Who are the 5 indie brands in Charli xcx's “SS26” video clip? The consecration of the muse of emerging designers
Directed by the duo Torso, the music video for Spring Summer 2026 sees Charli xcx transform the fashion show into a meta-fashion experience where the runway, backstage, and celebrity culture converge into a single visual stream. The title itself evokes the codified grammar of the fashion system — SS26 — conjuring the obsessive calendar of fashion weeks and, according to many fans, a subtle nod to the The Real Me episode (2001) of Sex and the City.
The video does not merely borrow the aesthetic of runway shows: it genuinely inhabits it, bringing together central figures from the industry such as Carine Roitfeld, Anthony Vaccarello, Michel Gaubert, Lucien Pagès, Loïc Prigent, and many others. With styling by Chris Horan and Angelina Arena, the clip weaves together designers already close to Charli's aesthetic with emerging new names, once again confirming her role as a contemporary muse for the fashion system. Indeed, the words that open the video, spoken by Carine Roitfeld, seem to immediately declare its manifesto: «Fashion won't save us. But let's go on the runway and walk».
Benjamin Barron & Bror August Vestbø of August Barron
Among the brands featured, the creative duo August Barron — made up of Bror August Vestbø and Benjamin Barron — stands out. Finalists for the LVMH Prize, the two designers have built a visual world that reinterprets existing garments and feminine archetypes: drawing on pop culture and celebrity, they transform their subjects into suspended figures, familiar yet impossible to place — contemporary chimeras, of which Charli xcx herself is one. Originally launched as a magazine in 2015 and becoming a label in 2019, August Barron continues to move between publishing and fashion, keeping clothing and storytelling in constant dialogue.
The Archive X Yana
Though not a label in the traditional sense, The Archive X Yana also makes an appearance — a platform specialising in archive fashion that has become a key reference point within the fashion system in recent years. The archive holds an extensive selection of vintage runway pieces by names such as John Galliano for Dior, Tom Ford for Gucci, Vivienne Westwood, Martin Margiela, and Jean Paul Gaultier. In this context, the presence of The Archive X Yana is no coincidence: the project operates as a curatorial engine capable of reactivating iconic moments in contemporary fashion through music videos, red carpets, and campaigns — aligning seamlessly with the British singer's vision and history.
Javier Guijarro
Among the emerging names, Javier Guijarro also stands out: at just twenty-four years old, he has already established himself as one of the most compelling voices in the Spanish fashion landscape. Having dressed artists such as Bad Gyal and Karol G, Guijarro entered Charli's visual universe during the SWEAT tour with Troye Sivan in 2025, also creating the look she wore to the MET Gala after-party the previous year. His work reinterprets the codes of masculine tailoring through a more fluid and generational sensibility, while maintaining a spontaneous attitude that sits naturally within the singer's aesthetic — further cementing their creative partnership.
Lou de Bètoly
Lou de Bètoly is the brand founded by French designer Odély Teboul, who — through upcycling practices and local craftsmanship — creates couture pieces assembled from buttons, lingerie, yarns, and reclaimed materials, warping bourgeois codes into something deliberately eccentric and unsettling. An aesthetic already beloved by figures such as Dua Lipa, Rosalía, and Beyoncé. It is no coincidence that Chris Horan chose the brand's pieces to dress Charli, including at the Berlin International Film Festival last February. For SS26, the brand's distinctive combination of elegance and excess, fragility and chaos slots entirely naturally into the artist's new, disillusioned poetic.
Daniil Antsiferov
The video also features Daniil Antsiferov, a designer known for his romantic and theatrical silhouettes, constructed through corsets, draping, ruching, and deconstructed gowns that seem suspended between couture and stage costume. Founded in 2009, the brand develops a deeply melodramatic visual world in which femininity is pushed to extremes until it becomes almost performative: fragile, artificial, sensual, and deliberately excessive. His collections draw equally from an aristocratic, decadent aesthetic and from the language of fetish and contemporary glamour, creating figures that seem to have stepped out of a post-Romantic theatre. A sensibility that mirrors Charli xcx's evolving aesthetic — increasingly oriented toward a hyper-aware, theatrical, and glamorous dimension.