This year’s GSA Fashion Show celebrates the achievements of all students graduating in the final year of BA (Hons) Fashion Design at The Glasgow School of Art. The live catwalk show on Tuesday 2nd June saw the 2026 cohort of emerging design talent debut sophisticated, elegant, and bold new collections inside SWG3’s dramatic Galvenizers Yard space for the very first time.
The final year designers’ collections from the Fashion Design programme have an emphasis on merging concept with technical prowess, to express individuality in response to the evolving nature of fashion, meaning the show gives members of the public a unique opportunity to see the next generation of Scotland’s fashion showcased in a dynamic, industry context.
Meraud Pengelly’s ‘Liminal Skins’ collection navigates the uncanny threshold where the natural collides with the manufactured. Drawing inspiration from French philosopher Foucault’s ‘panopticon’ metaphor, and animal observatory boxes, the collection explores the body as a site of digital observation, dominance, and containment. Meraud cleverly juxtaposes the tactile warmth of felted sheep’s wool with rigid, sculptural fluorescent acrylic forms in a craft process which subverts traditional garment construction, creating a provocative “armour” that functions as both a protective enclosure and a transparent display, blurring the boundaries between body and structure, vulnerability and resistance, containment and autonomy.
In her ‘sleepwalking’ collection Sifana Shahzad captures the disorienting “in-between” of post-university life, reconciling the intimate comfort of the bedroom with the “serious” demands of adulthood. Sifana’s designs merge slouchy pyjama silhouettes with crisp tailoring to create a versatile, changeable capsule wardrobe. Using responsible natural wools, cottons, and jerseys—supplemented with up-cycled dead-stock— she employs repeating pinstripe motifs to create a visual connection between domestic bedding and professional suiting, an ironic sartorial commentary on the tension between an individual’s slouchy inner life and their rational external ‘look”.
Kristin Wood’s collection, ‘(Of) Perverted Decadence’, is a reclamation of lesbian history, subverting a 1928 critique of queer style into a playful celebration of community. Centring queer women and queer bodies, Wood advocates plus-size representation through a collaborative, interview-led tailoring process that prioritises each of her muse’s own unique self-expression. By reimagining lingerie-based garments—specifically non-restrictive bras and corsetry—she rejects heteronormative constraints in favour of bodily autonomy. The result is a subversive, inclusive wardrobe that uses expert construction to empower queer bodies, asserting that plus-size designs for women should sit at the forefront of fashion, rather than remaining marginalised at its edges.
Lara Mallen’s ‘Birdhouse’ is a sensitive, but resonant commentary on female experience, objectification, and dissociation. Laura works with natural linens, cottons, and silks, treated with evocative rust dyes to signify the “dirt” of life, both personal and societal. Lara’s craft process features pointelle knits referencing the skin and precarious, delicate ties that shroud the body. These flowing silhouettes are styled to appear pushed forward, manifesting the sensation of leaving one’s body in a solemn act of rebellion – not just dressing up, but existing.
Xinyue Fan’s ‘Suspension’ collection transforms the invisible force of wind into a kind of wearable architecture. Influenced by the aerodynamics of wing-suits and parachutes, Fan investigates how air distorts the human silhouette through tension and drag, and her process involves meticulous wrapping, binding, and drooping fabric to replicate the sensations of lift. Using technical harnesses and buckles to distribute force, to experience the sensation of being slowed and lifted, alongside fabrics with increased surface area to capture movement, Fan’s collection creates clothing that not only suggests flight but also embodies the state of the human body being propelled, supported, and guided by the air.
“The BA(Hons) Fashion Design programme fosters a diverse, creative learning environment where students can develop into confident, specialised fashion designers” says Christie Alexander, Acting Programme Leader BA (Hons) Fashion Design.
“This year’s graduating students have imaginatively honoured and learned from fashion and cultural traditions whilst looking to the future, learning to balance originality of concept with design viability. Many have also used their role as emergent designers to shape and lead on ethical, sustainable and responsible fashion design practices.”
Always one of the highlights of the calendar, the GSA Fashion Show, sponsored by Moda, gives a first sight of some of the future stars of the Fashion world.
“Being part of the culture and heritage of the cities where we create our neighbourhoods is central to how we operate at Moda.” Says Susan McGowen, General Manager at Holland Park.
“At Holland Park, we’re proud to have built a thriving community, and partnerships like this allow us to bring that cultural richness directly to our residents, enhancing their everyday experience. We’re delighted to be supporting an institution as respected as The Glasgow School of Art and look forward to working together to showcase emerging talent in the fashion industry.”
The garments and portfolio of supporting work from this year’s graduate fashion show can be seen on display at the Reid Building, during The Glasgow School of Art’s 2026 Degree Show, which runs till Sunday 7 June 2024 across the entire GSA campus. The in-person show is accompanied by an expansive online showcase, gsashowcase.net, which will be available to view long after the physical show closes.
For additional information and images, please contact press@gsa.ac.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About The Glasgow School of Art (GSA)
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading independent university-level institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines. Ranked eighth in the QS 2026 World University Subject rankings, the GSA is the only institution in Scotland in the global top 10 for art and design and one of only three institutions within the UK.
Our studio-based, specialist, practice-led teaching, learning and research draw talented individuals with a shared passion for visual culture and creative production from all over the world. Originally founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, the School’s history can be traced back to 1753 and the establishment of the Foulis Academy delivering a European-style art education. Today, the GSA is an international community of over 3500 students and staff across architecture, design, fine art, innovation and technology in our campuses in Glasgow and Altyre (in the Scottish Highlands) and a thriving Open Studio programme delivering non-degree provision to over 1500 students annually.
About Moda
Moda is a vertically integrated investor, developer and operator of large-scale rental neighbourhoods. Moda has a pipeline of 24,000 homes across build-to-rent, family homes and student, with a combined GDV of £6.8 billion, and recently opened its first Glasgow neighbourhood: Moda, Holland Park.
Focusing on long-term stewardship, Moda partners with global institutional investors to provide unique access to the UK rental market at scale. Moda’s mission is to pioneer positive change across the rental landscape, delivering spaces and experiences for people to prosper, evolve and live better.
Moda’s vision is to create the world’s best rental experience. A better version of living; they call it life 2.0. That doesn’t just mean investing in next generation homes and spaces, it means investing in innovation and excellence across wellness, technology, ESG and customer service.
As custodians of the communities they operate, they work with a range of market leading partners to deliver services and experiences that create genuine social impact, helping people live happier, healthier lives.
