Fashion week SS27: A brief moment of stability

A sense of calm has settled over several brands. New creative directors have found their place at their respective houses, and their visions are becoming clearer. Following seasons filled with debuts, resets and tentative first drafts, the spring/summer 2027 shows across New York, London, Milan and Paris felt as though the industry could finally breathe a sigh of relief. There is no certainty in fashion, let alone security. Yet this season, it briefly felt as though fashion had found its footing – and with it, a new vision.

Reinterpreted heritage

This shift is most evident in how houses approach their heritage. Previously, the impulse was either to tear down the archive or replicate it; now, designers are taking a more relaxed approach and revising it with precision. At French luxury house Dior, creative director Jonathan Anderson softened the label's strict codes with ruffles, pleated jacquards and fluid silhouettes. Meanwhile, at Givenchy, Sarah Burton – who honed her signature over two decades as creative director at Alexander McQueen – focused on fringing and the interplay between rigid and flowing lines.

Florentine fashion label Gucci provided another striking example. For two seasons, creative director Demna Gvasalia felt his way around a brand whose codes are famously malleable. By his third, it seemed he had stopped investigating Gucci and started speaking its language.

For SS27, the designer merged bourgeois elegance with provocation in the spirit of the Tom Ford era, hitting upon his most promising formula for the fashion house to date. Meanwhile, his predecessor Alessandro Michele presented his collection for luxury fashion house Valentino inside a Paris library reading room, filling the space with his unmistakable maximalism. However different the designers and their houses may be, the overarching impression was of creatives who know exactly what they want to say.

The strongest proof of this came from Celine, which many considered the most compelling show of the season. Creative director Michael Rider staged the presentation beneath a thatched reed roof at the Archives Nationales in Paris.

The show opened with a simple black dress paired with sensible heels and a casually slung patent bag, before growing increasingly vibrant. The show notes spoke of loosening things up. Rider, who views his menswear and womenswear collections as pieces of a single puzzle, achieved precisely that. Its strength lay in its balance, which is difficult to strike and currently rare. Much like Matthieu Blazy, creative director at Parisian house Chanel, Rider created a collection that leaves future clients room to style it in their own way. It invites the audience to envision not just a brand, but the garments hanging in their own wardrobes.

What clarity costs

Naturally, none of this happens in a vacuum, and fashion is rarely as carefree as its fringing. Trade policy and cautious consumer spending continue to dictate industry sentiment. In the annual State of Fashion report by management consultancy McKinsey, tariffs top the list of executive concerns. Around three in four expect trade navigation to be a defining factor in 2026, increasingly describing conditions as challenging rather than merely uncertain. The report forecasts only low single-digit growth, with value-conscious consumers propping up the mid-market segment, while banking on a wave of creative resets for the luxury sector.

Meanwhile, trend forecasting agency Peclers Paris describes the season in its SS27 womenswear trend book as a joyful, liberating space for self-expression within a world shaped by ecological, economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Viewed in this light, the exuberance on the runway and the anxiety outside the show tent are two halves of the same story.

Consequently, creative direction is as much a financial instrument as it is an artistic endeavour. Luxury group Kering has lost around 31 percent of its market value this year. Chief executive officer Luca de Meo is under corresponding pressure. The group has already replaced the creative heads at Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta. Clarity on the runway therefore translates to clarity for shareholders, as a collection that is instantly recognisable as the brand will sell. Today, the most valuable asset a house can offer may well be a point of view that unmistakably belongs to a human being.

Those who have found their footing must now maintain it, turning a strong first or second season into an identity capable of weathering a weak quarter. Houses still searching face the opposite challenge: they need someone with a voice distinct enough to justify the risk. Across the board, a recognisable look must also resonate with a clientele that thinks twice before spending every euro.

What if signature is not enough?

This made the departure at Saint Laurent all the more surprising, despite prior rumours. After a decade at the helm, Anthony Vaccarello concluded his tenure on September 29 with gold dresses, gold trench coats and gold stilettos beneath vast chandeliers. He reinterpreted house classics such as safari jackets and wrap skirts in gold lamé and gold-leaf latex. It was the season's most definitive statement of a personal signature, yet ultimately it was not enough to keep the designer in place. On October 9, Kering confirmed his departure.

Under Vaccarello, the house expanded beyond fashion, launching its own film production company in 2023 and backing the Cannes award-winning film “Emilia Pérez”. However, revenue declined in 2024 and 2025 before largely stabilising this year. Within a group under pressure to deliver growth, even a decade of cultural resonance is not enough to secure a tenure. Speculation regarding a successor is already underway. The name most frequently mentioned is Chemena Kamali, creative director at Chloé, who previously worked at Saint Laurent herself. Nothing has been confirmed so far, yet because Vaccarello leaves with such an independent voice, the timing remains particularly surprising.

Saint Laurent, however, was merely the first sign of a shifting mood. Within a week, news broke that creative director Seán McGirr is leaving British house McQueen after three years, just weeks after bringing it back to the London show schedule. Additionally, Italian designer Veronica Leoni is departing Calvin Klein Collection once her contract expires. She leaves after four collections that brought the US brand's luxury line back to the runway following a seven-year hiatus.

These are different houses facing different pressures, yet the same question hangs over all three: how much time is a vision given to prove itself? Clarity, it seems, is as fragile as it is welcome. If the rumour mill is to be believed, fashion is on the brink of another major upheaval.