Ernesto Naranjo presented his Fall/Winter 26/27 collection, THE RETURN — THE CELEBRATION, at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid. The fashion designer returns to the runway show format in Madrid after several seasons showcasing his work in London, Paris, Milan, and Barcelona. He returns to where he began, to that EGO collection of 2014, and he did so with a visible maturity. The return is conceived as both a celebration and a conscious gesture.
The collection is built upon the dialogue between body and matter. Volumes appear that fold, stretch, and shift across the torso, as if preserving a recent movement’s memory. The influence of Ángela de la Cruz is evident in these pieces that seem folded or “collapsed,” while the structural precision, reminiscent of Gillian Theobald, introduces assembled panels and geometric rhythms that order the silhouette. The Gutai spirit permeates the collection: frozen twists, folds that evoke thrusts, surfaces that register the physical action on the fabric. The garment functions as a trace.
The textile collage adds an emotional dimension. Diverse fragments and materials are assembled in a reconstruction that speaks of trajectory and accumulated identity. Upon this sculptural base emerges Naranjo’s signature festive imagery: flashes of light, references to showgirls, and a nocturnal energy that evokes Studio 54 from a contemporary perspective. Light and color activate the fashion collection and propels it toward the dance floor.
The return doesn’t dwell on nostalgia. It moves forward, with the body as the starting point and a celebration, as a way of being.
