Florentina Leitner: AW26 - “You Are a Star”

​SøEdited Team
SøEditor-in-Chief: Chris Saint Sims 
​SøFashion Director: Savannah Barthorpe

For Autumn/Winter 2026, Florentina Leitner builds her collection around the idea of transformation. Titled You Are a Star, it considers the slow shift from uncertainty to self-possession — not as spectacle, but as something accumulated over time.

There is a thread of pop-cultural memory running through the work. A reference point appears in The Princess Diaries, particularly the familiar narrative of awkwardness reshaped into confidence. Leitner approaches this not as instant change, but as a process — identity formed gradually, rather than revealed in a single moment.

A second reference grounds the collection in something more intimate: Carrie Bradshaw crossing a wintry New York street in pyjamas in Sex and the City. It’s a fleeting image, but one that holds a certain emotional clarity, vulnerability made visible in public space. That tension carries through the collection, where nightwear shifts outward. Boxer shorts, sheer layers and lingerie are worn openly, their softness offset by small, almost ceremonial gestures.

Leitner’s language remains playful, though more controlled. Knitwear is punctuated with bow motifs and subtle sparkle; accessories take on unexpected forms, from soft sculptural bags to pieces that feel lightly theatrical. Star appliqués appear across garments, less as decoration than as quiet markers within the collection’s broader metaphor.

The palette is restrained. Greys, black, white and brown establish a winter base, with pale pink and blue emerging in softer intervals. Occasional metallic surfaces catch the light, suggesting something closer to reflection than overt shine.
A returning motif — the prize bow — links back to earlier work, here reimagined as something functional. Sashes become objects that can be carried, worn, used. Achievement is treated less as a fixed point, more as an ongoing condition.
What emerges is a portrait of a heroine in transition. Not fully formed, but moving forward — sometimes in glitter, sometimes in pyjamas, but always in motion.

Press: LIMITÉE PR