A lucky penny T-shirt, scarlet red tap shorts, a Lincoln lantern tee and matching centennial dresses and blouses—these are just a few of the designs that make up Bode’s high summer 2026 collection in celebration of the upcoming American Semiquincentennial. Designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla has long been a fan of collecting antique costumes and referencing them in her work, so the opportunity to create a capsule collection themed around retro Americana tied to the upcoming festivities felt like pure kismet.

“I often reference antique costumes, particularly those made for theatrical productions, parades, and centennial and sesquicentennial celebrations throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries,” Bode Aujla says. “I collect many of these garments and accessories and wear them myself with my family on the Fourth of July and Memorial Day for our local parades. Though many antique costumes in my archive are quite distressed, they’ve survived for more than a century because they were tediously sewn by hand and originally worn just a few times.”

For the collection, which launches June 26, Bode Aujla wanted to evoke those lost qualities of craft, while making future collectibles that can be worn both for holidays and day-to-day. Think: a 1776 graphic tee inspired by 1970s dressing—with a perfectly worn-in feel and weight—or pajama pants influenced by star-patterned bunting from the 1930s.

She researched costumes of the past, like early 20th-century Liberty Costumes and the red, white, and blue garments made for Fourth of July parades and civic celebrations of yore. She then added her own Bode-ian twists of modern embellishment, like a fanciful emblem of Lincoln, informed by a patch on an antique children’s pullover. “I have countless childhood memories from family summertime reunions,” she adds. “My family was quite festive and loved to dress up for the Fourth, participating in the parade in the Outer Cape for many years. I still have some of the handmade costumes.”

Indeed, the designer has built up quite the personal collection of vintage and antique costumes over the years, but her favorite part of collecting is the surprises she often stumbles upon: “I recently found a handmade child’s top with applied milliner flowers circa 1940s that came with a snapshot of the girl dancing in the costume,” she says.

True to Bode’s mission, historic tailoring is made more wearable through contemporary silhouettes. The label’s sporty aesthetic further fills out the picture of American style; the new satin gym shorts and track pants reference original mid-century designs. Elsewhere, the Lincoln’s Birthplace tee is based on a souvenir shirt from the 1970s, printed with a “Lincoln’s Birthplace; LaRue County, Kentucky” graphic and embellished with decorative beadwork. And the Lincoln lantern tee reads “Old Abe, Prince of Rails” which, according to the designer, is based on Abe Lincoln’s workingman reputation and experience splitting fence rails as a youth. The Music of 1776 tee has a graphic taken from antique paper lanterns made for Abraham Lincoln’s campaign parades in the 1860s.

Shop an edit of the Americana-themed collection, below.