Ten seasons into his eponymous label, Harris Reed is considering his house codes. Where the designer has previously made spectacle a key signature, his spring 2026 collection has a sense of intimacy and ease, while remaining very much within the lexicon of the maximalist, Met Gala carpet-traversing (and recent Project Runway guest judge) Harris Reed. Whereas previous seasons have presented in the cavernous Tate Britain and introduced by Florence Pugh, today’s outing was organized salon-style in the low-lit Gothic Bar of St. Pancras London.
“I was thinking back to uni when I was doing these over-the-top, queer art pieces. They would say, ‘no customer would ever buy this.’ Now, looking back at 10 seasons—11 if you count that student collection—there’s a client base we almost…made up?” reflects Reed. “Well, not made up—we’re pulling from couture clients and real fashion enthusiasts, but it’s cool to see the front row isn’t just supportive friends and journalists anymore, but people who buy from and believe in the brand. It has allowed me to really live in what the brand has to say.”
While his couture clients look to him for galas, or keep his pieces in their archives, one, he says, likes to display her corset above the pastries in her kitchen. “The nuances of my customers are in my brain as we scale globally,” he said. “And I’m relying on the well-made maximalism of the brand to take up space on the red carpet this year.”
A more reflective mood manifested in the compact 14-look lineup, though the designer admitted it may be hard to see a throughline—“other than, literally, the red thread,” he said. It is his most colorful collection yet—periwinkle and cobalt blues, golds, burgundy, and pastel pink. “I wanted these looks to stand alone, to be individual characters and speak to all aspects of the Harris Reed DNA: David Bowie and Mick Jagger, Victorian lady, and English heritage. Pieces that perform for you.” There’s one look you could say is Reed’s own take on the “one and done” dress: meaning, it requires less mathematics to strap you in than his other architectural gowns. It’s a fishtail number with a bubbled, animal print skirt.
The looks feel poised for flight—swirling ice blue duchess satins and red tulles rubbed up against solid animal prints, and feathers burst from conical shoulders. The caged silhouettes and corset program are carried through: one stands to attention like a paper doll with a dense halo of black feathers, while another gilded floral bustier falls into a devoré velvet skirt in an acid yellow spinal print. Reed continued his collaboration with English wallpaper studio Fromental, using vintage panels of hand-painted and embroidered wallpaper as bodices and skirts. He created his own “whispering wisteria” pattern using historical painting techniques and textiles, inspired by a ceiling he spotted on a trip to Italy. “I’ve always had the dream of ‘Ralph Laurening’ the whole brand,” he said, with hopes to reproduce these prints for soft furnishings and his own wallpapers.
“Harris Reed has always been hate or love—which I’ve always liked—but you can never criticize the making,” he said.
