There’s a specific kind of dread reserved for birthdays that end in a zero – a low, buzzing anxiety that begins long before the candles are lit – and Ellie Misner knows it well. The London-based designer’s AW26 demi-couture collection It’s My Birthday, I Can Cry If I Want To, leans all the way into that feeling, capturing the anticipation, the existential spiral, and the mascara-streaked comedown that follows across a series of show-stopping conceptual looks.

The collection and accompanying campaign sit somewhere between jazz bar fantasy and a memory you can’t quite place, unfolding like a night out that’s already teetering on the edge. Misner’s birthday girl steps out of an Uber and into the action in a look that feels loaded with anticipation – glimmering with mother-of-pearl embellishments, it’s almost too perfect. And then it gets ‘ruined’ by a glass of rosé, a wine stain blooming out across the ivory silk, immortalised in darker crystals. “It’s a moment of disaster, but there’s nothing you can do about it, so you just think ‘Fuck it’ and make the best of it,” says Misner.

It doesn’t stop there, as the designer explores just about everything that could go wrong at a party and elevates it to high drama. Two identical gowns with zhuzhy trains collide in a bathroom stand-off, a busted zip threatens to expose more than intended, and a heel snags on the carpet, so the carpet comes along for the ride. “It all comes from my nerves at turning 30,” says Misner. “I’ve never been that into birthdays, and this one felt massive. There’s so much pressure to be at a certain point in your life, to have achieved certain things. I found I hadn’t hit a lot of those, and life didn’t feel as polished as I’d imagined, so the collection reflects that. You can be a bit of a mess and still be fab.”

What makes Misner’s work hit harder this season is the tension between polish and unravelling. Her signature corsetry acts as both literal and emotional scaffolding – they’re not so much restrictive garments as they are survival tools, holding everything together as everything else slips. Even at their most undone there’s a sense of intention, as if to say ‘Yes, this is falling apart, but I’m choosing how’.

In Misner’s world, things go wrong. Dresses stain, plans unravel, and people disappoint. And yet, the night continues. That’s the best part of the collection – it’s not about resisting the mess, but embracing it.

Click through the gallery above for a closer look.