How Independent Thinking Powered the Spring/Summer 2027 Shows

Imran Amed (0:04)

Hi, this is Imran Amed, founder and CEO of The Business of Fashion. Welcome to the BOF Podcast. It's Friday, October 9th.

Every season when the last show in Paris is over, I sit down with Tim Blanks to make sense of what we've just seen. Tim has been watching and writing about fashion shows for over three decades. This season, he spent time with Miuccia Prada, Demna, Rick Owens, and Matthieu Blazy. And he can tell you not just what a collection looks like, but what it means. In London, two of the city's most established designers, Simone Rocha and Erdem, reached what Tim calls career heights. Christopher Kane returned to the runway this time at Mulberry. In Milan, Demna gave us the clearest picture yet of his Gucci. And in Paris, Anthony Vaccarello said goodbye to Saint Laurent after a decade. A departure the house confirmed today.

But the thread we kept coming back to was bigger than any one show. In an industry dominated by giant groups trying to meet quarterly targets, there is a renaissance of independent designers and independent thinking. And you can find that same spirit in places you might not expect.

Tim Blanks (1:20)

One theme that I think we will probably be expanding on if we get a chance to do more of these conversations over the next few years is the renaissance of independent designers and independent retailers. Because really that is what fashion is all about ultimately. It is about this individual idiosyncratic statement, this passion, and that applies not just to the designers, but to the people who sell the designers.

Imran Amed (1:45)

Tim and I talk about the season that was and whether fashion's independent spirit can survive inside an industry built for scale. Here's Tim Blanks on the BOF Podcast.

Hello Tim, welcome to our seasonal conversation about the fashion season that was. Are you ready?

Tim Blanks (2:04)

I'm ready.

Imran Amed (2:06)

You know people really look forward to this conversation. I have a lot of people, including the new BOF 500 Class of 2076 member Dylan Kelly, say he looks forward to this every season. So now I feel like we better deliver, Tim.

Tim Blanks (2:21)

The pressure is on. Thank goodness there are good things to talk about.

Imran Amed (2:25)

Yeah, I mean, overall, before we dive into the details, what did you make of this season?

Tim Blanks (2:32)

I feel because of my other deadlines, I feel that I didn't experience it as fully as everybody else did. But there are so many conversations that people are having about what fashion is doing, what fashion needs to do, and how people are responding to that. I think a lot of that conversation has been sparked by what's happened with Matthieu Blazy at Chanel. Because what happened there is just so full of possibility. And so I think that has made people look at things in a slightly different way, that there is hope, there are opportunities to make significant changes.

So let's hope that we saw green shoots.

Imran Amed (3:31)

Yeah, I wanted to start this conversation in London, which has had some challenges in recent seasons. You know, the energy in London has never been the same, you know, since COVID really. And, you know, I remember a time in the early 2010s, when on a Monday of London Fashion Week, you could see Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders and Roxana and Erdem and Burberry and like that day, you just go from one amazingly creative show to another. And then after, you know, after COVID, you know, some of these businesses no longer exist. You know, some of them have gone out of business. Some of them have held on and continue to kind of hold the flame of London up. But something started to shift this season. You know, it's not certainly not back at the at the Apogee of the decades before, but there was some sense of London finding its feet again. And, you know, as we looked at the schedule before the week began, you know, Christopher Kane was back this time showing under the banner of Mulberry, you know, Sean McGurr from McQueen brought his show back to London. You know, there was an M&S show in London. There was an H&M show in London. And then, of course, there were the stalwarts of like Roxanne and Erdem and Simone Rocha.

So before we dive in, you know, into some of the details of shows, like what's your take on what's happening with London now? Are you feeling that too, that there's like a bit of a, there's a sense of maybe London coming back?

Tim Blanks (5:28)