The world is finally catching up to Tíscar Espadas.
This month, the Madrid-based designer’s eponymous label was announced as a 2026 shortlister for the LVMH Prize, but her characterful designs have been building momentum for a while. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, the 32-year-old Spaniard worked under Henrik Vibskov before launching her own label in 2019 and won the Vogue Fashion Fund in Spain in 2024.
The designer and her partner Kevin Kohler held an intimate showroom in Paris this season, showcasing the brand’s delightful, tightly edited spread of unique shapes that are intended to be unisex. Working mostly with limited quantities of natural and organic fabrics, the duo have hitherto put out yearly collections in the spring with a smaller capsule for fall, but have now transitioned to a seasonal model. “We were so excited finding fabrics that it started to open, open, open! And eventually it became a real collection,” said Espadas during a walkthrough.
They had been thinking about the snowy landscapes of rural Switzerland, where Kohler is from, and based the collection on characters and festivals, enlivened with the brand’s distinguishing sense of fantasy. Silhouettes were bold and generously cut, in a rusty and earthy palette across soft muslins, cross-stitched cottons, and crisp, thick denim. There was a practical element: long scarves were sewn with pockets, while the knitted gaiters and gauntlets were made to insulate wrists and ankles from the cold.
The pattern making was fascinating. Wide shorts and grayish scoop-necked sweaters were slit at the sides, while loose, hooded shirts came with drawstrings that, when pulled, transformed the neckline into a ruff. There were ballooning pants that curved out at the shins, voluptuous chocolate corduroy suits, and a burgundy oilskin jerkin sewn with slits through which a cotton necktie could be threaded. The chaperon-style hats, which Espadas has made a signature, were present. “When I’m sketching the looks, I always feel they need something when they don’t have a hat,” she said. “A hat can say everything.”
The brand’s anachronistic aesthetic is so distinct that translating it into real life without it verging on costume can prove a challenge. “You have to imagine it away from the image,” said Kohler, adding that he enjoys when people pair the clothes with something more casual like a hoodie. In an era when commerciality is king, there’s something intoxicating about a brand so uncompromisingly trendless, and the sense of freedom that Espadas is able to infuse into fabric feels joyfully radical. The designer put it best: “It’s this dialogue between human and fantasy. But it’s always about just being playful.”
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