Photographed by Moni Haworth, the AW26 campaign turns fashion into an exercise in performance, observation and continuous reinvention.
Across domestic interiors and city streets, two figures test shifting versions of themselves. Shot by Moni Haworth for SHUSHU/TONG’s Autumn/Winter 2026 campaign, The Invented Self unfolds through 12 documentary-style scenes starring Kaat van H and Cam Desjardins. Reworking 1930s and 1940s silhouettes, the series explores clothing as a way to challenge identities imposed by family, class and social convention.
Instead of following a linear plot, the images accumulate as partial observations. The protagonists wait, listen, cross paths or occupy different depths within the same frame. Doors, windows and passageways reinforce the sense of transition, while familiar settings become spaces for transformation.
Haworth uses direct flash, wide angles and unexpected crops to blur the line between documentary and performance. The camera catches both figures between actions: aware of being observed, yet never offering a definitive version of themselves.
Drop waists, floral dresses, bows, ruffles and ladylike tailoring evoke ordered femininity. Faux fur, technical fabrics and fragmented constructions disrupt those codes, while structured handbags, headbands and sculptural YVMIN jewellery complete each new character.
The collection takes its conceptual cue from Claude Chabrol’s 1978 film Violette Nozière. Its heroine creates an alternative persona to escape the life prescribed for her, turning self-invention into both survival and rebellion. SHUSHU/TONG translates that tension into self-styling as a form of authorship, using sweetness, elegance and theatricality to rewrite traditional feminine roles.
Released scene by scene, the campaign replaces the decisive hero image with an open-ended narrative. Every instalment reveals something without resolving the story. The Invented Self remains deliberately provisional: a portrait of femininity continually rehearsed, revised and imagined again.
