Letting Loose and Risking It All
Review of Celine Spring 2027 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Like night and day, designers have been speaking in terms of contrasts this season. What to build on and what to discard. Can you sacrifice function for artistic merit? It will be all to play for next spring. In Michael Rider’s world, for his first solo men’s collection for Celine, he asked us to be open – as opposed to closed off – to the idea of what can be possible when you dream of building something bigger than yourself.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Risk it all, Style it Well, Dress Up Authentically
Spring 2027 has been a decidedly strange season, in that it has felt as if designers have been seriously contemplative about what they decided to put out, and the future of menswear – for the next year at least – was all the better for it. Whether practicing pragmatism or nature-fuelled ethereality it was all food for thought.
Travel is something that will always shift your perspective. And so it was that Rider was full of inspiration, and contemplation, on the benefits of going outside, touching grass, or travelling further afield to get out of your head and shake things loose. And shake he did.
The clever detail underpinning this collection is that the designer took shapes men will be intimately familiar with and – as he said in his notes – havE the guts to reach into them and start pulling away at the threads, as if to say just because something has been done in a certain way it doesn’t mean you have to continue down that road. So knits were cinched into colourful cummerbunds, shrunken blazers featured crisp grid-like creases, stirrup pants struck an athletic pose, leather capes came with technical drawstring hems, and V-neck sweaters were worn to reveal a hint of bare shoulder. He also made good on his promise to take risks and free-style by letting us know that boxy jackets should finish just above the waist, apparently capri pants are in, as are extreme slashed necklines, and silky balloon pants will now be required to be worn with a sharp blazer. To both channel that spirit of the voyage and to demonstrate that opposites do, in fact, attract.
There was something intriguing about the Celine man this season. Maybe it was that he had been allowed out on his own or maybe it was the excellent way that punchy colours brought together a collection that implored men not to be afraid of mixing their primaries. But, in a mash-up of mod, rocker, and a little bit of beatnik style thrown in for good measure, we are seeing how important a character-driven narrative is becoming for the designer. You can really imagine men getting behind this modern take on styles that defined the generations coming-of-age in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
The clothes looked – and were styled – like better versions of items that men could already find in their own wardrobes. Making the connection that if they are brave enough they too can take to the world dressed with a lot of panache and a little practicality.
THE WRAP UP
Talking of ‘authenticity and dress up’ as if they are opposites needs a rethink. As the designer brought an authentic sense of style to the Celine man while allowing him to dress up in clothes that he can come back to time and again. He was letting his male customer know that they can own a “few great things” and customise them to form their own sense of style. Assisted all the way by a designer who is very clearly in love with the art of “building…something with roots.”
