Returning to the source with Marine Serre SS26

For their Spring/Summer 2026 collection, the Paris-based house returns to its origin. Titled The Source, the collection begins from a place that feels almost radical in its simplicity. The garment as necessity and acting as a wearable source of armour.

Chapter I of the campaign, fronted by Ester Expósito, unfolds not as a performance but as a presence. A reflection on femininity before it is defined by expectation. Before self-surveillance. Before the gaze recalibrates posture and instinct. This is fashion at its most elemental.

The artist’s synonymous moon symbol continues its statement within this collection, originally introduced by her graduate collection, Radical Call for Love.

One Room, One Body, One Movement

Photographed by Sarah Piantadosi inside the quietly opulent interiors of Hôtel Grand Mazarin, Chapter I feels less like a campaign set and more like a private interlude. The light is muted, the air is soft and nothing appears staged.

Expósito moves through the space as if the camera has simply arrived mid-thought.

There is no overt seduction here, nor is there any sharp angles for effect. Instead, we witness a suspended state, a body at ease with itself. The narrative traces a version of femininity that is instinctive and intimate, like the way the patent black and sheer red of the fabrics fascinate themselves around the female body.

Serre, being known for her futuristic aesthetics blended with sustainability and cultural commentary, is an expert in combining sportswear, couture, streetwear and cultural dress references. Her design philosophy is but an expression of hybrid silhouettes and regeneration which radiates powerfully from her SS26 ensembles. 

The Second Skin

At the core of this opening chapter is a red jersey dress that clings to the body with sculptural precision. It drapes close, tracing every curve in one uninterrupted gesture. It does not reshape or restrict but rather it enunciates. The fabric moves similarly to that of water surrounding a body, flowing effortlessly to fill every curve.

This concept of the “second skin” runs throughout the collection. Jersey pieces contour naturally. Sculpted denim, marked with the designer’s unmistakable moon motif, grounds the wardrobe in recognisable enigmas while remaining tactile and lived in. 

Yellow trompe-l’oeil “python” cotton features which essentially is cotton that represents this reptile texture without using animal hide, appearing in suits, shirts and occasional accents throughout the collected works. This plays with traditional luxury materials through a sustainability lens.

Items like the lavender blue tote bag made from recycled textiles underscore Serre’s belief that accessories should also carry responsible design forward. A small set of sportswear-inspired pieces, nodding to athleticism and movement, reflects Serre’s childhood inspirations and personal memories of play.

Flashy red, pink, and floral silk scarves, sourced from deadstock are incorporated into tailoring and dresses. These provide vivid colour and pattern to the collection whilst giving recycled fabrics a new lease of life.

Marine Serre has long anchored her work in circularity, and SS26 continues that commitment with regenerated and upcycled materials woven seamlessly into refined construction. Sustainability here is not an aesthetic flourish; it is foundational. The past is reworked into something intimately contemporary.

Daytime seeps into evening without rupture. A silhouette can belong to both, creating a distinction that feels increasingly irrelevant.

A Generational Presence

Expósito embodies the Marine Serre woman with a calm intensity that resonates far beyond the frame. Alongside her, model Momo Ndiaye offers a complementary masculine energy: understated, assured, and quietly magnetic. Together they create a dialogue rather than a contrast, reflecting the collection’s interplay between instinct and control, softness and authority.

It is a portrait of a generation comfortable inhabiting its dualities.

Quiet Luxury, Rewritten

Accessories emerge not as statements, but as companions. The Aurora bag punctuates the narrative with subtle authority. It is functional as well as sensual. It reinforces the house’s ongoing redefinition of modern luxury that champions upcycling and hybrid outlines.

Marine Serre has never been interested in excess and instead, SS26 proposes a different kind of richness. The artist was inspired by a blend of sustainability, bodily movement, personal memory, and material storytelling. 

Before the Gaze

Chapter I is only the beginning. Across three chapters, The Source will trace evolving states of femininity: instinctive, reflective, and fully owned.

But this opening feels particularly potent. It captures that fleeting, unguarded moment before the world intervenes, when the body simply exists without comparison.

In returning to the source, Marine Serre reminds us that the most powerful gestures in fashion are often the quietest. A dress that follows the body’s lead. A room inhabited rather than displayed. A woman fully present in herself.

And in that feminine presence, everything feels intentional.

Now available on marineserre.com