Cecilie Bahnsen's Introducing the
Pre-Fall 2026 Campaign
PRE-FALL 2026
The bow has long been part of Cecilie Bahnsen’s vocabulary. This season, it becomes central. Like a guiding force, it appears as motif, method, and metaphor. At once delicate and decisive, the bow acts as both adornment and architecture, holding tension and binding softness into structure. Beneath its loops and trailing ends lies a lasting strength, a gesture that secures and shapes what surrounds it.
This season, Bahnsen revisits the bow through every lens. The collection echoes the pages of A Magazine Curated By Cecilie Bahnsen, where a feature titled Unbowed explored the bow as a symbol of feminine paradox. Here, its spirit lingers across silhouettes and seams, binding innocence with intention.
photography Nadine ljewere
stylist Nathan klein
A SENSE OF OCCASION
There’s something beautiful about the idea of dressing up with no particular reason,” says Cecilie Bahnsen. “This collection is a reminder to cherish those moments. To dress not because we must, but because we can. For ourselves, with friends, as a kind of shared joy.”
The idea of occasion runs through the collection. Silhouettes shaped with couture-like precision begin to soften, slouch, and gently collapse against the body, creating a sense of ease. Layering becomes a language of its own. The constructions are intricate, yet the feeling remains effortless. Looks that once felt formal are reimagined to be worn freely and spontaneously, every day. At the heart of it all lies instinct, knowing when to hold things together, and when to let them unravel.
THE TIES THAT HOLD
The bow emerges as the season’s sculptural focal point. It appears in generous appliqués, embroidered into panels, and woven into fabrics as a quiet pattern. It moves across the back of silhouettes, nestles into dense seams, and suspends delicate dresses like ribbons caught mid-air. In its most restrained form, it becomes a simple gesture, at times fastening and binding, at others serving purely as adornment.
Texture deepens the dialogue. Sturdy knits, quilted weaves, and striking jacquards are held together by unexpected closures "zips bows, and knots" blurring the boundary between utility and elegance. Softness is never accidental; it is engineered and deliberate. The colour palette mirrors the changing season: raw whites replace brights, softened to a chalky finish. Autumnal tones grow richer, while cool greys and dusk pinks suggest fading light. Materials alternately shimmer and soften, shifting between technical nylon and luminous brocade.
BEFORE EVERYTHING UNRAVELS
Looking beyond the bow, the collection explores the contrast between the ultra-feminine and the functional. Delicate silhouettes are paired with bombers, technical outerwear, and utilitarian shapes, softened through knitwear that wraps and grounds the look. A quiet tension emerges between nostalgia and newness.
Photographed by Nadine Ijewere, the campaign reflects on ritual, gesture, and atmosphere. “The campaign draws on the intimacy of childhood rituals — the quiet moments before stepping into the world,” says Cecilie Bahnsen. “Nadine captures that in-between feeling, the imperfection before completion, with a gaze that feels both dreamlike and grounded.”
The images become portraits of becoming rather than completion: friends sharing the small choreography of getting ready. Clothes are tied, adjusted, and lived I worn freely, without waiting for an occasion. The bow returns as both a structural and emotional anchor, holding everything together, until it doesn’t.
