For AW26, the London footwear label continues to explore the idea that a shoe can change the personality of the wearer.
“Shoes allow you to be whatever character you dream to be,” Christian Louboutin once said. Truth is there is a particular kind of fashion magic that happens when a pair of shoes makes you walk differently. Suddenly, the same person seems more confident, more romantic, or even more rebellious. With AW26 Act I, London-based footwear label Lili Curia, founded by Chili Palmer, continues to build a universe where shoes are not the finishing touch, but the starting point to shape an entire persona.
With this collection, rather than attempting to reinvent itself, the brand expands its established silhouettes. At the centre is the Isadora, its defining lace-up boot, now joined by an ankle-height version and a new sneaker. The Babette Pump and Frances Penny Loafer return, while a new series of sculptural platform boots pushes the Isadora’s proportions into more dramatic territory.
The collection arrives in smooth black nappa, alongside creased high-shine naplak in oxblood and soft butter tones. But it is the way these familiar shapes are presented that reveals something more interesting about Lili Curia. In Sophia French’s campaign, shoes are placed on plinths and platforms like objects in a stage set. Smoke drifts through the images, shadows become part of the composition and a solitary model moves between each scene before disappearing, turning the collection into a quiet performance.
The shoes become a visualisation of one of the ideas at the core of the brand – the theatre of the everyday. Lili Curia is driven by contrasts, bringing together structure and softness, nostalgia and whimsy, with small touches of humour that keep its romanticism from ever feeling too serious.
This theatrical approach may also explain why the brand has found an audience among musicians. Since its launch, Lili Curia has appeared on artists including Little Simz, Suki Waterhouse, CMAT and members of The Last Dinner Party. It makes sense, since musicians understand perhaps better than anyone how clothes can become part of a character, a performance and a story. All at once, on centre stage.
But AW26 Act I is not really about fantasy for fantasy’s sake. Its most interesting proposition is much more ordinary – getting dressed can be a performance in itself. A shoe can alter posture, movement and attitude. It can make an everyday walk feel like a monumental entrance. And perhaps that is what Lili Curia understands particularly well – fashion does not always need to transform the world around us, sometimes it only needs to change the way we move through it.
Lili Curia’s AW26 Act I collection launches September 14 at lilicuria.com
