culture that flourishes in the face of violent oppression. It is a radical practice of self-actualisation: music, dance, and dress conjuring freedom when none was granted. Beauty, sensuality, and joy here are not mere adornments, but a defiant declaration of resilience and power. Playing Mas, Bacchanal and J’ouvert are in many ways a rebellious saging of the streets.

Taking colour as a starting point, discord is privileged. Energetic magenta, guava, fluo lime, and grenadine red clash and converse with cumin, passionfruit, storm grey, black, and white — a palette alive with friction, insistence, and exuberance.

Peter Minshall’s haunted, ghost-like sketches for his carnival theatres inspired the tone for Diotima SS26 / Spring/Summer 2026 collection. Not only is this collection a colourful expression, but it is a haunted reminder of the reality that was once faced. I turned to Carnival’s traditional characters, not to replicate them, but to reimagine. The “Bad-Behaviour” Sailors appear in melted paillette-rimmed duster coats, in matte viscose crepe knits with tubular chenille ribs, and in bias tunics fringed with thread peplums. The clinical and typically silenced, seemingly uptight, Baby Doll is seen in buttoned-up tailored tops and macramed and shredded skirts, a ghostly reminder of her jarring complexity. Dame Lorraine is a subversive character with larger-than-life proportions. Her dramatic form is constructed only with lightweight interior petticoats and feather-like fabric manipulation, never restricting the body.

In place of the Carnival cage bra, an extreme décolleté frames the bust in tailored waistcoats and morning coats, fabricated in dry and fluid viscose silk or in a wool gabardine. The signature crystal mesh knit is reimagined in nonchalant silhouettes: drop crotch pants, hood accessories, and for the first time fully-fashioned knit rashguard swimwear. A subverted court shoe suggests again a décolleté with a V-topline against a serious square toe and a more playful infradito sandal mule and thong are, at times, embellished with miniature hand-melted paillettes.

J’ouvert-splattered faces, hair and hands suggest a morning after a long night of revelling, in beauty by Kanako Takase and hair by Joey George. Nails are chevron decorated or olive stained by Naomi Yasuda. Atmospheric steel pan sounds bleed into pensive, processional sounds that build and explode in the soundtrack designed by DJ Jordss. The reimagined characters are embodied in the cast by Julia Lange.

This collection is for Claudia Jones who showed us how to transform repression into expression. To the honour of all displaced peoples.

All images Diotima SS26 / Spring/Summer 2026 by the brand. Styling and Creative Consulting by Marika-Ella Ames, Hair by Joey George with Oribe, Makeup by Kanako Takase with Addiction Tokyo, Nails by Naomi Yasuda with Addiction Tokyo, Casting by Julia Lange Casting, Music Direction by DJ Jordss, Guest Entrance Music by Lance Pollonais, Movement Director Simon Donellon, Production Bureau Betak, In-House Production Shay Johnson Studio, Public Relations by Lucien Pagès Communication, Skincare by Rachel Perry, Lingerie by CUUP, Athletic shoes by Nike, Water by Voss. Thank you to COS and Bureau Betak for your generous support. Thank you to everyone involved for your love and dedication.