Paul Costelloe brings the Sixties Beverly Hills Barbie to the runway

By Lara Owen, PA

Irish designer Paul Costelloe transported spectators across the Atlantic for his spring/summer 2026 London Fashion Week show.

Costelloe (80) is best known for having been appointed Diana, the Princess of Wales’ personal designer in 1983, and his style combines elegant and classic tailoring with blending contemporary design.

This show was the epitome of his work over the past four decades: An ode to the old heritage, bold and vibrant streets of Rodeo Drive in 1960s Beverly Hills, with the collection fittingly titled ‘Boulevard of Dreams’.

Usually drawing on a subdued palette of pastels or earth tones, this collection was a welcomed contrast to his previous ones, with tangerine and turquoise being focal colours of the collection.

Against a backdrop painted with candy-coloured palm trees, boulevards and convertibles, models walked in sky-blue trapeze minis, butter-yellow twinsets and sherbet-orange cut-out gowns perched on towering pastel platforms.

The whole scene evoked Rodeo Drive circa 1963, Beverly Hills Barbie, and the iconic photography of Slim Aarons.

Today, the West Coast of America evokes images of oversized sunglasses, metallic manicures and unapologetic displays of conspicuous consumption – but Costelloe managed to impressively tap into this stereotype while staying true to his signature timeless style.

Metallics were evident but softened through pearly hues on babydoll dresses.

Cut-outs and crops appeared alongside oversized bows and vintage, drop-waist hems – blending the old glamour of Sunset Boulevard with the contemporary cuts of the 2020s.

There was nothing stealthy about the palette. Costelloe leaned into his favourite high-summer pastels of baby blue, lemon, coral, sherbet pink, cut into mini capes, cropped knits and long column skirts slashed to the thigh.

His signature tweeds were blown up and lightened, worn as swing coats and tiny skirt suits with matching handbags and platform shoes in Easter-egg shades.

Even the hair, piled into high bouffants, nodded to an idealised California of the Sixties rather than Carnaby Street.

What gives this throwback its relevance is the way it mirrors the mood on the high street and in luxury right now: a craving for visible, joyful glamour after several seasons of quiet luxury.

Costelloe’s answer is to dress women as if they’re stepping off a pastel Cadillac into a Beverly Hills hotel lobby, but keep the tailoring light enough for a modern city summer.

It’s prim but the cut-outs manage to make it cool, not precious.

After months of muted minimalism, Costelloe’s technicolour Palm Springs-inspired show feels like a deliberate counter-act – one that suggests to be a pervading trend throughout fashion week.