Paris Fashion Week’s Most Standout Shows for Spring 2027

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As another Paris Fashion Week draws to a close, we thought it would be fun to hand out a few awards to the designers and shows that made the most… distinct impression on us. Was it a good impression? A bad impression? A complete head-scratcher of an impression? Read on to see for yourself.

Best Show of Their Career (So Far): Julian Klausner for Dries Van Noten

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. Klausner has been knocking it out of the park since taking over from Van Noten in late 2024. Those are some big shoes to fill and he has proven himself more than up for the task. His Spring 2027 collection was colorful, confident, and bursting with gorgeous prints, all of it masterfully balanced by a designer who clearly knows exactly what he is doing and keeps getting better and better.

Most Likely to be Mistaken for Heatherette: Junya Watanabe

This show was absolutely wild. The leathers were amazing, as always, but overall it had something of early 2000s Heatherette about it. Maybe it was the stark contrast of the all white runway with the bright pink body suits and the club kid styling and accessories. And while Heatherette never created anything with Watanabe’s precision, skill, and craftmanship — their versions of these looks would probably involve a fair amount of hot glue and staples — let’s not pretend that a pregnant Ciara walking the runway in a giant chandelier hard hat wouldn’t have looked utterly at home on Richie Rich and Traver Rains’ Bryant Park runway. Is that shady? A little. But this collection was clearly intended to provoke. And it did.

Most Likely to Be Their Last Show: Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent

Rumors have been swirling for months that Vaccarello is out after this season. Not that he’s doing a bad job or anything. His most recent collection was a gilded triumph, but it also felt very much like one long finale. If it is, at least he’s going out with a bang.

Vaccarello might have won this award, but he wasn’t the only nominee. After all, whispers within the industry are that Chemena Kamali is slated to take over for Vaccarello at Saint Laurent, which would make Spring 2027 her final collection for Chloé. True, she’s only been at the brand for a few years, but she worked under Vaccarello for a long time as head of women’s ready-to-wear at Saint Laurent, so she knows the brand and Kering’s executives well, and at this point she’s more than proven herself capable of leading a major fashion house. Her most recent Chloé collection, like every collection she’s created since taking the reigns in 2023, was an absolute stunner. It also included a few Laurent-isms in the form of a caftans, billowing long sleeve dresses and tops, and that black “Le Smoking” jumpsuit, that made us wonder if she isn’t already designing with YSL in mind. Also, there were her show notes, which were so wistful and earnest they read to us like a goodbye letter.

We also find ourselves wondering if Spring 2027 might not be Nicholas Ghesquière’s swan song at Louis Vuitton. True, it was probably his most wearable collection in years, but since when does Ghesquière care about wearability? No shade, but hasn’t Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear under him always been a sort of futuristic anime-inflected art project? Like, no one actually buys these clothes. They don’t even stock most of them in the stores and they never really have. And LVMH has always seemed to be fine with that. After all, Ghesquière is one of the greatest designers of his generation and the clothes are really just there to contextualize the bags anyway. So why does this collection feel like an attempt by Ghesquière to reign himself in? After a sting of truly cuckoo bananas collections, did he finally get his hand slapped by the up-to-this-point-exceedingly-indulgent Arnaults? Maybe, maybe not.

The fashion peanut gallery has been screaming for his dismissal for a while now, but what really made us think this might truly be the end of Ghesquière’s time at Louis Vuitton was this photo of him the brand posted on their Instagram account. That lens flare is giving “In Memorium” and “Tonight, on a very fashionable episode of Touched by an Angel.” It’s giving “Thank you for your service.”

Honestly, it’s a good collection for Ghesquière, but if Spring 2027 really is his last for Vuitton, it feels a bit anticlimactic.

Most Wanted: Celine

People are going absolutely nuts for Michael Rider’s Celine. Season after season, the fervor for his easy, wearable, and incredibly chic designs continues to rise. True, people are also going nuts for Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel, but we get the sense that editors and fashion industry insiders are more likely to actually buy Rider’s clothes than Blazy’s, if only because they cost so much less ($4600 for a wool jacket at Celine vs. $9000 for a wool jacket at Chanel). Not to imply that Celine’s prices are in any way affordable. Nor that desirability and accessibility go hand in hand — often, they are downright mutually exclusive — but Blazy’s Chanel feels more like fantasy fodder than actual, wearable clothes, while Rider’s creations feel firmly rooted in the real world. Both kinds of clothing are wonderful and necessary to keep fashion alive and thriving, but in terms of what people actually aspire to wear, it feels like Rider has the edge here. At least when it comes to clothes. Bags and shoes? Well, Blazy’s Chanel is winning that race by a mile.

Best Americans in Paris: Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez at Loewe

Hot take, we know, especially after we just gave American Michael Rider the award for Most Wanted collection of the season, but it is just so nice to see Jack and Laz flexing their design muscles and spreading their wings at Loewe. Finanical constraints kept them from really going all out at their namesake brand — they often said as much — and their work at Loewe is proof that their talent always just needed a bigger and better-funded platform to really show itself to its fullest advantage. We love their way with color and the sporty influences that seem to be becoming a signature of their Loewe, and, honestly, we’de be happy to wear any and all of it.

Honerable mention, of course, to American designer Daniel Roseberry, who showed an absolutely gorgeous collection at Schiaparelli. It started off a bit slow and was less outrageous and costume-y than in previous seasons, but that’s not a bad thing. It was wearable and commercial, but still stunning. And there were some truly spectacular looks in the middle there. And, of course, we loved the gold nipple covers. Can’t wait to see those at Bergdorf Goodman!

Also, American Pelagia Kolotouros is doing some really good work at Lacoste and we’d like to take this opportunity to give her her flowers. After years of fashion shows, you’d still be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks of the runway when they think of Lacoste, but with Kolotouros at the helm, maybe they should.

Stuntiest Casting: Miu Miu

So many celebrities walked the runway this season. Not to mention nepo babies. Apple Martin made her runway debut at Chloé. Stephanie Seymour’s daughter Lily Margaret Brant walked at Alaïa. Ciara walked at Junya Watanabe. And Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Homme stalked the runway at Ann Demeulemeester — designer Stefano Gallici really is killing it there, by the way.

But, of course, the combined star power of all those shows paled in comparison to the white hot brightness of Miu Miu’s absolute barrage of celebrity catwalkers. Fifteen by our count. Fifteen! A bit excessive, if you ask us, but reviews for this most recent collection haven’t exactly been stellar, so maybe Miuccia and co were trying to hedge their bets with flashier casting. Either way, they certainly got everyone’s attention and that’s what really counts these days, right?

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