Books used to be precious. So precious that people didn’t just write their names inside, they commissioned artists to create Ex Libris, small, intricate bookplates glued to the endpapers as a mark of ownership. These miniature artworks, born in the 15th century, told stories of their owners through symbols: coats of arms, religious motifs, glimpses of professions and passions. But as books fade into digital screens, what happens to these forgotten emblems of identity?

Haderlump’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection breathes new life into Ex Libris, translating these historical markers into wearable narratives. The result is a meditation on permanence in a disposable age, on what it means to claim something as your own, to leave a mark that lasts.

Silhouettes are structured, almost architectural, as if cut from the same careful craftsmanship as the original copperplate engravings. But true to Haderlump’s aesthetic, there’s a push-and-pull between strength and softness: tough leather against featherlight linen, rigid cotton beside fluid draping. The fabrics themselves feel like pages, textured, tactile, meant to be handled.

The palette is deliberately muted, echoing the quiet elegance of aged paper and ink: creamy whites, warm beiges, deep blacks, and soft greys. It’s a color story that feels pulled from a library shelf, worn with time but still resonant.

In a world where so much is fleeting, and where even books are becoming ghosts in the cloud, how do we hold onto the art of claiming our stories? Haderlump’s answer is to wear them. Carry them. Let them shape the way you move through the world.

The show’s hair and makeup were developed in close collaboration with Caia Cosmetics, enhancing the interplay between structure and movement across the looks.

Check out below the collection presented during Berlin Fashion Week: