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Patrick McDowell · SS27 · London22 September 2026

Patrick McDowell SS27 Love at London Fashion Week: florals and embroidery, Pandora sewn into the clothes, ready-to-wear one year old

Patrick McDowell's SS27 collection, Love, is built on a film: Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love, and the work of William Chang Suk-ping, its costume and production designer, who used clothing as an emotional language. The house pairs that with the formal elegance of early-1960s America and the looser couture shapes that followed as the decade went on. McDowell's own line on the business, said backstage after the show: half of what he does is design, half is the client. A designer, but also a dressmaker. The clothes now sit at Harvey Nichols in London, Joyce in Hong Kong and three stores in Houston and New York, every garment individually numbered, with repair, refit and redesign offered for the life of the piece. Kelly Rutherford sat front row in a plum McDowell coat dress, beside Leomie Anderson and British Fashion Council chief executive Laura Weir. Not the loudest show of the week, and possibly the one worth keeping.

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The post, as it ran

01PATRICK MCDOWELL'S SS27 SHOW, LOVE, JUST PUT FLORALS, EMBROIDERY AND CINCHED WAISTS INTO A LONDON FASHION WEEK OF LEATHER, STUDS AND MICRO HEMLINES.

02THE REFERENCES: WONG KAR-WAI'S FILM IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, AND THE EARLY-1960S AMERICAN SOCIALITES, IN THE HOUSE'S OWN WORDS.

03THE CLOTHES: SMALL SCATTERED FLORALS, SCRIBBLES, BIG BLOOMS AND EMBROIDERY ACROSS A-LINE SKIRTS AND CINCHED-WAIST BLAZERS, WITH SWATHES OF SILK AND TULLE.

04LOOK ONE WAS THE SYLVIA JACKET: GREEN-STRIPED SILK-WOOL GEORGETTE, A PEPLUM WAIST AND SILK ROSES. THE PALETTE RAN FROM GREEN TO SKY BLUE.

05THE SET WAS YEOMANRY HOUSE, AN ARMY BUILDING IN CENTRAL LONDON, FITTED WITH A SILVER MIRRORED RUNWAY AND WILDFLOWERS BLOOMING AT ONE END.

06THREE LOOKS WERE HAND-EMBROIDERED IN LONDON WITH PANDORA JEWELLERY, ARCHIVE AND CURRENT PIECES, BUILT INTO THE GARMENTS RATHER THAN WORN AS ACCESSORIES.

07ASPINAL OF LONDON RETURNED FOR A SECOND SEASON: HAND-PAINTED AND EMBROIDERED TOTES AND CLUTCHES ON THE RUNWAY, KEYRINGS READING LOVE ON THE SEATS.

08READY-TO-WEAR IS ONE YEAR OLD HERE. THE FIRST SUCH COLLECTION, SS26, THE LANCASHIRE ROSE, SHOWED IN SEPTEMBER 2025. BEFORE THAT, BESPOKE AND MADE-TO-ORDER.

09MCDOWELL IS LIVERPOOL-BORN, TRAINED AT CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS, SPENT A PLACEMENT YEAR AT BURBERRY AND LAUNCHED THE LABEL IN 2018.

10IN MAY 2025 THE PRINCESS OF WALES HANDED MCDOWELL THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II AWARD FOR BRITISH DESIGN. FLORALS FOR SPRING, MADE TO BE KEPT.

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