S/S 27 · Chapter III of V
Five shapes behind Spring Summer 2027, read on the dress first. Long liquid columns and deep plunges against tiers, ruching and balloon volume: the season's silhouette is a conversation between fall and gather.
Five silhouettes, read on the dress first.
S/S 27 is read on the dress first, the piece that carries shape most clearly this season. Two forces pull against each other. One is the long, liquid column that falls straight from the shoulder, and the deep V that opens it. The other is volume: tiers and frills, jersey ruched close to the body, and the balloon, the season's most repeated construction gesture, gathered back in at the hem. Across 1,186 runway looks in five fashion capitals, these five silhouettes recur house after house. Each one changes how a print sits, moves and repeats.
Each silhouette is read through the houses that build it, and through how a print behaves on it.
IMaxi dress
The column dress is the season's staple for evening and, more and more, for day: liquid, unstructured and grazing the floor. Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, Lanvin, Etro and Fendi build it in satins and jerseys that fall straight from the shoulder. With no seam to interrupt it, the column is the largest uninterrupted print surface in the wardrobe. It suits an engineered placement drawn to its full length, or a single painted motif that travels from neckline to hem.
IIV-neck dress
The V drops to the waist. Halter straps, wrap fronts and embellished plunges open the dress at the center, in long and midi lengths. Fendi and Givenchy keep it fluid, Erdem embroiders it, and Agua Bendita and Lanvin follow. The deep plunge draws the eye down the center of the body, so the print has to respect that axis: a mirrored placement, a motif that frames the neckline, or embroidery that traces the opening rather than crossing it.
IIIRuffled dress
Tiered skirts and cascading frills, from tulle confection to boho chiffon. Blumarine and Erdem build real volume; Ulla Johnson and Etro keep it airy, with Lanvin and Zimmermann close by. Ruffles appear at the hem, at the shoulder and down the bodice. Each tier breaks a repeat and each frill folds it, so the print for this silhouette is drawn small and dense, or planned tier by tier so the colorway shifts as the dress descends.
IVStretch that shapes
Jersey and stretch crepe, ruched and wrapped close to the body. Side knots, cut-outs and high slits create the shape instead of seams. Elisabetta Franchi, Monse and Stella McCartney drive the direction. On a ruched dress the print is gathered as it is worn, so it compresses in one place and opens in another. Fluid abstracts, painterly blurs and tonal animal prints survive the gathering; precise geometrics do not, unless they are engineered to the drape.
VBubble & puffball
The most repeated construction gesture of the season: puffball skirts and balloon trousers, the volume gathered back in at the hem. Erdem sets embroidered bodices over taffeta bubbles, Christian Dior gathers it in black, and Zimmermann, Alberta Ferretti, Loewe and Monse follow. Taffeta and crisp grounds hold the shape. A print placed on a balloon skirt swells at the center and tightens at the hem, and the strongest designs plan for both.
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3 November 2026
Five silhouettes define S/S 27: floor-length column dresses, the deep V plunge, tiers and frills, draped and ruched stretch, and balloon volume. They pull between a long, liquid line and gathered volume, and the balloon is the season's most repeated construction gesture.
Yes. Puffball skirts and balloon trousers, with the volume gathered back in at the hem, recur across the S/S 27 runways. Erdem sets embroidered bodices over taffeta bubbles, Christian Dior gathers it in black, and Zimmermann, Alberta Ferretti, Loewe and Monse follow.
Givenchy, Ralph Lauren, Lanvin, Etro and Fendi drive the floor-length column, in satins and jerseys that fall straight from the shoulder. It works for evening and, increasingly, for day.
Each shape treats a print differently. A column offers one long uninterrupted surface, tiers break a repeat at every seam, ruching gathers it, and balloon volume swells it at the center. The studio draws print narratives for the silhouette they will live on through MPD Atelier.
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