On 10 April 2026, The BAM Collective will unveil their latest collection, ROMANTICISM 2026, with a dramatic and intimate runway presentation staged within Fashion_The Image at the Inside Out Centre for the Arts and the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography.
With this collection, Creative Director Jacques Bam strips fashion back to its most essential purpose: spectacle, fantasy and transformation.
ROMANTICISM 2026 is not a manifesto. It is not a critique. It is not an academic exercise. It is a love letter to the magic that first made a child fall in love with runway shows: the drama, the mystique, the larger-than-life silhouettes and the electricity in a room where fashion becomes theatre.
“ROMANTICISM 2026 is my love letter to the fantasy that made me fall in love with fashion,” says Bam. “It’s fashion as theatre, as escape, as transformation.”
Independently produced, the collection marks the brand’s most theatrical and texturally indulgent season to date. Sculptural silhouettes grow more architectural. Colours deepen into richer, jewel-like tones. Embellishment intensifies, and textures layer with intricate, hand-crafted details. The collection leans further into demi-couture, balancing exuberance with a modern severity: sharper lines, stronger structure and heightened presence.
Textiles include tiger motif tapestry, crocodile embossed upholstery, glossed vinyl, flocked tulle, striped taffeta and liquid silver plissé, alongside hand-dyed lace, distressed denim and intricate in-studio beadwork. Each garment constructed to command attention and evoke wonder.
Staged within the concrete architecture of the Inside Out Centre for the Arts and the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography, the show immerses guests in an intimate, cinematic experience. Gallery lighting casts dramatic shadows, as the audience sits mere metres from the runway, surrounded by the photographic works of Fashion_The Image. Every moment invites viewers to step inside a world of fantasy, where fashion becomes an escapist performance that collapses the distance between observer and spectacle.
The runway presentation will be realised with the support of an exceptional team of collaborators: Natalia Fernandez for Aura Cre8ive (Producer), Alex Botha (Make-up), Boyd Meilhon for Carlton Hair (Hair), Pierre Van Vuuren (Photography), and Keystone Productions (Technical). Their collective expertise ensures the presentation becomes a cinematic experience that amplifies the collection’s vision of fashion as performance.
In a cultural moment dominated by minimalism and understatement, The BAM Collective chooses excess. It chooses colour and theatre. It chooses fashion for fashion’s sake, because sometimes fashion does not need to justify itself. Sometimes it simply needs to be magnificent.
Immediately following the presentation, ROMANTICISM 2026 will be available for purchase online via the brand’s website, leaning more heavily into demi-couture than previous seasons.
Each garment is produced to order, with clients guided through a made-to-measure process to ensure precise tailoring and individuality.
With this collection, The BAM Collective reasserts its position within contemporary South African luxury: bold, expressive and instinct-led, creating garments for those who believe fashion should still inspire awe.
Event details
VIP Showcase (Invitation Only) | 10 April 2026 | Arrival 17:00
Public Showcase (Ticketed) | 10 April 2026 | Arrival 19:00
Public showcase tickets are available online via the Inside Out Foundation
