System collections is a seasonal time capsule.

It was assembled once the dust had settled on the frenetic, real-time social media coverage of the Autumn/Winter 2025-2026 shows. Launched a few months before those same collections arrive in stores and feature in the glossies. And created to capture a moment in time. To spotlight fashion’s latest collections. To showcase the new faces who recently beguiled the runway. To record conversations about the season with the industry’s best-placed critics, commentators and creatives.

The time capsule is a classical idea, dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, that was revived with great optimism in the future-obsessed 20th century. A cache of artifacts from a particular time that might be buried, say, in the cornerstone of a new building, to surprise someone hundreds or thousands of years in the future. The mark of the true collector is someone who believes that today’s work is tomorrow’s treasure. History has often borne out this theory, and it makes sense. A perception of dispensability naturally leads to scarcity.

When we were considering what System collections could be, we imagined Dashwood Books in New York or IDEA Books in London uncovering a rare publication from, say, Spring 1947, that contemporaneously documented Christian Dior’s New Look collection through imagery and opinion; or one from 50 years later, chronicling the Autumn/Winter 1997 season – when, like today, the fashion industry was on the cusp of a major reshuffling of its cards, from which new designers, brands, faces, and attitudes would emerge.

So please enjoy and hold onto this debut issue of System collections. One day, it may become your perfect cultural cache from this season – and from an era defined by both uncertainty and expectation.

P.S. This debut issue of System collections is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and System sub-editor Tom Ridgway, who passed away during its making. Tom taught us all so much because he cared deeply about language, the truth of the written word, and the many wonderful absurdities that characterize fashion. But more than anything, he was just a really lovely person. Our thoughts are with Tom’s family and friends.