Can British heritage be sexy? Mithridate is proving it can

If British heritage has a reputation, it’s for being a touch twee: prim tailoring, polite pleats, and a certain Oxbridge stiffness that doesn’t always pulse with the vibrant energy London Fashion Week is known for. Daniel Fletcher is out to change that with his Autumn/Winter 2026 collection for Mithridate.

With his third runway show for the Guangzhou-based brand, Fletcher traced a line from southern China to the banks of the Thames, inspired by the journey of wisteria brought to the UK in the 1800s. “It was the first one ever brought to the UK and Europe, planted in Chiswick,” Fletcher explained backstage. “It became the origin plant for all the wisteria in Europe that still blooms today. Something coming over from Guangzhou and finding its roots here in the UK is what I want to achieve with Mithridate.” 

Held at the Tate Britain, the show unfolded beneath the gaze of one of the country’s most quintessential cultural institutions – a temple to British art and identity. In the centre of the space, a wisteria tree rose under the lights, its trailing blossoms cast in a near-fantastical glow.

When the models began their promenade you could feel Fletcher wrestling with Britishness this season. The designer’s repertoire of the nation’s tried and true sartorial codes were present; tailoring and trench coats, field jackets and duffels. Still, this season that DNA was injected with an unexpected severity.

“For me the ambition is to make twee sexy,” he said. And this season, he did. The opening salvos were sharp: pinstripe suiting met army-surplus knits fitted with strong, squared shoulders. “You start with this military, naval world. And then the characters you would meet travelling along the river – sports players, fishermen.”

It’s when the story gets to Fletcher’s imagined metropolis where the sex appeal becomes apparent. Body-conscious sportswear cut close to the torso, while moiré minidresses caught the light with a seductive sheen. Flouncy feather shawls brought drama and a louche flourish. 

The menswear was defined by a sense of dressed-up debauchery – shirts left seductivley unbuttoned, Cumberland belts pulled tight and sitting just beneath the waistband, echoing the flash of logo underwear peeking above low-slung trousers.

The styling was key: hair slicked back and gleaming, as if the models had emerged from rain or river. Frantic and undone, it emphasised a rakish, debonair sex appeal in the looks that might otherwise have felt polite.

The journey was elevated by a dark, romantic soundtrack, folding each look into a chapter of a modern adventure. When Wolf Alice “Don’t Delete the Kisses” pulsed through the space – impulsive yet cynically sweet – it underscored the tension at the heart of the collection.

“Who says British heritage can’t be sexy?” Fletcher asked. By the time the finale swept past, the answer felt self-evident.