Avavav SS26 is “Soon on Sale” – a Satire on Consumerism and Creativity’s Collapse into Commerce
For Spring/Summer 2026, Avavav presents its newest collection in a setting where fashion usually doesn’t come to be born, but to survive on life support: fashion’s ICU — the outlet store. The conceptual lookbook and short film show mannequin-like models posing stiffly while shoppers storm the space in a frenzy, plundering racks plastered with markdown tags. A depressing backdrop for presenting brand new designs — and precisely the point.
The “Soon on Sale” presentation is a satire, mocking the fear that haunts every designer: ending up on the sale rack. The irony is blatant — markdowns are vilified as failure, yet the fashion system is built to depend on them, with a 55% full-price sell-through considered a success and standard practice. Designers are pushed to pump out endless “newness,” accelerating the product life cycle until creativity is chewed up and spat out. For small independents, this isn’t just unsustainable — it’s destructive, draining resources, devaluing work, and leaving little room to create authentically.
Creative Director Beate Skonare Karlsson reflects, “Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the paradox of being a ‘free creator’ in a system that constantly reminds you of its rules. Without even noticing, I’ve caught myself following them — investing in shows I can’t justify as a small independent brand, designing at a speed I don’t enjoy, watching pieces end up on sale before they’ve even hit the shelves. It’s almost funny, if it wasn’t so exhausting.
I think many of us are stuck in that contradiction: wanting to create something authentic, while adjusting ourselves to fit into a framework that was built by big brands. This collection is my way of playing with that tension. By presenting new designs in a space that already looks discarded, I wanted to highlight how fragile value has become. It’s sad, but also a little ridiculous — and somewhere in that mix of exhaustion and humour is where I find myself right now.”
The SS26 collection takes Avavav’s core DNA of drippy goth streetwear and experimental tailoring and pushes it into new, often contradictory, directions – echoing the industry demands of constant novelty. One model, looking eerily artificial, wears a striking red sequin dress that emphasizes feminine curves through shaded contours, only to reveal bold lettering across the back: 80% SALE. The irony is as sharp as the silhouette — glamour instantly undercut by its own devaluation. A heather-grey hoodie dress merges the casual with the sculptural, its puffy short sleeves and circular skirt forming a strange yet compelling hybrid. Avavav’s signature smocked pants return in exaggerated form, pooling into a drippy silhouette that resembles a puddle more than a trouser. Faux-fur accessories — from top hats to fox tails — add retro eccentricity, layered onto modern streetwear shapes.
First introduced in SS25, prints and fabric treatments evoking a rib-cage motif now firmly cement themselves as a brand signature: sprayed across crochet, sliced into hoodies, patchworked onto shirts and slashed on a skeletal maxi dress. It’s not a new theme for this season – but that’s the whole point. Footwear veers into surrealism: the Luge heel, inspired by the aerodynamic qualities of Luge footwear, yet stripped of function, features a 22-centimeter spike that turns performance into parody. The Moonrubber silhouette mutates into a cosmic boot fit for a stroll on the Milky Way.
Avavav’s SS26 presentation exposes the absurdity of a system that fears the sale rack while depending on it, and the toll that cycle takes on creativity itself. And it’s also one of the reasons why the brand decided to skip the runway this season: constant push for spectacle is simply unsustainable if you want to preserve creative integrity. It is at once sad and funny, serious and unserious, but above all clear-eyed: a refusal to join the race, and a reminder that real value lies in leading with vision rather than following the rules. Set in fashion’s ICU, Avavav presents something defiantly alive: a refusal to burn out in the churn, and a reminder that even in decline, vision can’t be marked down.
