In New York’s Seagram Building, Toteme returned to where its story began. For SS26, founders Elin Kling and Karl Lindman distilled their signatures into a study of undone beauty
In the famed Pool Room of the Seagram Building – a space still imbued with New York’s mid-century glamour – Toteme returned to the city where its story began. Swedish founders Elin Kling and Karl Lindman, who met and founded their brand in the Big Apple, once again bridged their dual identities: Stockholm minimalists with a distinctly New York sensibility. The choice of venue, steeped in power-lunch nostalgia and sleek steel order, echoed the clarity of Toteme’s design language while giving it a distinctly Manhattan gloss.
For spring/summer '26, Kling framed the collection around the idea of undone beauty. That tension – between polish and ease, restraint and freedom – ran like a thread through the show. Classic Toteme signatures were present: the trench, the tank, the pyjama set. But here, they were gently deconstructed, softened by raw edges and time-worn textures. Crinkled cottons, washed leathers, and airy linens gave garments a lived-in patina, suggesting a wardrobe shaped as much by experience as by design.
Hair was styled as if it hadn’t quite finished drying, bags left unfastened, and coats slung casually over arms – conjuring women rushing out the door, self-possessed but never fussy. Accessories underscored this mood: boxy leather bags and high-shine slingbacks that hugged the natural contours of the foot, anchoring the lightness with structure and pace.
The palette leaned on Toteme’s trusted optic whites and inky blacks, punctuated by sun-faded pinks and deep greens. Lace-trimmed pieces resembling heirloom linens closed the show, a nod to Swedish summers of Kling and Lindman’s childhoods. Scarves embroidered with antique-inspired motifs carried that sentiment further, weaving nostalgia into Toteme’s global language of minimalism.
Toteme’s appeal has always been its clarity: minimalism that feels lived-in rather than austere, real rather than remote.
See all the looks from Toteme's SS26 collection below.
