WAIST MANAGEMENT

As Emerald Fennell's take on 'Wuthering Heights' continues to polarise the internet, Olivia Petter looks at how the corsets seen in the divisive film have inspired London Fashion Week

- Olivia Petter

If it isn't tightly bound and laced up, it's not getting worn this season. That seems to be the main takeaway from the autumn/winter 2026 collections at London Fashion Week, which have been defined by the humble corset.

Call it the “Wuthering Heights” effect, a newfound nostalgia for period dressing, or perhaps it has something to do with Bridgerton... but whatever it is, the corset is back — and it’s set to be a ubiquitous style staple in the months ahead.

I know what you're thinking: caging women’s bodies in uncomfortable, absurdly tight clothes designed to shrink our waistline is, at best, a relic of another, less progressive era, and at worst, a symptom of contemporary Ozempic culture. But this season’s corsets aren’t designed to constrict so much as to accentuate and celebrate a woman’s body.

At Harris Reed, corsets were modelled on wings, with their tips pointing upwards, while a Chantilly lace corset extended from the waist, taking up more space rather than less. Meanwhile, at Patrick McDowell, corsetry took a prime spot in the finale bridal look, with a tightly bound bodice that laced up at the back.

Sinead Gorey served up pub-culture-inspired corsets on her runway, with sheer black bodices peeking out from underneath wide skirts and even becoming the entire look themselves, with lingerie-style corsets giving shape to sheer shirting and, in one particularly gothic case, a liquid satin blood-red minidress.