Light in Motion
Review of Ulla Johnson Fall 2026 Fashion Show
By Mackenzie Richard Zuckerman
Fall 2026 marked a subtle but meaningful expansion for Ulla Johnson. Alongside the runway collection came the debut of fragrance – an evolution framed not as product launch, but as philosophy. In a text written for the season, Susan Orlean described scent as the first layer we choose to wear: invisible, intimate, communicative. That idea set the tone. This was a collection concerned not only with how a woman looks, but how she inhabits herself.
Johnson returned to a familiar duality – strength and softness – but this time it felt consciously distilled and fully realized. Supple knitwear brushed against structured metallic skirts. Pale, washed hues met sharper flashes of silver. Evening looks carried a deliberate sense of “undoneness” – hems lifted asymmetrically, bows tied slightly askew, suggesting motion, not fragility. Johnson spoke of designing for herself, of living in these clothes. That ethos translated clearly. This was sensuality from a woman’s gaze – measured, self-directed, never performative.
While the silhouettes didn’t depart radically from what we know of Ulla Johnson, the picture felt more complete. The collection carried range, it was chromatic, textural, & emotional. And that expansion marked a quiet improvement from last season’s narrower focus. More than a reinvention, Fall 2026 felt like consolidation: a designer clarifying her world and inviting us
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Strength Tempered by Softness & World-Building with Intention
Ulla Johnson didn’t reinvent her woman this season – she strengthened her world.
Johnson’s stated intention – pairing sturdy elements with softness – landed with clarity. Hard and tender, earthbound and luminous, often within the same look. The push-pull felt deliberate and cohesive rather than decorative.
Craft remained central. Some garments carried multiple pleating techniques layered within a single silhouette – Fortuny folds mingling with sunburst effects – a detail that might escape the runway glance but revealed itself in proximity. Textiles developed over months, hand-knitting, crochet, intricate surface work. Johnson has long championed craft, but this season the intricacy felt more confident than ornamental.
Color played a meaningful role. Rather than retreat into darkness during what she described as a bleak cultural moment, Johnson chose light – saturated warmth, mineral tones, shades that felt almost buoyant. The decision registered not as escapism, but as optimism.
There was also a noticeable broadening of her universe. The Belperron jewelry collaboration aligned philosophically – a historic female jeweler who built her own narrative, whose pieces were meant to be lived in. That mirrored Johnson’s own philosophy of wearability and self-expression. Meanwhile, the fragrance and home expansion extended her visual world into scent and object. The ceramic vessels echoed the runway’s organic curves, reinforcing cohesion. This wasn’t a category grab. It felt like architecture.
If anything, the runway clothes themselves operated within a familiar vocabulary. Johnson continues to design for the woman she knows intimately – herself – and that authenticity is part of her strength. Yet one wonders what might happen if she stretched that self-portrait further. A sharper edge. A boho-rocker inflection for instance, or a silhouette that disrupts the expectation.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
Strength and softness have always been our language – sensuality from a woman’s gaze. Craft is at the heart of what we do, and even when details don’t reveal themselves instantly, they come alive when lived in. In a bleak moment, I wanted to celebrate the light.– Ulla Johnson
THE WRAP UP
What Fall 2026 ultimately achieved was consolidation. Johnson is building depth. The collection proved she can balance softness with strength. It proved her command of craft. It proved her instinct for color in challenging times. And perhaps most importantly, it showed a designer investing in a fully realized ecosystem – fashion, jewelry, and fragrance– with coherence.
The clothes may not have rewritten her codes, but they refined them. And refinement, in this market, carries weight.
Ulla Johnson’s woman remains self-possessed, intuitive, and joyful. The next evolution may come not from abandoning that woman – but from pushing her into new territory she hasn’t yet imagined for herself.
