Ulla Johnson blends Lisbon resort looks with London expansion plans

Ulla Johnson’s resort collection landed with the kind of confidence that comes from a label knowing exactly who it is, and exactly where it wants to go next. The lookbook was shot in Lisbon, the clothes moved from high-summer looseness into colder-weather layering, and the whole thing felt like a brand testing how far its bohemian hand can stretch without losing the polish that made people care in the first place.

The sharpest idea here was motion. Johnson said the season was about “high summer, deep winter,” and that duality ran through a technical raincoat, sequined ombré knits, and hand-crocheted sets made by artisans in Peru. These were not museum pieces. They were made to travel, to be packed, to work in different climates and different lives, which is exactly how a cult label starts behaving when it wants to become a real global wardrobe, not just a mood board.

Cassi Namoda gave the collection its color charge. Johnson used three of the Mozambique-born painter’s works as the basis for the print and palette story, pulling from Namoda’s strong color sense and narrative style. Namoda, born in Maputo in 1988, has built a practice rooted in post-colonial African history and a Luso-African perspective, so Lisbon was more than a pretty backdrop even if the brand did not spell out the connection. It gave the clothes a lived-in cosmopolitanism that matched the collection’s destination-minded feel.

The business side is moving just as fast. Johnson is bringing the brand to London with a forthcoming store, and she said the new outpost will bring “a whole new woman into the fold.” That lines up with a broader expansion that now includes fragrance, shoes and handbags, plus the April 2026 launch of Ulla, a scent line sold through her boutiques and Violet Grey. The pricing tells you where she’s playing: the eaux de parfum are $210 each, candles are $135, incense is $55, and the incense holder is $240.

That growth story already has a New York anchor. Johnson opened a more than 2,000-square-foot Madison Avenue boutique in mid-September 2025, a move CFDA called a homecoming for the Upper East Side native. With London next, and Lisbon framing the clothes, Ulla Johnson is no longer just selling artisanal dresses. She is building a recognizably international lifestyle brand, one soft crochet and polished leather piece at a time.