The standout collections defining New York Fashion Week SS27
From American sportswear to Indian heritage, explore the standout collections that defined New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027.
New York Fashion Week has long been a meeting point for different perspectives in fashion, bringing together established American houses, emerging designers and international voices. For Spring/Summer 2027, the city's runway calendar offered plenty of familiar fashion codes alongside distinctive creative viewpoints, with designers exploring everything from cultural heritage and modernism to femininity and eccentricity.
The season brought together varied approaches to fashion, craftsmanship and identity, from Bibhu Mohapatra's celebration of eccentricity and Sabyasachi Mukherjee's return to New York after 20 years to Tory Burch's exploration of expressive femininity and Michael Kors's dialogue with modernist art and sculpture.
Meanwhile, COS presented its Autumn/Winter 2026 collection at the WSA Building in New York, continuing its exploration of precise tailoring and minimalist design while introducing a dialogue between corporate modernism and 1920s decadence.
Here are the collections and fashion moments that caught our attention at New York Fashion Week.
Tory Burch: Where American sportswear meets expressive femininity
Tory Burch embraced “The Joy of Getting Dressed” for Spring/Summer 2027, bringing together opulent femininity and American pragmatism through rich textures, expressive patterns and playful colour combinations. Jewel tones brought energy to the collection, while unexpected colour pairings created some of its most joyful moments.
The knitwear was particularly striking, with embroidered and embellished cardigans styled alongside pencil skirts for a refined yet playful effect. Pleated dresses in delicate pastel shades brought a softer, more romantic mood to the collection, while the interplay of colour, texture and craftsmanship kept the looks feeling fresh. At its heart, the collection was a celebration of getting dressed for the sheer pleasure of it, with Burch using colour, texture and unexpected combinations to make a case for fashion as a form of self-expression.
Michael Kors Collection: Sculptural silhouettes and modern glamour
Michael Kors explored “Architectural Modernism” for Spring/Summer 2027, drawing on mid-century modernism after a trip to Paris to see an Alexander Calder retrospective, alongside a visit to LACMA in Los Angeles. Presented at the Museum of Modern Art’s Sculpture Garden in New York, the collection brought together Calder’s sculptural sensibility with references to artists including Ellsworth Kelly and Carmen Herrera. Clean lines, graphic contrasts and sharp proportions gave the clothes a distinctly modernist edge.
The wardrobe centred on graphic stripes, shrunken suits, and lean tailoring, with pops of coral, sunflower yellow, grass green, and blue breaking up crisp black-and-white looks. Sculptural jewellery like oversized disc earrings nodded to Calder’s mobiles, while curved cutouts and asymmetrical silhouettes softened the collection’s sharper lines. A sequined cocktail dress drew on the curvilinear shapes of Henri Matisse’s cutouts, adding a sense of movement to the otherwise precise silhouettes. Kors blended modernist themes into a collection that felt sculptural yet wearable through the interaction of art, architecture, and elegant summer clothing.
COS: Contemporary minimalism takes a sculptural turn
COS debuted its Autumn/Winter 2026 collection at New York Fashion Week on September 13, 2026, fusing urban sophistication with sculptural design and understated luxury. Cool greys, black, navy and soft brown formed the palette, punctuated by striking purple highlights. A hint of 1920s eveningwear came through floral embroidery, laser-cut lace, and dramatic fringing, while ultra-long double-faced cashmere coats, sculptural tailoring, and dropped-waist dresses with uneven hems defined the womenswear. In menswear, relaxed wide-leg trousers, double-breasted tailoring, shoulder epaulettes, and leather Derby shoes offered a modern take on business dressing. The collection offered a modern take on city dressing by striking a balance between structure and movement.
Bibhu Mohapatra: A celebration of theatricality, colour, and couture-inspired detail
Bibhu Mohapatra looked to Marchesa Luisa Casati for Spring/Summer 2027, drawing on the eccentric Italian heiress and patron's larger-than-life approach to self-expression. The collection brought that theatricality to the runway through saturated colour, sequins, feathers and dramatic silhouettes, balancing evening glamour with more relaxed pieces.
Candy-floss pink opened the collection, while marigold brought a sense of optimism to a sheer poet blouse and asymmetric duchesse satin skirt. Four-way printed Chantilly lace appeared across dresses and skirts, adding softness to the more embellished looks, while beaded moths on the models' stilettos brought another playful detail to the collection. Mohapatra also introduced denim into the mix, including a floor-sweeping trench, structured shirtdress and slouchy indigo jeans, creating an unexpected contrast with the collection's black-tie sensibility.
Sabyasachi: Bengal, Byzantium, and Broadway converge on the New York runway
Sabyasachi Mukherjee returned to New York Fashion Week with "Bengal Byzantine Broadway", nearly 18 years after his last show in the city. The Spring/Summer 2027 collection brought together Indian craftsmanship and Americana, pairing classic blue jeans, plaid shirts, denim vests, and cowboy hats with intricate detailing and statement jewellery across 72 looks.
Supermodel Christy Turlington opened the show in a layered denim look, wearing pieces from the designer’s fine jewellery collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Inspired by historical objects from the museum's collections, the jewellery included Byzantine revival cuffs, Etruscan-inspired pendants, and oversized gemstone pieces. The collection's meeting of Bengal's cultural heritage, Byzantine history, and contemporary American dressing marked a significant return to the New York runway for the designer.
The September 2026 season of New York Fashion Week brought together varied approaches to contemporary fashion, from Bibhu Mohapatra’s embrace of theatricality and COS’s thoughtful minimalism to Tory Burch’s expressive take on American sportswear and Michael Kors Collection’s sculptural tailoring.
Sabyasachi’s return added another dimension to the fashion calendar, bringing Indian craftsmanship and historical references into conversation with contemporary American dressing and the wider global luxury landscape.
Together, the collections reflected the many ways designers continue to approach fashion through colour, craftsmanship, cultural exchange, and individual creative perspectives.
Lead image: Getty Images
Also read: Tarun Tahiliani sidesteps the conventions of the runway at India Couture Week
