It is one year on since what was dubbed ‘fashion’s great reset’, a phenomenon which saw 15 new creative directors take their place at some of the industry’s best-known houses – among them Jonathan Anderson and Dior, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, and Louise Trotter at Bottega Veneta.
And, while the majority of these names are consolidating their visions and honing house codes, fashion seems to stand on a precipice once again: next season will see a new round of debuts, including Pieter Mulier at Versace and Dario Vitale at Emporio Armani (Vitale’s own spirited debut last September at Versace saw him ousted after just one season, though his first and only collection has since gained a cult following; his successor, Mulier, comes to the house after an acclaimed stint at Alaïa). And, after news on Friday (9 October) that Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent after a decade, questions have arisen about what’s next for both the designer and house (Chloé’s Chemena Kamali is tipped to take over – though that will leave a role to be filled at Chloé, too).
This ever-shifting fashion landscape – one accompanied by fervent online commentary and constant speculation – seems an apt reflection of the overwhelm of contemporary life. Designers have faced this information overload by largely shifting away from the strict thematics or specific inspiration points which once defined runway collections, favouring of a more intuitive approach to dressing (itself a reflection of the way people are putting together an outfit on the street). This was a clear through-line of the S/S 2027 collections – which concluded with Paris Fashion Week earlier this week after shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris – whereby designers like Sarah Burton at Givenchy, Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten and Michael Rider at Celine all proposed a way of dressing that mixed up eclectic elements for a resolutely individual of style.
That said, as ever, more definitive trends emerged throughout the month of shows – from the renaissance of the skirt (Prada showed one with every single look) to a pursuit of lightness that defined ethereal collections from Louis Vuitton, Hemès and Dior. Here, according to Wallpaper* editors, these are the five trends which defined the S/S 2027 season.
Skirt redux
(Image credit: Prada)
Every look of Prada’s S/S 2027 runway show featured a skirt, a purposeful conceit from co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, who used the garment this season as a ‘canvas for ideas’ (the skirt has long been a part of the Prada ouevre; ‘a skirt is like a T-shirt,’ Mrs Prada said on the the Charlie Rose show in 2006). Here, they came in a multitude of iterations, from those which fastened with thick strips of coloured Velcro to colourful pleated nylon and latex, jewellery-like webs of flowers, or those wrapped in layers of tulle (feminine bows peaked out from beneath, as if preserved in a museum archive). In a preview, Mrs Prada called the skirt the ‘most flexible’ garment (she rarely wears anything else), with Simons adding that it can traverse different moods. ‘You want to be sexy, you want to be luxurious, you want to go to work, you want to be at ease with your kids,’ he said. ‘There are all kinds of skirts [for that].’
Editors seemed in little need of persuasion: such is Prada’s influence, the garment had a notable renaissance among the street-style set this season (the most popular? Dario Vitale’s colourful face-print skirt, created during his brief tenure at Versace). On the runway, there were multiple versions of the perennial womenswear style – proof of duo’s maxim that there is a skirt for everyone. At Prada’s sister brand, Miu Miu, they came in houndstooth with cross-lace fastening (left purposely undone, they revealed colourful swimwear beneath); at Loewe, skirts were dramatically draped to evoke traditional Andalusian dress; while at Dior, they came in delicate layers of organza – part of designer Jonathan Anderson’s ongoing pursuit of lightness. Meanwhile at Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, a multitude of skirts reflected his own ambition to cater to the multiplicities of women’s lives – largely narrow and knee-length they came in smocked tweed, sheer panels of organza, or were edged with the house’s superlative embroidery and beading.
A pursuit of lightness
(Image credit: Photo by Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
The soaring temperatures across Europe this summer, which tipped over 40 degrees – including during the menswear and haute couture weeks in Florence, Milan and Paris in June – cemented the inevitable truth that over the coming decades, summers will only get hotter. Designers responded this season with collections which were defined by a pursuit of lightness; this was particularly true in Paris, whereby designers including Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton, Nadège Vanhée at Hermès and Jonathan Anderson at Dior all reimagined wardrobe archetypes in ultra-lightweight fabrications. At the latter, Anderson created featherweight organza tailoring printed to appear like classic tailoring wools, while ethereal plissé fabrics and delicate petal adornment were designed to reflected the misted show set. ‘Something that, as it walks, leaves a kind of residue behind,’ he said, noting that such was the lightness of the looks, many could fit inside a shoebox.
Vanhée and Ghesquière, meanwhile, both said that their own breathable collections – the former featuring perforated suede for air flow; the latter diaphanous tailoring constructed from the lightest of knits – were a response to the rising heat (Vanhée had found it unavoidable during trips across Europe and America earlier this year). ‘[The warm summer] definitely was an influence,’ said Ghesquière. ‘We needed to think differently. You want one layer. It’s almost like a skin in these clothes – there’s a suit, but it’s a jersey with no lining, an extremely fluid.’
New florals
(Image credit: MSGM)
‘Florals for spring? Groundbreaking.’ So goes the withering refrain from Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly in the first Devil Wears Prada movie. And, while the fictional editrix might be somewhat correct about the cliché in the Spring/Summer collections, this season saw designers embrace the floral motif in energetic and intriguing ways. At Prada, Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons used floral motifs throughout the collection: from those embroidered onto the collection’s Velcro fastenings to chintzy prints evoking 1960s home furnishings (crystal flowers also appeared across the skirts which evoked jewellery, as well as embellishment on perforated shoes).
