Poetcore Style Guide: Crafting Looks Inspired by 6 Iconic Poets
How SS26 runways translate literary genius into modern dark academic dressing
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
The cornerstone of Poetcore is dressing with intellectually-led clarity, and SS26 designer collections revealed silhouettes shaped by solitude and discipline, obsession and observation.
These looks felt authored rather than simply assembled.
We’ve curated a style guide that pairs six different SS26 runway collections with iconic poets whose voices still influence how we think and feel today. Each look translates literary temperament into spring street style, including shopping cues, modern styling notes and a market edit to get the look.
Walt Whitman — Valentino SS26
Valentino’s SS26 collection channels Whitman through reverence for the body in motion, where softness and structure coexist and clothing feels purposeful. To echo the look, seek fluid blouses with expressive sleeves, grounded tailoring and a palette rooted in black, ivory and weathered neutrals. Jewellery with botanical motifs anchors the look, honouring Leaves of Grass and Whitman’s belief that the sacred lives in the physical.
Sylvia Plath — Erdem SS26
Erdem’s SS26 collection finds resonance with Sylvia Plath not through overt drama, but in the discipline of its confined construction where the narrow tailoring and elevated necklines feel emotionally charged. To translate the mood off the runway, look for pieces that hold the body close—fitted jackets, precise waists, skirts below the knee and a palette of black, ivory, grey and burgundy encourages tension to live within the silhouette. The lotus talisman completes the edit as a symbol of endurance shaped by pressure, an inward strength worn close.
Edgar Allan Poe — Gucci SS26
Gucci SS26 reads Poe through a lens of polished rebellion, where aesthetic has a razor’s edge. To channel the look, lean into sculpted silhouettes with clean lines, boots that lean Victorian and unapologetically sharp tailoring. Raven earrings and an anatomical heart locket complete the story, calling back to some of his most iconic work.
Emily Dickinson — Dior SS26
Dior SS26 evokes Dickinson through dark academic focus, where tailored silhouettes and soften Victorian details suggest a mind turned towards observation. To achieve the look, prioritize high-neck blouses with bows, midi skirts that cinch the natural waist and muted blacks and ivories that feel archival. Finish with oxfords and a structured Mary Poppins style bag that implies a private world always in tow. A quill brooch, sealing the look, pays homage to the ever-present muse.
e.e. cummings — Jacquemus SS26
Jacquemus 226 echoes e.e. cummings through deliberate disruption, where tailoring obeys tradition long enough to draw us in … only to reimagine the rules. The look comes together by embracing clean silhouettes and adding details that are beautifully reimagined. A silver cuff etched with an excerpt of I carry your heart with me and a heart-shaped locket bag translate his refusal of convention into something tactile.
Homer — Tamara Ralph SS25
Tamara Ralph SS25 evokes Homer through endurance, where elegance is earned and every detail carries the weight of an arduous journey. Peter pan collars call to the libraries that have housed his work for centuries while baroque and pearl elements nod to beauty shaped by time, travel and perseverance. An Odyssey book clutch anchors the look in narrative, transforming an outfit to a modern epic—one worn, not recited.
Here, Poetcore becomes less about quotation and more about posture. Across these looks, fashion operates the way poetry always has—through rule-breaking, defiance, devotion, solitude and survival—each silhouette carrying a worldview rather than a trend.
Taken together, the poets remind us that style, like language, is most powerful when it means something, when what we wear becomes a form of authorship.
Which poet speaks to you (and your closet) most? Tell us in the comments and subscribe to receive our free monthly digital issue to your inbox including a first look at breaking trends, the chance to vote on next month’s stories and a preview of upcoming giveaways.
