Lucila Safdie’s ‘feminine and surreal’ womenswear is inspired by teenage bedrooms and internet lore

Rising talent, names to know: ‘Uprising’ is a monthly feature highlighting an energetic new vanguard of fashion talent, selected by the Wallpaper* style team.

Crib notes

Name: Lucila Safdie

Brand: Lucila Safdie

Alumnus of: Central Saint Martins

City: London, United Kingdom

Signature style: Pastel-shaded, reference-driven womenswear shaped by the contradictions of girlhood

Design Philosophy

Last September, rather than hosting a runway show for her London Fashion Week debut, Lucila Safdie did something quite unusual. Editors were invited down to Soho Revue Gallery on Greek Street, where, upon arrival, they found not a catwalk – or indeed, an exhibition – but a teenage bedroom. Oblivious to their visitors in the way teenagers so often are, a group of girls lounged on beds, scrolled on laptops and tried on awkwardly-cut, pastel-shaded clothes in the mirror. It was a small stroke of genius – witty, memorable, and a perfect snapshot of the girlhood-preoccupied world the Buenos Aires-born designer has been building since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2022.

‘I wanted to show a glimpse into the universe of the brand, something that felt feminine and surreal,’ the designer tells Wallpaper*. ‘It felt right and in tune with what I’ve been doing so far to present it in this way and not do a runway.’ Working closely with emerging gallerists Isabelle Sayer and Bella Bruton on set building, while turning to performance artist Daria Blum for movement direction, the whole thing, says Safdie, came together with very little rehearsal. ‘I think because the ritual of dressing is such an intuitive thing for women, it was super easy for the models.’

Safdie's wardrobe draws upon a broad library of feminist literature and internet lore. The walls of her Hackney Wick studio are plastered with moody high-production early-2000s magazine editorials, film stills from Picnic at Hanging Rock, and erudite Joan Didion quotes – but there’s a self-knowing playfulness in the way the designer takes inspiration from ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. She lists Sylvia Plath, Chantal Akerman, Sofia Coppola, Lucrecia Martel, Joan Didion and Miuccia Prada as her creative icons, but is just as quick to cite the formative influence of America’s Next Top Model and the world of Tumblr. Growing up in Argentina, those shows and images discovered online are what compelled her to move halfway around the world to study fashion design.

Since graduating from Central Saint Martins, Safdie has shaped a wardrobe that balances an intellectual interest in the contours of womanhood with what she actually wants to wear every day (her uniform, she says, is a Brandy Melville cardigan and ‘low-waisted stuff – mainly jeans’). Each collection begins with whatever rabbit hole currently has her attention. ‘I usually just lean into whatever I’m obsessed with at the moment, be it a book, a movie, anything,’ she says. ‘I filter it through my own point of view. I ask myself: how does this translate into the clothes I want to wear, or the clothes I want to see in the world? And everything goes from there.’

This season, that was the tragic story of the Romanov sisters – the daughters of Tsar Nicholas II, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia – whose sheltered adolescence and execution by Bolshevik revolutionaries has fuelled decades of fascination. ‘I've been obsessed with the Romanov sisters for a while, and then I started watching Youtube documentaries on them and collecting pictures from Facebook groups,’ she says. ‘When the time came to start preparing the S/S 2026 collection, I just knew it was going to be about them.’

Rather than referencing history directly, Safdie put her own chronically online twist on the tale. Her teenage-bedroom display at Soho Revue Gallery imagined a group of 21st-century sisters becoming obsessed with the Romanovs, staying up late researching their lives through forums, archives and documentaries. ‘I find the whole process of learning about historical figures online fascinating – the ways it involves romanticisation, misinterpretation, and fantasy,’ she explains.

The resulting clothes flew close to the realm of cute, saved by a sensual edge lent by their body-clinging fabrics and skin-baring detailing. Working within a tightly edited palette of pink, white and grey, the collection mixed Peter Pan-collared polos worn with frill-edged shorts, chevron-striped skirts paired with cap-sleeve piped tees that recalled Topshop’s heyday, and cutout cotton dresses worn with clustered pearl necklaces and shiny ballet flats. Constructed with sharp attention to detail, each of Safdie’s pieces is crafted in her London studio in small quantities, a tactile process that mirrors the personal themes behind each collection.

It’s no surprise that Safdie’s deeply referenced, melancholic-shaded niche has attracted a swell of attention. Stars including Addison Rae, Alex Consani and Devon Lee Carlson have all worn her frill-edged designs, but it’s through her monthly east London cinema club that Safdie feels closest to the community forming around her brand. Screening exclusively female directors, the designer announces each event on Instagram via a swirling cursive invitation penned on Château Marmont notepads – no doubt a wink to hero Sofia Coppola. Past screenings have been global and decidedly niche, including Girls of the Night by Kinuyo Tanaka and Wanda by Barbara Loden.

‘It really started because me and my best friend, June, always go to the cinema,’ says Safdie. ‘One day I just thought, “I want to have my own film club.” June immediately said the same, so we were like, “Okay, let’s do it together”. It made sense to do it under the umbrella of the brand. Early on, we decided that we only wanted to screen films directed by women.’ The most recent iteration took place last week at London’s most elusive new club space, Lost, housed in the former Odeon on Shaftesbury Avenue. The event unfolded as a daytime shopping pop-up that transitioned into an after-dark screening of one of Safdie’s favourite films, In The Cut by Jane Campion, with cosmopolitans flowing throughout.

While most young designers are eager to plan their first runway display, Safdie has other plans for 2026. She’s itching to take her brand on the road, hosting ephemeral shopping experiences and building moments of connection along the way. ‘I would love to travel to different cities and host pop ups and film clubs around the world,’ she says. ‘I think something I’ve been missing these past years is travelling, and it now feels like the right time.’

In Their Words: ‘I think ‘girlhood’ is the lens from which I look at stuff. Becoming a woman is such a complex process and it has so many edges to it, I try to bring those feelings into whatever I’m interested in at the moment and let them shape the clothes I make. It’s less about describing girlhood and more about exploring all the contradictions within it.’

lucilasafdie.com