A similar mood was captured at Burberry, whereby bold floral embroidery and prints had been designed by Celia Birtwell, a textile designer who is synonymous with the Swinging Sixties (she would dress several of its protagonists, and serve as a muse to friend David Hockney). Creative director Daniel Lee said he was inspired by her ‘her energy, and her zest for life’, and her designs for Burberry, which also featured playful smiley faces and a loosened-up version of the house’s check, encapsulated this approach. Flowers also appeared at MSGM (electric bright and adorning matching shirts and ties), Maison Margiela (clashing nostalgic floral prints recalling wallpaper or bed linen), Dries Van Noten (sequinned flowers peeking out from beneath the hem of a skirt), Dior (dresses adorned in organza petals), and Chanel (corsages evoking those favoured by Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel).
Meanwhile at Bottega Veneta, flowers might not have appeared on the runway but they did on guests’ seats: on each of the crushed cardboard stools, created by artist Illya Goldman Gubin, was a single flower, crafted from leather by the house’s atelier.
Inside out
(Image credit: Miu Miu)
Competing with the skirt for garment of the season was the bra top, which appeared in endless iterations throughout fashion month – including at Prada, where the collection’s skirts were largely worn with bralettes, from classic satin recalling vintage underwear to barely-there strips of fabric which had a futuristic bent. The designers called these looks ‘illogical combinations’, and indeed across the season the bra appeared in unexpected ways: at Miu Miu, bejewelled and worn over sporty rash vests; at Fendi, lace-trimmed and accessorised with a fur stole; while at Dior, a simple black bra top peeked out from beneath an otherwise delicate skirt suit crafted from trailing pale grey strands of organza. Bandeaus were also ubiquitous, from the playful (a knitted blue bandeau top came adorned with cartoonish poppies at Drew Henry’s Courrèges debut), to the streamlined, like those which appeared as part of Nadège Vanhée’s latest Hermès collection.
They were part of a wider boudoir mood also ran through the season, not least through the ubiquity of satin, which featured heavily in Michael Rider’s latest collection for Celine, treated to appear gently pressed and creased (the effect was like waking up having worn silk or satin pyjamas). Other dresses in the collection recalled nighties or negligees in their construction, albeit sized up and reimagined in heavier fabrications, or unbuttoned at the shoulder as if in a process of removal. Meanwhile at LVMH Prize Winner 2026 Julie Kegels’ latest show, sliced-up deconstructed bras sat atop T-shirts, and at Ester Manas – in the brand’s return to the runway after two years – a collaboration with 161-year-old Belgian lingerie brand Primadonna saw its one-size-fits-all approach applied to lacy, sheer negligees, slips and leggings (beating out the trend, the co-collection is available now).
Intuitive style
(Image credit: Celine)
Some of the best collections this season were those where the designer embraced an intuitive approach to dressing – among them Sarah Burton at Givenchy, and Michael Rider at Celine. ‘I wanted a sense of balance and clarity,’ said the former a short note issued to guests. ‘A wardrobe to bring precision and simplicity to dressing as we speed through the multiple perspectives and perpetual motion of all our lives.’ As such, the British designer’s latest collection spanned the pragmatic (well-cut jeans; roomy poplin shirts; riffs on the trench coat; woolen overcoats) and more bold expressions of feminine style, from cinched-waist peplum tailoring and pom-pom-adorned pumps, to red-carpet-ready Grecian gowns with in-built metal ‘wings’ or those adorned with Japanese motifs in swathes of bugle beads. There were even belt buckles which doubled as powder compacts. ‘[I want to] make sure that she has the wardrobe, that she feels that she could use,’ Burton said.
This idea of designing for a woman on the move, and creating a wardrobe which transforms through the day, ran throughout the S/S 2027 collections (it continues from A/W 2026, where collections at Prada and Chanel literally depicted the metamorphosis of a wardrobe through a given day). Cue a more liberated approach to dressing: garments were often mixed up in clashing combinations – at Acne Studios, taffeta and brocade skirts and dresses were worn with leather trousers; at Miu Miu, bejewelled cocktail dresses with swimwear; or at Proenza Schouler, a simple ribbed vest and jeans worn with a ballooning sheer floral jacket on top ‘I think that there’s a lot of liberty in how women dress here,’ said Proenza designer Rachel Scott, referring to New York, where the brand is based. ‘We’re not following rules, like: eveningwear must be worn with this kind of shoe, or bag. You see people in New York in the middle of the day with a gown on, and it’s totally normal and invisible, and I find that really inspiring.’
Sometimes, it was just about adding small flourishes of glamour to everyday attire: such was the modus operandi of at Dries Van Noten, who said there was joy to be had when affixing a brooch to a simple rugby shirt, or slipping a bejewelled dress over the T-shirt you might have worn in bed. ‘Dressing up for yourself, playing in front of the mirror, trying things on, getting into a role,’ he described. ‘Discovering a different facet. A red lip, a dazzling brooch, a cinched belt – so little is needed to spark that feeling.’
