The Untold Stories of Ashi Studio

Every show begins with a feeling, this one began with dissonance. A melancholic dress moved slowly in tune with the echoing violin’s lingering notes. Silk, lace, rhinestones — recurring, shimmering anew. Your eyes flicker from one detail to another: animal motifs seem to breathe, blooming patterns that stir like gentle sighs, modern silhouettes woven into timeless shapes.

For Fall/Winter 2025–26, Mohammed Ashi constructed a couture show that was, at its core, architectural. Rigid and fluid in equal measure, the garments stood between sculpture and softness. Structured silhouettes met exaggerated proportions; sharp tailoring was layered with elements that felt plucked from flea market treasures — porcelain details, feathers, aged textiles, and echoes of opulent French interiors.

Pure juxtaposition within luxury. Chaos within an architectural frame.

Looks 18, 19 and 2; Credit: Ashi Couture FW25 / Fall/Winter 2025 – 2026

That day in Rue de Longchamp, Paris, Mohammed Ashi let the garments speak. No name. No theme. Just an unspoken narrative everyone seemed to understand.

Rather than anchoring the collection to a single theme, Ashi offered something looser, more instinctive — an emotional experience that carried the weight of centuries without wavering. It whispered of forgotten rooms, half-faded myths, and rituals left behind. The audience didn’t just watch, they followed. Picking up traces, catching references, grabbing the small things — as if assembling a memory from fragments. This was a journey that drifted between the Grande Singerie room of the Château de Chantilly and the boudoirs of London’s Jack the Ripper era.

Looks 7, 8 and 9; Credit: Ashi Couture FW25 / Fall/Winter 2025 – 2026

While I’d highly recommend watching the show yourself — folding between fashion and classical music to fully experience the crafted, orchestrated atmosphere — a few pieces stood out. In Look 7, a corset carved in a wood-like finish emerged, its frame wrapped with sculptural monkeys clinging to the structure. A similar symbol returned in Look 9, where a cream ensemble was embroidered with monkeys and leaves in near-religious detail. These animal motifs weren’t embellishments — they were central, mythical, even philosophical.

Across art history, animal symbolism has always carried weight. From medieval manuscripts to fashion runways, animals serve as vessels. The monkey, in particular, could allude to countless: as a reflection of vanity, lust, mimicry — or as a direct connotation to chaos itself. The power of Ashi’s work lies in its openness. It doesn’t demand understanding — it invites it. The collection is both classical and unfamiliar, deliberate yet elusive. This is couture at its most interpretive: where every thread gestures toward a larger narrative, and every embellishment carries its own weight. It doesn’t ask to be solved, it asks to be seen.

If this was chaos, it was carefully built and held. Ashi Studio’s couture transcends nostalgia — a work of art, mystery, and memory. A structured ode to craftsmanship and the atelier’s enduring spirit.

The Untold Stories of Ashi Studio