BEAUTY: Clothing--Uma Wang

Much like Kml from my last post (here), Uma Wang is new to my orbit as well. And I am glad she is here. Just look at the offerings from this Spring Summer '27 collection lookbook presented as part of Paris Fashion Week. Apparently she looked to images of the late adventure photographer and writer Peter Beard for a sense of rumpled, dashing, global, on-the-go-and-living-out-of-a-satchel style. But it turns out it takes some effort to achieve the effortless.

Fashion journalist Giulia di Giamberardino for Vogue gives us the technical information:

"Wang began with an exacting study of fabric—all sourced in Italy, all produced by Tuscan mills. Lightweight yet durable cotton was washed and treated to appear naturally worn-in. Linen, stained and dyed almost as though painted by hand, carried a similarly lived-in look. Another fabric incorporated a metallic component that gave structure to the garments she made from it, turning printed shirts into ideal travel companions that can be packed into a suitcase without losing their form. Another print depicted poppies. It originated from a photograph taken in a field near one of the company’s production facilities, yet poppies are also the flowers Wang keeps in her studio in China, making them, in a way, an emblem of the meeting of two cultures."

But let's take a closer look at this linen, metallic fabric, and poppy situation. The details, including the stunning cuts and silhouettes, are breathtaking. The collection feels artistic, exciting, alive.

https://umawang.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Kml

The brand Kml has not been on my radar until now. This Spring Summer '27 collection shown at Paris Fashion Week is enthralling. Even though the color palette is a restrained black and white and grey affair, the silhouettes and cuts are lyrical, primal. The KML website's mission statement says "Kml is an exploration of the present. It follows a research-based design approach which looks into the history of how humans dressed and how it evolved and continues to evolve to come up with meaningful designs that are relevant to our collective human identity." Indeed, this sweeping, placid collection speaks to so many places, ethnicities, beliefs, time periods ... there is a bit of traditional / ancient Japan, Turkey, Sufi, India, Bedouin ... in a beautifully tailored and structured way. Creative director and brand co-founder Ahmed Hassan trained as an architect and that rigor shows in the garments. Truly impressive.

https://kml.com.sa/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Sean Suen

I really like what is going on at the waists of these looks from Sean Suen's Spring Summer '27 collection at Paris Fashion Week. Reminiscent of cummerbunds, these elements look to be in knit and may or may not rise up from the waistband inside trousers which are turned down into wingtips. And if not a knit cummerbund, then a fantastic corset belt.

https://www.seansuen.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Dries Van Noten

After Dries Van Noten's emotional 2024 retirement from his house of 38 years (see his final collection here), Julian Klausner is now Creative Director. And this Spring Summer '27 collection at Paris Fashion Week marks his third menswear collection for the house.

Klausner has actually been with the house since 2018 as the head of womenswear. He has said that the task of taking over the menswear division as well seemed daunting at first but he has proven himself a worthy successor to Van Noten. And for this collection, he actually brought a sense of womenswear to the fabric choices and garments. "We looked at the world of lingerie, thinking what lingerie can mean to menswear, and that informed a lot of the fabrication," he said. The result is a gorgeous assemblage of fluid, weightless layers and a sunset-inspired color palette. Diaphanous silk duster coats, crepe shirts, semi-sheer shirts and shorts, embroidered beaded camisoles, fluttering floral scarves as shirts or wraps ... and large paillettes that add shimmer. It feels like a collection you could live in all hot summer long.

https://www.driesvannoten.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--IM (Issey Miyake)

IM as it is now known is the continuation of the brand started by legendary Japanese designer Issey Miyake in 1970. Miyake (previously here), who died in 2022, was highly influential in clothing design and I honestly don't think we would have the likes of Rick Owens or Boris Bidjan Saberi or Damir Doma or Craig Green or even Haider Ackermann without him. The menswear division is now headed by a trio of designers--Sen Kawahara, Yuki Itakura and Nobutaka Kobayashi--who created a Spring Summer '27 show at Paris Fashion Week called "In Praise of Bamboo Shadows."

With references to a 1933 essay about Japanese aesthetics by Jun’Ichiro Tanizaki, the cultural and material significance of bamboo, and the ancient Japanese tale of Princess Kaguya who was discovered inside a bamboo stalk as a child but grows up to return to the night sky, this enchanting collection highlights the best of Miyake silhouettes and cuts. The first oversized coat is lovely, showing actual shadows of bamboo stalks on a white ground. And when not a literal presentation in the form of a hat or chest piece or shoes or the motif of woven bamboo, it showed up in the thread blend of garments, offering a silky texture and flowing appearance! The gradual shift to bamboo greens is so pleasing...

https://us.isseymiyake.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Songzio

Jay Songzio has called his creative perspective "oriental futurism" but he has also shown a penchant for mining silhouettes of times and centuries past. He has shown collections of garments that look as if they are based on Medieval and ancient Japanese armor. He blends east and west quite well. But for this Spring Summer '27 show at Paris Fashion Week, the armor has been softened, shaped into layers of ease with sheer materials. Quite the opposite of armor. But somehow he manages to retain an echo of the original purpose...

When the warrior takes off his battle gear, there is repose beneath. I love the way these garments drape, puddle, flow. The skirts in Looks 12 and 20 that zip open are magnificent. I don't think I have seen a loose trouser better cut than the ones in Looks 10, 15, and 16. Yet Songzio's classic Roman gladiator sandals remain (click a pic to ogle). And the browns, mustards, and greens are a beautiful counterpoint to his often black and white palette. Stunning.

https://en.songzio.com/

BEAUTY: Set Design--Louis Vuitton

And here we are starting Paris Fashion Week and what a way to make a splash .. literally. For their Spring Summer '27 surfer-inspired collection (which I am not showing because, frankly, it is not that motivating to me), Louis Vuitton created a jaw-dropping set of an enormous breaking wave, consisting of real water cascading down a structure into two pools. The runway and showspace floor was completely covered in soft sand. Wow...

https://us.louisvuitton.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Shinyakozuka

Shinya Kozuka, who was the guest designer at Pitti Uomo this past winter, has been at it with his eponymously named menswear line since he graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2013. But this Spring Summer '27 collection entitled "watercolor path" marks his official debut on the Milan menswear schedule. And the collection has a curious impact ... like a haiku, it is streamlined and subtle but packed with poetic meaning.

Apparently, Kozuka often forgets his glasses at home and navigates his Tokyo neighborhood in a blur. From this experience came the idea of making the collection feel as if it exists in a haze. In his show notes, he said," There is something nice about being out of focus. Not everything needs to be perfectly clear. Not everything needs to be sharply defined. I think there is something important about repetition." The motif that flew into frame was birds in a beautiful spectrum of greens and blues. For the narrative, witness the design on a sweater in Look 18 that depicts a lone figure walking hrough a cityscape, casting a shadow onto a nearby flying bird.

The hand-made, hand-painted aspect of the collection is what makes it feel like a haiku ... something from the mind of an artist, from the hand of the maker. Looks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 13 are literally caked with paint. Many pieces are made from sheer material ... I love the jumpsuit in Look 6. And one tunic poignantly and simply announces, "homecoming." Like a haiku, we glean a bigger sense of  meaning from each of the lines and garments in this pensive collection.

https://shinyakozuka.com/