DI PETSA AW26 Medusa’s Lover Transforms Myth Into Modern Power at London Fashion Week

At Bacchanalia Mayfair, inside the Apollo’s Muse Room framed by monumental sculpture, DI PETSA unveiled Medusa’s Lover for Autumn Winter 2026. The presentation leaned into the brand’s signature sensual language while expanding its mythological framework, positioning the collection as a meditation on power, eroticism, and transformation.

The London Fashion Week showing placed guests in a carefully constructed narrative environment. Models moved through the space as if emerging from memory, reinforcing the collection’s central tension between seduction and self-possession. Attendees included Leomie Anderson, Remi Bader, Nassia, Sophia Hadjipantelli, Hana Mai, and Danielle Marcan.

Reframing the Gaze

Creative direction this season centers on Medusa as a figure of reclaimed agency. The collection explores the story of a woman transformed into a monster who ultimately converts her curse into strength. The staging imagines the sculptural figures within Apollo’s Muse Room as Medusa’s former lovers, frozen in stone through her gaze.

The narrative unfolds as a dreamlike awakening. Medusa moves through her own memories, confronting desire, danger, and the pull of personal evolution. The emotional throughline reflects DI PETSA’s continued interest in femininity that exists outside passive archetypes.

Transformation as an Erotic Process

AW26 positions self-actualization as a gradual shedding, drawing a direct parallel to the serpent motif. Throughout the collection, transformation is framed as both seductive and unsettling. The result is a lineup that treats eroticism not as surface decoration but as structural concept.

New Draping Techniques Take Shape

At the atelier, the team developed updated draping methods designed to echo snake skin in the moment before shedding. Fabric appears suspended in transition, reinforcing the collection’s preoccupation with change in motion.

The house’s signature wetlook aesthetic continues to evolve through prints that shift visually between serpent scales and nude illusion. This half-woman, half-snake visual language anchors many of the season’s strongest silhouettes.

The finale introduces a new leather wetlook dress featuring decorative gussets, a detail that reappears as an ornamental motif throughout the collection. Silver and gold gussets are paired with sea-inspired pendants that trace the body’s natural lines.

Bodysuits Take Priority

This season places pronounced emphasis on bodysuits, signaling a shift toward fully integrated silhouettes. The design approach explores the push and pull between concealment and exposure through strategic cut-out patterns that move across garments like ceremonial markings.

Particular attention is directed toward the hips, positioned as the anatomical anchor of the collection. Within the DI PETSA framework, this area represents sacral and divine transformation, reinforcing the broader narrative of personal evolution.

The Modern Ancient Male Figure

DI PETSA menswear advances its exploration of the Modern Ancient Male Figure, applying the house’s draped wetlook language to the male form. The AW26 offering presents masculinity as fluid and sculptural, grounded in body-conscious construction.

Key looks include wetlook tank tops engineered to contour the torso, paired with black wetlook trousers. The collection also introduces couture-influenced silhouettes, including a draped torso piece that ties at the back in a corset-like configuration for men. The approach maintains the brand’s signature sensuality while expanding its menswear vocabulary.

A Lived-In, Serpentine Finish

The AW26 beauty direction, created by make-up artist Bea Sweet in collaboration with stylist Emily Evans, reinforces the vision of the DI PETSA woman as a contemporary mythological figure.

Skin is intentionally luminous with a fresh, sweat-like finish. Body shine is heightened using organic lube brand Ples’Jour, creating a high-gloss surface that mirrors the wetlook garments. Models and performers appear with freshly inked tattoos, introduced as symbols of permanence and renewal.

Headpieces constructed with raw crystals partially obscure the eyes, while some models shield their gaze with their hands, visually negotiating the danger and allure associated with Medusa’s stare.

Jewellery and Footwear Details

The Medusa Goddess collection from AWE Inspired Fine Jewellery appears throughout the runway, layering the looks with gold and silver symbolic elements. Medusa signet rings, serpent-wrapped bands, and stacked chain necklaces featuring the Goddess Medallion reinforce the collection’s mythic tone. Menswear accessories include pendant chains set with black and green onyx crystals encircled by serpent detailing.

Footwear comes via Western Affair, whose mule heels receive a sharpened treatment with gold and silver spikes. Rendered in patent leather black, red, and white, the shoes maintain a high-gloss finish consistent with the collection’s visual language.

DI PETSA also acknowledged Chateau Denmark for hosting the brand throughout London Fashion Week. The venue provided the styling apartment used for pre-show preparations, fittings, and casting, its baroque and gothic interiors aligning closely with the Medusa-inspired atmosphere.

With Medusa’s Lover, DI PETSA continues to refine its position within London’s fashion landscape. The AW26 collection builds on the label’s established wetlook identity while pushing further into narrative-driven design.