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In a moment defined by displacement, instability, and the urgent need for new forms of presence, Estelita Mendonça presents SS26: a collection that inhabits the tension between fragility and resilience, memory and transformation.

At the core of the collection lies a dialogue with the East. Through a partnership with Porto based store Mão Esquerda, vintage silk kimonos and obis are upcycled into contemporary forms, fluid, protective, and loaded with quiet symbolism. These pieces are not just garments; they are carriers of stories now reshaped into the silhouettes of today.

The concept of portable habitat is explored through the reimagining of camping tents as garments. These structures, once temporary shelter, reflect a world in which movement, refuge, and self-preservation intersect. The body becomes a site of both vulnerability and defense, carrying its own space, its own resistance.

Within this landscape, the keffiyeh is introduced not merely as a textile, but as a statement. Its presence in the collection serves as a clear reflection on current global struggles, particularly in the Middle East — a reminder that fashion can and should speak to the world it inhabits.

This season, Estelita Mendonça SS26 is a meditation on how we inhabit our clothes, our identities, and our world, when permanence is no longer guaranteed.

Photos: Portugal Fashion

Styling: Simão Bolivar
Music: Elite Athlete
Supported by Portugal Fashion
Special Thanks to: Eduardo Vascov, João De Almeida, Hugo Veiga e Maria Nanim