Lucila Safdie’s London debut brought online girlhood IRL

There is a corner of the internet where pale pink, Didion quotes, film stills and The Bell Jar’s fig tree will always reign supreme. It’s a space I and a whole generation of girls grew up in – originally on Tumblr, and now on TikTok, thanks to the Gen Alpha girls. It‘s a world that, when I walk into Lucila Safdie’s East London studio, I feel immediately. 

Born and raised in Buenos Aires but based in London, her first forays into fashion came through a mix of childhood play and discovery. “One of my favourite childhood memories is going shopping with my mom and dressing Polly Pockets, and it all spiralled from there,” she explains. “I found out about CSM online and decided to apply and see.” Now, a few years since graduating from the design programme, Safdie presented her first collection on the official London Fashion Week schedule last Sunday (September 21).

For her, girlhood is not nostalgic kitsch but a living archive. The SS26 collection, entitled Tristesse Impériale, draws on the tragic yet mythic story of the Romanov sisters, reframed through the lens of modern digital adolescence. “It’s the idea of the Romanov girls, their doomed girlhood and the idea of transforming these sisters into immortal saints. I find the whole story around their lives fascinating and moving,” Safdie explains. “I thought imagining the collection and concept through the eyes of a group of modern girls would be a fun angle”.

As she talks me through her collection, almost as if we’ve entered an IRL Tumblr feed, “Liability” by Lorde starts playing. Mixing in pieces that she’s already known for, like her frilly-cheeked micro shorts, the collection carries a duality of fragility and play. Pointelle cardigans, chiffon skirts, cotton jersey bodysuits, and demi-couture dresses shift between comfort and fantasy. “For me, the issue is always that there are so many clothes out there that are unbearable. I like the idea of feeling cute and not wanting to go back home to change into your sweatpants”. That balance of fantasy and wearability is what anchors Safdie’s vision.

Portraits of the Romanov sisters’ ominous gaze by Spanish painter Chechu Álava (who Safdie “literally just found on Instagram”) appear on mesh skirts and tops, helping to extend her ongoing conversation with art, cinema, and memory. Elsewhere, the colour palettes lean into pale whites, flashes of pink and blue, alongside sharp black stripes – tones that echo both the delicacy of Álava’s brushwork and the sudden surges of adolescent intensity.

Safdie’s fascination with research extends well beyond fashion. Stacked by her desk are books she studied while working on the collection. She admits to falling into rabbit holes of films, podcasts and books as a way of building new worlds for her designs. Movies, in particular, are a constant source of inspiration. “I always watch movies because it’s my favourite hobby, but this collection was more based on historical research than movies”.

Alongside her brand, Sadfie has also built a community of loyal London followers through her film club. “Me and my best friend June go to the cinema, like, a million times per week and wished we could pick which movies we see on the big screen,” she explains. From there, it made sense to start a film club. “It’s women-only directed films that we love, and now we have a whole group of girls who come every time, which is really fun,” she continues. Ultimately, the club reflects the same ethos that drives Safdie’s designs: creating community, obsessing over references, and translating shared cultural experiences into tangible rituals of girlhood.

Safdie’s clothes are less about appealing to everyone than articulating a shared emotional and cultural language of girlhood

For many, the interplay of history and digital culture is what makes Safdie so relevant to now. Fashion continues to grapple with its everlasting relationship to girlhood. Just look at Miu Miu’s studious girl, Sandy Liang’s balletcore, Simone Rocha’s baby-doll dresses – and, now, Safdie’s insider perspective of girlhood in 2025. “I design with me and my friends in mind; the books and movies that we are into, and our love for buying clothes”. The clothes are less about appealing to everyone than articulating a shared emotional and cultural language of girlhood that already exists online.

Safdie’s debut was not only about clothes but about staging a mood. The designer collaborated with movement director Daria Blum to capture what she describes as “the subtle movements and rituals of early femininity.” Throughout the presentation, the four models, who each represented a different sister, lounged around, whispering to each other and daydreaming longingly. 

While at her studio, our conversation about the collection quickly turns from the clothes, to The Summer I Turned Pretty, to exchanging lip gloss recommendations. The designer’s excitement about the future is simple but earnest. “I’m just excited to keep making clothes, keep finding new obsessions that I can get inspired by and to keep being able to work with all my friends!” It’s this intimacy, designing for herself, for her circle, for internet girls everywhere, that gives Safdie’s work its clarity and resonance.

Head to the gallery above to check out the full collection