New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027 found designers looking backwards without getting stuck there. Heritage codes were loosened, tailoring softened and femininity came with considerably fewer rules. From Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera reworking familiar signatures to Conner Ives, Sandy Liang and Heirlome bringing a younger perspective, Susan Foster selects six collections that caught her eye — and the ideas likely to travel well beyond the runway.
CONNER IVES – A Homecoming
Conner Ives’s new NYFW collection hints of old-world glamour sliced with 2027 appeal. His designs move through the 1950s and 1960s “Swan” era of Capote-inspired elegance and into the 1970s with mini hemlines, thus gathering iconic moments from bygone decades rather than committing to any single one.
The silhouettes acknowledge each in turn: collarless embroidered mini coat-dresses evoking early “Swan” era tailoring, fluid bias-cut slip dresses with fringe-draped hems channeling late-1960s (or 1920s) cocktail refinement, and form-fitting halter bodysuits with shell-buckle hip drapes that feel lifted from a 1970s Slim Aarons pool party.
Pieces made from dead-stock or vintage fabrics, re-generated vintage fur, Flapper fringe cascades and even a sense of 1980s prep work their way into the collection by way of equestrian horse-and-jockey prints on ribbed-knit pencil skirts.
His motifs feel decorative and narrative – pictorial embroidery of Japanese cranes and rose gardens – restrained enough to keep each look grounded and sophisticated in a contemporary wardrobe. It’s a collection that feels like leafing through several decades at once, but with a modern air that will stand the test of time into the future.
Ives, 30, born in Bedford, New York, studied at Central Saint Martins in London, is adored by Lila Moss as well as Olympia of Greece, and definitely a name to watch.
Photos © Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
BRANDON MAXWELL – Disciplined Contradiction
Brandon Maxwell’s latest 2027 collection is a treatise in disciplined contradiction – masculine tailoring that doesn’t lose its grip on the feminine body. Throughout the lineup, whether it be a precision-cut pencil skirt in buttery black leather with a front facing slit and laden with layers of tied cashmere atop; or a perforated cream calfskin skirt coupled with an oversized tucked sweater, embellished with metal eyelets; these looks become the collection’s quiet thesis: masculine tailoring held in deliberate tension with softness, never allowing one to overpower the other, which become the collection defining discipline.
The real sleight of hand arrives in the trousers: billowing, knife-pleated “split-skirts” in jet black and saturated crimson fan out and flow with such volume they almost truly read as skirts from certain angles, a theatrical counterpoint to the form-fitted leather tanks that hug the skin.
My personal favourite are those with double-fold waistbands that open front and centre, which dissolves the typical architecture of the trouser – letting an open folded-down waistband blur the line between structure and drapery. Luxuriously layered knits and turtlenecks paired with chic trousers, and sheer organza underlayers create a tactile and feminine depth under standout tuxedo coats.
Another favourite, a sleek satin draped top knotted at center and draped across one shoulder was a stand-out piece coupled with low-rise masculine loose trousers, and a sheath dress with an asymmetrical slit that slices cleanly above the knee.
For me it’s a callback to the linear, body-conscious minimalism of nineties Calvin Klein and Donna Karan – that era when American fashion proved you could strip everything back and still celebrate a woman’s form. Maxwell doesn’t just replicate that legacy; he modernises it with a sportswear ease and a tactile luxury that feels squarely of the moment. The result is a streamlined, wearable, and quietly powerful minimalism that never at any point forgets to be feminine.
Photos courtesy of Brandon Maxwell
RALPH LAUREN – American Romance with a Rebel Twist
Ralph Lauren took his classic silhouettes and infused them with youth and irreverence. A fitted floral blazer and matching cropped vest with an oversized fabric brooch at the lapel, sat above pinstriped trousers so wide and pleated they read almost as skirts – a trouser throughline during fashion week.
The fitted military-style jacket in burgundy damask fastened with frog closures which opened above the navel, a classic RL motif given a new, off-the-moment sensuality.
