Who Decides War “Read the Room” | NYFW Spring/Summer 2026
Ev Bravado and Téla D'Amore unveiled their Spring Summer 2026 collection, Read the Room, with Grammy award-winning artist Leon Thomas setting the tone. His calm yet commanding vocals hushed the space, filling it with an energy both grounding and uplifting. As Thomas sang, silhouettes moved in rhythm, models drifting through the room in tailored garments that unraveled and reassembled themselves in motion.
The collection’s textures captured the unpredictability of life itself, how dreams can be scattered by circumstance, how coldness interrupts warmth, how collapse can seed renewal. Distressed fabrics, raw edges, visible seams, and juxtapositions of weight and fragility reminded Who Decides War’s community that where you land is not an ending but a threshold for transformation.
The color story began with industrial grays, charred blacks, and sand-washed neutrals before bleeding into rust and oxidized tones, and finally soft greens and blossoms, a narrative arc of corrosion turning into regrowth. Draping mirrored collapsing structures, layering tension between ruin and reconstruction. As the designers put it, Read the Room seeks out the beauty in what remains and the possibility that emerges from fragments.
Who Decides War’s strength lies in their refusal to be boxed in by what the fashion industry prescribes. As the brand distances itself from streetwear, its conceptual design language grows bolder, embracing tailoring and suit-making. A navy pinstripe multilayered suit offered a sharp rethinking of sophistication and dandyism, signaling an exciting new territory. The collection also debuted custom wearable art of 2K Borderlands’ Levaine, created in collaboration with Complex and 2K, evidence of the brand’s openness to expanding its narrative into new creative dimensions.
In today’s landscape, many brands lean too heavily on celebrity and influencer culture, often with little regard for whether those figures align with their identity, values, or mission. The result is a hollow spectacle, dependent on digital hype rather than substance. If the internet collapsed tomorrow, many of these strategies would crumble alongside it.
For Who Decides War, the opportunity lies in pushing away from that trap. Their power is not in chasing temporary visibility but in cultivating deeper, more sustainable connections, welcoming scholars, critics, and cultural voices who can interrogate and expand the brand’s mission. By focusing less on personalities and more on purpose, the brand could strengthen its position as a thought leader in fashion, building a legacy that goes beyond what algorithms reward at the moment.
At its heart, the collection urged communities to recognize a shared condition: the constant demand to adapt. To pivot. To make something out of nothing. In both fashion and life, erosion gives way to renewal, and balance can be found in imbalance. That is the beauty, discovering newness in an unfamiliar landscape, unique precisely because it resists easy equilibrium.
Music: Leon Thomas | @leonthomas
Mens Shoes: Alexander Hurley | @alexanderhurley__
Womens Shoes: Femmes Sans Peur | @fspworld
Jewelry: Martine Ali | @martineali
Stylist: Jan-Michael Quammie | @jan.quammie
Hair: Rutger | @rutgerhair
Makeup: Akiko Owada | @akikoowada
Nail: Suite Eleven | @suitelevenewyork
Liquor Donation: Ten To One Rum | @tentoonerum
Production: S_projects | @s_projectsglobal
PR: Sandrine Charles Consulting | @sandrinecharlesconsulting
