For Spring/Summer 2027, Maison Margiela turns to a pair of opposites: hard and soft. The ready-to-wear collection treats them as the two forces behind how clothes are made, and it looks for the tension between them.
Two ateliers, one show
The idea comes from the traditional split in Parisian couture ateliers. Tailoring handles the rigid, structural garments, and Flou handles dressmaking and draping. Margiela borrows both practices for a ready-to-wear show, in keeping with the house’s long habit of rereading fashion’s history and the systems behind it. Tailoring gains new structural elements, and draping gets firmer foundations to fall from.
The set: flowers, aged
The runway is dressed by floral artist Mark Colle. It pays tribute to Raf Simons’s celebrated 2012 couture debut, the one famously swathed in flowers, but here the blooms look as if time has had its way with them. The house’s fascination with replication carries into the clothes, where floral prints appear throughout, capturing the flowers in a state of permanent, vivid life.
Hardened archetypes
Much of the collection works by stiffening familiar garments.
- Trench coats get broad hardened panels, either horizontal at the waist or vertical down both sides of the body.
- Jackets and waistcoats are folded in on themselves to hide the buttons. The creases are reinforced inside, so the new fold lines stay even if the piece is unfolded and buttoned conventionally.
- Draped dresses and tops have outward-curving chest panels that form a “balcony.” The effect is corseting without constriction, with the drape guided by the panel and held by a tie at the back.
- Wrap skirts in rich fabrics are fortified, then finished at the waist with humble cotton. Some dresses use a contrasting cotton panel at the waist to read as separates.
- Sleeveless crewneck dresses carry oversized darts down the front, slashed at the waist and stiffened into sculptural forms on otherwise soft dresses.
- Deeply draped dresses have corsetry that looks blown open at the front. The hardened form produces a cowl that sweeps from chest to ankle.
Net is worn over, or built into, new second-skin knits. The most extreme expression of hardness is silverware, flattened and then moulded into a body.
Linings take center stage
Linings have always been part of the Margiela story, and here they become garments in their own right. The lining of a coat is attached to a floral dress that has been cut open at the back and extended. The result looks like a coat worn over a dress, with the stiffened print set against the soft lining.
Pure softness appears too, in draped crewneck dresses printed with spray-painted cranes and eagles. The finale brings open-backed dresses turned back to front and re-draped, worn over second skins so the newly open front can be worn with confidence.
Accessories
Bags. The 5AC Soft returns in supple, softened leather, with the inner-lining-turned-zipper opening in the same material. The new Ghost bags rework briefcases, weekenders and vanity cases by removing their rigid structures entirely, leaving soft leather with the original metal hardware, such as lock panels. The Link bag comes in soft suede, including waxed pleated suede made to age well, and the Glam Slam appears in the collection’s floral prints. Clutches resemble jewellery boxes or a chatelaine’s purse worn on a ring, some of them modular. The Marché bag is woven from leather cord that looks like party string.
Shoes. Heel-less open-toe boots have a high hidden heel and a slight visible kitten heel. They come knee-high in black leather or the collection’s ruched fabrics, with a tube-like leg. Heel-less open-toe pumps follow in the same materials. For men there are lighter heel-less loafers, lace-ups and boxer boots in softer leather, with a subtle pie-crust toe and soles split between toe and heel. The new Slide heel comes as a mule with a curved toe and sole set against a rectangular heel, held on by vegetal leather or colourful strips that echo party string. Tabi returns in heel clogs with ruched materials, alongside Tabi boots and ballerinas.
Jewellery. Chain necklaces and bracelets are wrapped in mesh or made from tube-shaped leather. Earrings look like crystals caught in a net, or take the form of a glitter-filled four-stitch rectangle.
Credits
Styling: Ursina Gysi. Casting: Dominique Vinant. Makeup: Inge Grognard. Hair: Tom Wright. Manicure: Cam Tran. Floral set design: Mark Colle. Scenography: Faraguna. Sound design: Senjan Jansen. Choreography: Eric Christison. Light design: LightLab. Production: Runway Event. The show was set to Hole’s “Violet.”
