With “A Distant Scream,” designer Mads Søreide channels frustration, yearning and release into Cohmé Atelier’s spring/summer 2026 collection. Sequins, tulle and latex collide in sultry silhouettes that feel less romantic than rebellious – a punk-inflected battle cry staged within a black-box mirror maze.
These days it’s easy to relate to the desire to scream into the void. That yearning for pure, ear-splitting catharsis was precisely the starting point of Cohmé Atelier’s spring/summer '26 collection. Days after the brand’s show at last year’s Oslo Runway, designer Mads Søreide found himself in a “dark headspace”. “It was then that I began to sketch, and suddenly, everything became clear,” he says. “I just wanted to scream.”
And so this collection, dubbed “A Distant Scream” began to take shape. A journey into the creative process, it captures that inherent frustration with having a strong internal vision and struggling to get it out into the world. “It centres on the essence of yearning to be heard and understood, while grappling with the uncertainty of whether that moment will ever arrive,” says Søreide.
To that end, there’s a dark decadence to the collection, which continues to explore Cohmé’s signature, sexy gowns. “I'm still experimenting with sequins and tulle, seeking to showcase them in exciting, innovative ways,” says Søreide. That tulle explodes from off-the-shoulder silhouettes and at the bottom of mermaid dresses, occasionally cascading in a train of ruffles. It sounds feminine and romantic, but the whole affair skews more towards punk – these traditionally girly materials reworked into sultry silhouettes with daring cutouts. Elsewhere, crystal details serve as nipples and mesh and latex gloves add additional BDSM-esque edge.
This is not your standard minimalistic Norwegian fare. Cohmé isn’t trying to be practical or everyday, but striving towards pure expression. “These pieces evoke a sense of freedom reminiscent of a time when designers explored their creativity without the constraints of commercial pressure,” says Søreide. Still, Oslo knows its way around a gala and one can imagine that Cohmé is many a fashion girl’s first call when the occasion demands a bit of drama (for those really willing to go for it, there are even feather-adorned headpieces).
To add to the sense of ready-to-scream claustrophobia, the show took place in a black box setting, with models strutting down the raised runway, flirting with a floor-to-ceiling mirror. When those striking red looks came down the runway – that top-to-toe sequinned number, in particular – it was quite like a battle cry into the darkness.
See all the looks from Cohmé Atelier's SS26 runway collection below.
