After toying with the idea of pursuing his own practice, Arsenault decided to join forces for their Fashion East debut. From the outset, their collections were acclaimed for their recontextualising of garments historically associated with the restriction and objectification of women’s bodies – corsets, bodices, boned lingerie. Their status as protagonists of the underwear-as-outerwear trend was set. “When we started putting our work on Instagram, we immediately saw this barrier lift,” Arsenault says. “It was clear that there was an audience of people who felt in control of how they wanted to show themselves, and weren’t afraid to be judged for it.”
The timing feels like kismet. Seemingly overnight, every online It-girl of repute was papped in the brand’s bleached check flares or toting a jagged Fang bag. “Kylie Jenner, Em Rata, Bella and Gigi Hadid: they’ve all been wearing it since the start,” Kennedy notes. “And they weren’t doing all the gifting in the world. Those women and their stylists were going and buying it.”
Caroline Polachek, the London-based American musician, first got in touch with Knowles in 2018 after seeing photos of her graduate collection. “It had all the intellect of Comme or Margiela, but a sex appeal that felt very cool and new… It was hot. Slinky, diva, hi-tech, maybe a bit evil,” she says. “In a good way.”
“Knwls is the ultimate London brand that creates modern classics,” agrees Isamaya Ffrench, superstar make-up artist and day-one brand collaborator. “It’s everything: comfortable, flattering, makes you feel sexy and feminine but it’s so easy to wear.” It’s a truth owed to Arsenault and Knowles’s obsession with craft in making really good clothes. As Kennedy shrewdly observes: “When you look at a lot of Charlotte’s early work, a lot of it is basically a high-fashion interpretation of sportswear.”
When I stop by the studio, they’re more than a month and a half out from show day. “It’s very slinky warrior, filtered through a prism of futurism and Victoriana,” Arsenault says of the broader spring/summer 2026 mood, highlighting pieces that take cues from the Nike collection’s dynamic flair: sculptural corset dresses crafted from skived, silvered leather bonded to neoprene – the sort of thing Joan of Arc might wear on the Battlestar Galactica; cold-washed, scuba-like cotton jersey separates; lacy babydoll tops with sporty contrast trims.
Though a joy to witness Knwls’s ascent, at a time when Britain’s fashion scene is caught in a changing tide, it’s bittersweet that one of their most important moments to date won’t be happening here. They aren’t abandoning ship, though. “We’re thinking of showing in London again,” Knowles says, citing the British Fashion Council’s recent waiving of show fees. “We’re still operating from London. We’re still providing jobs in the industry and still part of the community.”
“We’re also seeing this season as a breaking point,” Arsenault adds. “We’ve been doing things in a certain way for eight years now. With this finally coming out, it feels like the end of a chapter and hopefully the beginning of a new one.”
Ever innovating, the future is theirs. “Let’s see if shows even make sense for us,” Arsenault says, smiling.
#Story #Knwls #Nikes #Slinky #Warrior #Collaboration
