The Cult of Kiko Kostadinov

4 min read

You can recognize a Kiko Kostadinov outfit almost instantly. The garments are often unusually tailored, with geometric lines and weirdly satisfying references to the past, whether it be the Renaissance era or the atomic 1940s. Above all else, there’s an unfamiliar fantasy that dominates, with familiar references that add a nostalgic element. It layers different histories and various realities. Take, for instance, a bomber jacket that has been reinvented with triangular, modernist epaulets and paneling down the center. Or a V-neck cardigan maxi dress with detachable oversize sleeves and a bicolor hood. Both of these pieces were examples of things the fashion house sent down the fall/winter 2026 runway.

The namesake label was initially founded by Kiko Kostadinov, a Bulgarian fashion designer based in London, as a menswear brand in 2016. Two years later, the Australian sisters Laura and Deanna Fanning launched the womenswear component, and they’ve been putting their signature stamp on the clothing ever since. Days before their October 5 show at Paris Fashion Week, the duo is putting the finishing touches on their collection in their London studio. “So far, we feel like the collection is looking very clean, very graphic,” Deanna tells ELLE of the upcoming spring/summer 2027 collection. “I think the past few seasons for us have almost been the opposite of that. In some ways, I think we have been able to explore a need to develop a silhouette to explore transparencies. I guess it’s our version of minimalism, which won’t be minimal for others.”

Kiko Kostadinov fall/winter 2026.

The Central Saint Martins grads joined the brand early on; Deanna is Kiko’s girlfriend-turned-wife, and the twins have always worked together for as long as they can remember. When they started in 2018, Kiko gave them free rein for womenswear, and they pulled from their master’s collections. “There was a moment where we tried to separate in our late teens, but it didn’t work,” says Deanna. “We tried it and hated it,” says Laura with a laugh. “I guess we have a very natural way of communicating, which I think means you can reveal your authentic intentions, which is a fundamental part of the design process,” she adds.

Deanna has a knitwear background, while Laura says her specialty is silhouette. “What links us is we’re both very interested in textiles and color, but also accessories because those three aspects of fashion or design form a really big part of how we convey the image and the woman and the products.”

The twin sisters, Laura and Deanna Fanning.

The twins grew up wearing school uniforms in Australia, which partly inspired their love of footwear—a huge part of the collaboration business for the brand by way of ASICS and others. “When I was living in Australia, it was so interesting to see all the businessmen sit down on the train and you just look at their shoes, which ones have great shoes, which ones have generic shoes, and which ones are terrible,” says Laura. “But maybe they’re terribly good.” Their Italian grandparents helped shape their fondness for craftsmanship; they remember seeing family send them boxes of clothes and shoes made in Italy, at a time when it was near impossible to get these kinds of pieces in Australia.

Kiko Kostadinov spring/summer 2025.

Kiko Kostadinov spring/summer 2025.

Today, Kiko Kostadinov’s womenswear line has a sort of cult following among artists and intellectuals. They credit it with having an audience that’s open to wearing things that don’t fit the mold. At a base level, they describe the Kiko womenswear uniform as a niche pair of trousers, flat shoes, and an unexpected, textural knit. But what also makes the label unique in appeal to this type of demographic is very likely the mix of utility and the sci-fi element, which the twins have been inspired by since their master’s collection. For the fans, the unique aesthetic is unanimously understood. But for others, sometimes it reads differently. The sisters remember an early piece that they call a technical masterpiece: a lightweight nylon zip-up with sheer elastics, with roughly 30 panels. But then came the request to wear the look to a Halloween party, which they now laugh about.

Somehow, someway, Kiko Kostadinov womenswear can feel at once medieval and futuristic; a single piece can read as distinctly Star Trek and Renaissance fair at the same time—but it’s also inherently wearable and doesn’t fall into stereotypical costuming. On the topic of transporting women to different universes through clothing, Laura and Deanna are at the top. “I always think it’s interesting to disorient someone because that means that someone’s not so comfortable, so you’re challenging their perception,” says Laura when asked if they intend to give their clothing a transformational element.

Still, for the new season, the designers say they’re craving a kind of directness. They studied the work of visual artist Nanda Vigo, who created many ambient works where she used light to delineate space. Their aim is to reinterpret that idea on the body, once again making the beautifully unfamiliar feel instinctive.