The Spring Summer 26 collection by CORD, named Album’91, is an ode to family holidays. The kind that drives one to stay up all night in anticipation, with suitcases pulled out days in advance and train tickets booked and waiting. The clothes are meant to represent the excitement of waking up before sunrise for a train journey, and the joys of sharing windows with one another, and playing antakshari. Watching the landscape change slowly outside, fields, rivers, small towns rushing past, while conversations lingered longer than notifications ever do today.
We’re in conversation with Neha Singh and Pranav Guglani on revisiting what summer used to feel like, finding a palette that worked with the idea they had, and the emotions they wish to evoke through this collection. More below.
Album 91
Album 91 comes from a very instinctive place for us. It started with revisiting what summer used to feel like growing up. Not in a dramatic or overly romantic way, but in the small, very real rituals we all shared. The packing, the waiting, the long train journeys that felt endless and exciting at the same time. We found ourselves drawn to how present everything felt back then. There were no distractions, just time spent with family, conversations that stretched, and a sense of discovery that felt new every single year. That emotional honesty became the starting point. We wanted to capture that feeling and give it form. Not as nostalgia for the sake of it, but as a way to reconnect with something that still feels relevant and grounding.
Translating Summer into Garment Design
For us, summer has always meant freedom. A break from routine, from structure, from having to be a certain way. It is when you feel most like yourself, or maybe a slightly lighter version of yourself. When we started designing, we kept coming back to that idea of ease. Clothes that you do not have to think too much about. Silhouettes that let you move, sit, travel, and just exist comfortably. We worked with breathable fabrics and allowed the pieces to feel a little undone in the best way. Nothing feels restrictive. Everything is meant to move with you, almost like it belongs to your day rather than standing apart from it.
Musted, Pastel Colours
Our relationship with colour this season was very emotional. When we think of those holidays, we do not remember them in a muted or filtered way. We remember them as layered, slightly chaotic, full of life. At the same time, memory softens things. Colours fade, blend, and settle over time. That is where the palette comes from. It sits somewhere between vibrancy and softness. We did not want to strip it down to minimalism because that would not feel true to the experience. Instead, we allowed prints to overlap, colours to sit next to each other in unexpected ways, and pieces to feel alive. It is closer to how we remember things rather than how they actually looked.
Visual Language
The visual language was built very closely with the idea of memory. We kept asking ourselves what those journeys actually felt like. Not just what they looked like. Train stations became important because they hold so much emotion. The anticipation, the goodbyes, the excitement of going somewhere new. We wanted the imagery to feel like moments you stumble upon rather than something overly composed. We worked with spaces that already carried their own character and allowed the clothes to exist within them naturally. Styling was kept intuitive, almost as if someone just stepped out for a trip. The idea was to create images that feel familiar, like something you might have lived through, even if you cannot place exactly when.
Evoking Emotions
We want these clothes to feel like something you have known for a long time. Like opening an old cupboard and finding a piece that still carries a memory. There is a certain kind of love in that, quiet and familiar, that does not need to be explained. A lot of it comes back to the feeling of being younger, when happiness was uncomplicated and came from very small things. Sitting by the window on a train, sharing snacks, wearing something comfortable that slowly became your favourite without you realising. That sense of ease, of belonging somewhere without trying too hard, is what we keep coming back to. We hope the clothes carry that softness. That they feel lived in, even when they are new. That they remind you of people, places, and moments you hold close. If someone wears a piece and it makes them pause for a second, smile to themselves, or feel a little closer to a memory they did not know they missed, that is everything to us.
What’s Next
Right now, we are still sitting with Album 91 and understanding everything it has opened up for us. It feels like the beginning of a deeper conversation rather than a one-off idea. Moving forward, we want to continue exploring stories that feel personal but also shared. We are looking at ways to bring in more texture, more context, and build worlds around our collections that people can step into. The focus is on growing thoughtfully while staying close to the emotion that drives everything we do.
Words Neeraja Srinivasan
Date 25.3.2026