Swedish brand Studio Constance makes its CPHFW debut with an autumn/winter 2026 show that revels in religious imagery and dark emotions
For its CPHFW debut, Swedish brand Studio Constance certainly set a mood. Held in an expressive concrete-floored room with water-facing floor to ceiling windows (the space is within the Bjarke Ingels Group HQ), a sea of candles flickered along one wall as ominous base-heavy music played. “The collection comes from this raw, deep, dark emotional standpoint,” says founder Rebecca Dovenryd Almberg. “It’s inspired by my emotional state right now.”
For the record, Almberg, who studied knitwear design in sunny San Francisco before launching her brand in California in 2020, does not come across as a dark person. “Maybe I’ve portrayed this image of being a blonde Swedish girl,” says Almberg, noting that she’s not so blonde these days. “But always had these phases of anxiety and depression.” Studio Constance, which is named for the designer’s grandmother (“She taught me how to sew and knit and crochet,” says Almberg, noting that the name also reflects the brand’s sustainability ethos), began ostensibly as a knitwear brand before branching into outwear and ultimately a full ready-to-wear collection (the brand held its first runway show at Stockholm Fashion Week this summer).
If you clocked a religious – or sacrilegious, as it were – note in the tone-setting, that’s entirely intentional (as the models walked, the minor tones of an organ took hold). “We have a lot of religious influences,” says Almberg. “I was raised in a religious family.” Having long since parted ways with the church, she was keen to raise a spiritual middle finger to her pious upbringing. “It’s kind of a religious, slutty vibe,” says Almberg with a grin. There’s whisper-thin black and nude knitwear and floor-sweeping asymmetric dresses with straps that fall off the shoulders. Elsewhere, string thongs pulled up over the hips, accessorising dangerously low trousers. There’s black dominatrix-coded footwear, fashioned with detachable black leather slouchy shafts, held up via suggestive stay-ups. Pops of red and snakeskin-effect leather – a biblical reference if there ever was one – double down the warped interpretations of religious iconography.
Those already familiar with Constance came anticipating the outerwear. Both the delicious buttery leather trench coat, complete with detachable curly shearling hood, and the floor-sweeping overcoat fashioned from leftover felted yarn are instantly covetable (particularly this week, when the weather leaves something to be desired).
Meanwhile, it’s not all doom and gloom. Dangling from bags, a bit of cheeky humour by way of charm-sized crocheted puppies. Emotional support animals to carry us through these trying times.
See the full Studio Constance AW26 collection below.
