Shushu/Tong’s new collection is inspired by a woman who poisoned her own father
The Invented Self borrows its mood from a real 1930s murder case, and turns it into drop-waist dresses, sneakers, and an Art Deco jewellery collab.
By day, an obedient daughter. By night, a woman working the streets of Paris to fund a life her parents couldn’t imagine for her. That’s Violette Nozière, Claude Chabrol’s 1978 film based on a real 1930s murder case, all about a teenager who secretly worked as a prostitute while keeping up appearances at home. Eventually, the double life caught up with her, as she was convicted of poisoning her own father.
Shushu/Tong’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection, The Invented Self, takes its name and its nerve from her, as a starting point to what happens when a woman builds a version of herself nobody around her was ever supposed to see.
That tension shows up literally in the clothes. Drop-waist dresses come with bow details borrowed straight from 1930s silhouettes, but cut and finished in a way that reads like a deconstructed version of the garments of the time. Off-shoulder necklines run through the collection, alongside knotted shoulder details and ribbon-formed floral shapes. Lace and sailor collars sit next to disrupted floral prints, sweet on the surface with something more unsettled underneath. For the first time, the runway includes male models alongside the brand’s usual cast.
Fabric-wise, green jacquard and gold velvet nod to old-world grandeur, while a more restrained grey, navy and nude palette gets undercut by crinkled pink, yellow and blue pieces elsewhere in the line. Faux fur turns up everywhere, as capes, scarves, and even as waist cinchers.
Accessories continue Shushu/Tong’s collaboration with YVMIN, working with metallic, Art Deco-style pieces, including brimmed-hat inspired headbands that reference the film’s central character directly. Footwear expands into sneakers and colour-blocked suede loafers for the first time, alongside heels finished with an upturned bow.
Credits:
Images courtesy of ShuShu/Tong
Words: Roisin Teeling @roisinteeling
ShuShu/Tong.com
