Words: Khumoetsile Seamogano
Visual: The Row, Women’s Summer 2026
Welcome to The Soft Burn, a place to linger, laugh, and self-soothe.
No, my love, I was not there in person. But I watched from the sidelines: the thrill of Paris Fashion Week 2025 found me beneath the large mosu tree, tea in hand, barefoot on Botswana soil. I tried to pretend that I was not invested; but, this land shuns liars.
This year, the houses brushed dust from sleeping archives and coaxed fabrics to remember old songs. Creative directors became vessels, holding the past and future in careful balance. We, the vessels on the receiving end, savored what they spilled. Between nostalgia and invention, restraint and daring, the whispers are clear: craft, memory, and audacity matter.
The mood gave away the heart of each houses’ intentions. An elephant in the room here, big shoes to fill there. Lean closer. Five houses, five voices, each carrying history in seams and mischief in hems, have a few words.
01
CHANEL
House of rebirth
My feathers brush the edges of time. Each plume a whisper of what was, a promise of what may come. Celestial doors open. The past takes a standing ovation, bending the future toward possibility. Amongst the glamour, a single golden wheat sprouts. I am awake. Saturn’s rings twirl; cycles endure. Chaos and order fold into one luminous gesture. To evolve is not to forget. It is to shed, shimmer, and rise again — elegantly.
I am Chanel.
I evolve.
02
BURBERRY
House of endurance
Rumour had it I was counting my days. Daniel Lee reminded me that just like our puddles and drizzle, heritage endures. There is strength in quiet repetition. Integrity is never loud; it is in the stitches that survive storms. Sturdy yesterday, sturdy today. Wiser, with a pop of colour from all the messes I have survived.
I am Burberry. I am endure.
03
DIOR
House of reflection
The inverted pyramid waits, broad at the top with history, narrowing toward the future like a sigh distilled. I honor tradition while holding space for becoming. The grace of a pause. Listening is the first act of creation. Beauty emerges in stillness. Here I wait.
I am Dior. I am intentional with my becoming.
04
THE ROW
House of restraint
Sequins flirt with feathers on fabrics from far away mountains. Observation is power, subtlety the rebellion. In a world addicted to noise, stillness becomes subversion. A meditation on presence and craftsmanship, proving that restraint and richness can coexist without noise.
I am The Row. My silence ripples through time.
05
SCHIAPARELLI
House of revelation
The sacred in the strange. Shadows of Dali and Elsa linger, coaxed into trompe-l’oeil dreams. Black, bone, crimson—the holy trinity restrained, yet electric. It is the mirror that bends truth into art, where absurdity births awe. We do not trend; we haunt.
I am Schiaparelli. I shock and awaken all six senses.
This is The Soft Burn.
Until next time, remember, you are a vessel. Let the music of existence pulse through you, and if something stirs within you, pass it on.
The world is listening.
