Issue #820 August 2026

Week of 20 August 2026

Lisa’s take

I have sat across the table from hundreds of candidates over twenty years. The portfolio goes on screen, I lean in, and within sixty seconds I can tell whether this person understands the industry or is performing what they think the industry looks like.

Most portfolios make the same five mistakes. They are fixable. Here they are.

You open with your most recent work, not your strongest

A portfolio is not a CV. No one needs to see your work in chronological order. Open with the piece that makes someone stop scrolling. If that piece is from three years ago, lead with it anyway.

You show the finished product without the thinking

Buyers and creative directors want to see how you got there. The mood board, the sourcing decisions, the brief. The final image without the process reads as decoration, not craft.

You design for yourself, not the reader

I should be able to understand what you do and who you are in under two minutes. If your portfolio requires a guided tour, it is not finished yet.

You try to show everything

Eight strong, focused pieces will always beat twenty that trail off. Curate hard. If you are unsure whether a piece earns its place, it does not earn its place.

You have no point of view

The work that stays with me always has a specific sensibility. I can feel who made it. Generic trend-following is forgettable. The candidates I remember had a clear creative perspective, even when they were just starting out.

If you would like me to look at your portfolio before your next application, reply to this email. I read everything.

Anyway, here's your week in fashion.

The week in fashion

This is the week London flexed its muscle, Cairo got its close-up, and menswear finally admitted it wants a proper fit.

London gears up for SS27

London's SS27 cheat sheet is out, and McQueen and Burberry are back on the main schedule alongside a wave of graduates nobody has heard of yet. That mix is exactly what makes London worth watching over Paris right now. The big houses bring the cameras. The newcomers bring the ideas.

The heat is rewriting the calendar

Couture week in July hit temperatures that made front row seating feel like a punishment. Shows are moving indoors, starting later, or getting air conditioning bolted in at the last minute. None of this is glamorous, but it is shaping fashion month more than any single collection will this year.

Willow Smith fronts Free People's fall push

Willow Smith is the new face of Free People's fall campaign, and it is a smart pairing. She has spent years building a following that does not separate music from style. Free People needs exactly that crossover appeal as it tries to shake its boho-only reputation.

Casablanca trades the Riviera for Cairo

Casablanca shot its FW26 campaign in Cairo instead of the usual Riviera postcard shots, and it changes the whole mood of the brand. Charaf Tajer built this label on leisurewear nostalgia. Moving the backdrop to Egypt pushes it somewhere more interesting than tennis club daydreams.

Four fashion capitals just agreed on something

London, Milan, Dubai and Singapore have formed a coalition to push sustainability standards across their fashion weeks. Four cities agreeing on anything is rare. Whether this turns into real rules or just another joint press release is the question worth asking in twelve months.

Made-to-measure wants to go mainstream

Semi-custom tailoring is creeping out of Savile Row and into brands like Buck Mason. The appeal is obvious. You get a jacket built to your shoulders without the six-week wait or the four-figure price tag. Menswear buyers should watch this space closely, because it is about to get crowded.

Six stories, four continents, one heatwave. That is fashion in August for you, and I would not have it any other way.

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