Top Trends from London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2027

Lingerie codes, narrative-driven merchandising and the search for human touch. London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2027 was a study in brand integrity, imperfections and high-drama craftsmanship. 

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The week at a glance 

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There’s always a bit of whiplash moving straight into London Fashion Week from New York. Palette cleansers like Calvin Klein, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger lull fashion audiences into ‘tasteful’ comfort, before being roused by the visually arresting assortments from Simone Rocha, Erdem, Roksanda or KNWLS.  

And it’s by this comparison that British designers really show how good they are at physically producing abstractions of ideas, and using a runway show as a platform to imbue a world or provoke a gut reaction. The regular brands on schedule have largely mastered the channelling of raw emotion, rather than offering a highly merchandisable collection. And in today’s AI day and age, what’s more successful?  

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This season saw the homecoming of the McQueen label to London from Paris, in maybe the most anticipated show of the week. Seàn McGirr has one of the hardest jobs in fashion: commercialising the cultural capital left by Lee Alexander McQueen, without trying to replicate his legacy. Even if nostalgia is a handy drawcard, the company cannot run on ideas alone. Or the reissue of skull scarves, or an over-reliance on a hero product: at its peak, the iconic Oversized Sneaker reportedly generated more than 40% of total revenue.

With the steady rise of luxury prices, McQueen’s chance is in maintaining its luxury positioning while introducing more accessible price points for younger customers, with their affinity for the hand-touched and conceptually relevant. This season, however, the collection felt like the product was getting closer to the point-blank integrity the brand was built on. 

Speaking of balancing ideas and integrity, other revamps-in-progress included Christopher Kane’s debut for Mulberry, and Daniel Lee’s Burberry evolution. Kane’s signature wit and affectation for the tactile offered a successful and curious collection, with one of the better examples of a 

Meanwhile, hometown heroes, Simone Rocha, Erdem, Roksanda and Pauline Dujancourt display creative prowess and mood-shifting abilities, where Rocha is becoming synonymous with the sports-meets-sequins movement.  

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Runway highlights 

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Over the years, the emphasis on prescriptive outfitting and this-goes-with-that has left very little room for getting it wrong; however, the best fashion often repels before its desirability begins to sink in: think windbreakers with tulle, Victorian-era necklines or the sneakerina. London has a habit of making the unfamiliar commercially compelling. 

Case in point: the cummerbund/ low-rise-belt styling, which was also notable during New York. This could have been swept up from the Celine-to-mainstream pipeline, but the look resulted in a particularly fetching silhouette at Mithridate, Talia Byre and McQueen. 

Maybe there’s something to the internet’s ‘messy girl’ concept worth noting. For nostalgia's sake, the armchair references to ‘indie sleaze’ play a part, but the term alone tends to box the idea into another micro-trend. Besides, indie bands do not permeate the music charts as they did in the 2000s – K-pop bands and immaculately dressed pop stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams do. 

So what do coloured stockings, undone undergarments and cropped moto jackets really say about the now? Certainly nothing about Karen O. But maybe the attachment, or commitment, to a human feeling. The anti-AI sentiment where, in a climate where perfection is so attainable, doing something wrong is extremely appealing – and invigorating.

Said Burberry’s Daniel Lee to Vogue Runway: “I think when we’re buying a luxury garment, a luxury product, we’re all searching for something that we have an emotional attachment to. You know, it’s not a necessity product: it’s an emotional thing. For me, the ruffles and the imperfections, they ultimately make things feel human.”

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The trends

The emerging trends from London Fashion Week spoke to this, but how will it translate on the streets?

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Under as outer

The bralette obsession kicked off during the SS26 runways, and its prominence appears to be at an all-time high this season, merging with several trends from the last few seasons: peek-a-boo bras, nighties, slip dresses, lingerie fabrics and visible boning. The styling suggests the desire for a level of undone-ness and imperfection in putting an ensemble together. Meanwhile, ‘slip dress’ has increased 100% in Google searches over the past year, while the search term ‘bralette’ has increased 60%. 

The after-dark trenches

What began a few seasons ago in defiance of the algorithm was the eveningwear-meets-outdoor-adjacent coats and jackets. As if to suggest trudging home after a long night out, heels in hand, protected by the elements with your favourite trench coat on. The hybrid look took off once more in London, with labels such as Simone Rocha, Burberry and Erdem mixing the day and night codes to offer a more humorous (yet practical) take on painting the town. Trench coat and parka have both increased 60% in Google searches, while anorak has surged 900% compared to the previous year. This also may have something to do with the Oasis reunion tour.

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Art of adornment

As always, embellishment plays a key role in London’s fashion collections and this season the designers doubled-down on ensuring rhinestones, beading, ties and texture really brought the clothing to life. From McQueen to Erdem, crystals and sequins appeared as layers of jewellery, transforming otherwise classic black suiting, slip dresses and under garments. Simone Rocha’s signature rosettes framed jackets and deep v-necks, while Pauline Doujancourt used her knitwear prowess to create unexpected texture.

Below-the-waist belt

The low-rise belt or cummerbund trend has found its perfect place in the shifting of the waistline in high-end fashion, as first highlighted during New York Fashion Week. The cummerbund, traditional to menswear, is disrupting traditional tailoring, especially with its placements seen at Mithridate, and the use of the shape at McQueen and Erdem. Typically designed to sit at the natural waist, the runways have adapted it to be loosened, enlarged and worn lower for a hip-swinging effect. Already there's an interest growing for a statement waistline; searches for 'wide belt' have grown 154% over the past year, while Pinterest users are taking to terms like 'crochet belt' and 'studded belt' for outfit inspirtation.

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