The classic flowing gowns also went sheer – pure Ralph silhouettes but transparent, keeping step with the decade’s trend toward nakedness.
That’s the collection: heritage, sans the “costume,” with edge, for a woman who lives right now. The Ralph Lauren “uniform” of super-heritage American buttoned-up classics has been traded for a more modern, irreverent feminine woman. Less costume, more wearable-ode to femininity. Less historical dressing, more fluidity and sensuality.
Even the models were edgier than the classic Lauren beaut and a hint of ethnic glamour ran through the collection – Indian, Spanish, Asian – handled with perfection, hence the nearly colonial jacket with its Asian-inflected frog buttons.
Evening carried the same ease: a sequined slip dress with a braided rope belt slung low on the hip; metallic fringe skirts under unstructured relaxed coats, ruffled scarves worn in place of blouses; tulle gowns dense with sparkles and beading at the bodice.
An iconic American designer who has always celebrated bygone eras kept with his quintessential theme but just made it cooler. Hands down, one of his best shows in a decade.
Photos © Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
CAROLINA HERRERA – Playful Sophistication
For its 45th anniversary, Carolina Herrera went home in scale: the David H. Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, a New York landmark filled with 28,798 yellow tulips, and Wes Gordon holding the house codes – just not too tightly.
The Herrera DNA was all there — the pencil skirt, the sculptural ruffle, the grand evening gown — but this season they’ve gone lighter and sheerer, in step with trend bare dressing. Pencil skirts came worn with bra tops and cardigans slipped off the shoulder instead of buttoned-up blouses; gowns were cut in airy chiffons and organzas that move, some nearly transparent – romance with much less scaffolding. Ruffles stayed sculptural, but the trims were rebellious: tassels, pom-poms, 3D rosettes. And the grandest gowns came with dewy makeup and easy, undone hair – classic looks with unbothered energy.
That’s how a house this elegant stays cool at 45: the sophistication stays, the preciousness goes. The collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Artsput Warhol’s famous portrait of Carolina Herrera on selected pieces – Herrera’s mark on New York, and New York as the culture to draw from. James de Givenchy’s Taffin high jewellery, with its wispy long tassels and floral motifs, kept the same spirit: collected, cool, never stiff. The jewellery paid homage to the jewels Mrs Herrera wore in the early years of the House, with a special focus on her iconic red lip.
In a nutshell, the 2027 collection dwells much less in classic ceremony and dials up the wit and the humour, sheathed in femininity. A ladylike house that knows exactly which rules to bend.
Photos © Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
SANDY LIANG – Coming of Age
Sandy Liang’s Spring 2027 collection builds a charming girl meets boy fantasy by colliding sweetness with utility: lustrous satin, frothy tulle, oversized bows, ruffles, and ballerina silhouettes mixed with unexpected high-collar technical windbreakers, sporty nylon jackets, and tactical fanny packs that feel lifted straight from a hiking trail.
That tension and duality between the masculine and feminine is what makes these clothes so engaging – they are romantic, but bring forth a sense of play. The satin and tulle bring softness and nostalgia, while the athletic outerwear and utility accessories give the looks a mischievous, campy edge – with a wink.
Photos courtesy of Sandy Liang
HEIRLOME – Chic Traditional Craft
Heirlome, the lauded women’s ready-to-wear brand founded by husband-and-wife team Stephanie Suberville and Jeffrey Axford, draws on Suberville’s Mexican heritage and the couple’s collaborations with artisans in Mexico and Latin America. Launched as a celebration of traditional craft, the relatively new label translates artisans’ work into refined, meticulously tailored collections through print, weaving, knitting and embroidery.
Its growing recognition includes Suberville’s runner-up finish in the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and her 2026 induction as a CFDA member. The brand’s first New York Fashion Week runway show features silks and satin mixed with denim, leather and embroidery— from flowing voluminous fabrics to minimalistic silhouettes with padded matelasse textures.
Images courtesy of Heirlome
Author: Susan Foster
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