Every school class has that one weird art kid. With big glasses and messy hair. Clothes that never fit the way they’re supposed to. And with weird, I mean cool. And with cool, I mean Andersson Bell, the Korea-based brand under the creative direction of Dohun Kim, which just presented its Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Soft Clash, at Seoul Fashion Week.
Now, this art kid doesn’t take us into a studio stacked with canvases or some retro record store where it likes to spend its free time; it takes us on an exploratory journey through a forest of fabrics, colours, and textures, grounded by a carpet whose blood-red colour commands: Be impulsive and just stop overthinking! Because that’s what the brand’s Spring/Summer collection is all about. About a way of dressing led by feelings and emotions, seemingly spontaneous and improvised. About creating contrasts that celebrate imperfection and the honesty behind it. It’s vulnerable and strong. It’s awkward and charming. It’s bold — and maybe even a bit shy.
Since its launch in 2014, Andersson Bell has been known for blending various cultural elements with its own identity (fun fact: the brand name is a combination of a typical Scandinavian surname and a traditional Korean temple bell), and Soft Clash is no exception. The inspiration for this intentional chaos came from two legendary British musicians: PJ Harvey, who rose to fame in the indie scene of the early ‘90s and was loved for her bright, rebellious looks that played with femininity, rock, and punk; as well as Jarvis Cocker, the frontman of the band Pulp, who wears his messy hair, big glasses, colourful oversized blazers, and shirts like a uniform.
Knowing all this, the collection really starts to make sense. There’s a lot of denim –as jackets, baggy pants, but also as skirts– combined with checkered and pleated fabrics. Knit pullovers, wrongly buttoned tops, and never-ending layering: chunky belts stacked to create an interesting waist, double polo jerseys, double pants, featherlight mesh over crumpled shirts. But it’s the little details that really create this magical tension between texture and colour: big, washed-out stains on the jeans, as if the models had romped around the garden just minutes before the show. A little lotus charm dangling from a leather handbag. Fun accessories such as black glasses that scream more teenage dirtbag than office siren (finally, it was time). And collars that don’t seem to belong anywhere, really. At the same time, camel suede and light blue highlights connect the various looks throughout the collection.
One key element that brings this entire collection to life is the styling, something that should be a given at every good runway show — but unfortunately, it’s not. The longer you look at the pieces, the more you fall in love with British stylist Robbie Spencer’s incredibly precise work: how one side of the collar is tucked underneath a jacket, seemingly by accident, while the other spikes aggressively into the air. Ties wrapped around the model’s body, the way a belt forces a knitted cardigan into shape and direction.
Because of that, Kim’s vision is even more embraced, and in my opinion, it’s so easy to be inspired by this collection: inspired to be experimental, to grab all your random, dusty stuff in your wardrobe and throw it together until you get a playful, fun, and spontaneous look. In the end, Andersson Bell shows us that this is how the cool kids dress now.
