“A mask lets you live in a different skin,” creative director Mohammed Ashi said. “I was thinking about a warped kind of historicism – how you borrow from another century without being bound by it. The ball, for me, is where that becomes possible.”

This mask that allows you to live, adapt and grow into someone new is the whole idea behind Ashi’s Fall/Winter 2026 Haute Couture collection, “A Different Skin.” The collection intertwines ideas of identity, costume and character through clothing, and our choice of clothing that tells the world who we are. 

Inspired by historical archetypes and their silhouettes, like the Napoleonic officer, court ambassador, the sensibility of Victorian figurines and even a broken doll, not only are these figures references, but they are the different characters one can step into. 

The collection was presented at a surrealist ball as a reference to Salvador Dalí, one of the original masters of blending reality and illusion. This is what Ashi meant when he borrowed from another century to create the fashion of today and tomorrow.

Made of leather worked to resemble ceramic, beaded silhouettes referencing glass, opaline surfaces laced with metalwork and Japanese paper painted to resemble fallen leaves seen at hems, every little detail was thought of and properly executed to create unique, whimsical looks. With real insects that have been individually hand-painted and applied to fabric folds, lingerie layered beneath tailoring and a Venetian mirror set into the back of one look, nothing was too much or too unconventional for Ashi.

It is all the details, patience and imagination that make “A Different Skin” perfect for whatever life for yourself or someone else you wish to step into.