By all accounts, 2025 was a bumper year for Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault of KNWLS. The brand, which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, launched a splashy, fast-selling collaboration with Nike and dropped a capsule collection with Miss Sixty. Knowles and Arsenault had an extended stint designing for a major Italian denim brand and then staged their first runway show in Milan during Fashion Week in September. “It’s been a pretty crazy time,” Knowles said. “It was incredible, and we’re so grateful for everything, but we were also pretty burned out from having all of these projects happening at the same time.” In order to better manage their workload, the pair decided to step back from their responsibilities at the denim brand, though the Nike collaboration is ongoing: When we spoke, Knowles had just finished a Pilates class the brand had cohosted and was in her KNWLS x Nike workout gear.
Though it was the Nike collaboration’s ingenious fusion of KNWLS signatures—lingerie details, corsetry, hallucinatory prints—with technical sportswear that made that drop such a hit, for the label’s fall collection, they wanted to lean into showcasing their skillful way with a historical reference. (The duo has often cited Nicolas Ghesquière’s work at Balenciaga as one of their North Stars, and you can see it—most notably, perhaps, in their ability to meld the past with something futuristic while deftly avoiding anything that could feel like a gimmick.) There was a strong flavor of Victoriana throughout, courtesy of the strict waistlines, puffed sleeves, ruffles, and palette of blacks, browns, and grays. It was still shot through with plenty of KNWLS-core sex appeal, though: a leather corset top with antique lingerie-inspired ruching at the bust, say, or a killer leather jacket with superwide cropped sleeves and a detachable collar inspired by historical ruffs, cut from a skived nappa leather and then bonded to neoprene for a deliciously fluid, sculptural feel.
Elsewhere, the pair developed a series of prints from vintage men’s pocket square scarves, then applied them to diaphanous blouses and skirts that were sutured together with harness-like collars and belts, and a slip dress inspired by antique 1930s underwear that appeared to have been sliced apart and then rejoined with hooks and clasps and lengths of string; a little disheveled-looking at first, but upon closer inspection, constructed with a near-anatomical precision. To bring the looks firmly into the present moment, many were also paired with a new style of belt that will be arriving at an accessible price point, featuring elliptical buckles of lacquered metal that looked like miniature spaceships. (Equally delightful was KNWLS’s unique take on prep fever, courtesy of some excellent thin merino sweaters with striped mohair V-necks, blouson-like top halves, and snatched waists.) The duo has spoken over the past few years about wanting to elevate their designs to appeal to a more mature customer too, and they’ve achieved it: It’s especially visible now that their main collections can be viewed alongside the slinkier silhouettes of their work with Nike.
In lieu of a runway show, all of this was presented at a luxuriously outfitted pop-up store just off Denmark Street. The collection’s look book, shot by photographer and director of the moment Aidan Zamiri, was displayed on the walls in burnished-metal frames, surrounded by artworks by artists from their wider community of friends and collaborators. There was also a curated table of books by cult-favorite book dealer Studio Nocturne and cleverly designed concertina racks and industrial-style changing rooms by designer Emilia Margulies, which are set to be transported to the KNWLS studio afterward to establish a more formal fitting space. “The ability to create this little world, and to pull in all of these people who we admire and look up to—it’s incredibly exciting,” Knowles said. If 2026 is all about finding balance—on a Pilates mat or otherwise—then Knowles and Arsenault are off to an excellent start.