The Runways Are in a State of Undress

At Haider Ackermann’s spring/summer 2027 show for Tom Ford, seduction was never far from the surface. Inside a mirrored show space where models seemed to endlessly cross paths with their own reflections, Ackermann sexed up the house’s signature sensuality with groin-skimming cutout bodysuits and exposed thongs. The pieces, especially when worn with sharp suiting to create varying degrees of nakedness, drove home the idea that sexuality can be “silent” yet also “powerful,” as the designer said in his show notes.

“Seduction is the pillar on which this house is built,” Ackermann went on. “This time I felt like pushing it further, closer to danger. There is something deeply sexual in a body that reveals itself without offering itself. In a gesture that feels spontaneous and perilous all at once.”

Naked dressing has become one of fashion’s defining signatures, both on the runway and the red carpet. But during the spring/summer 2027 season, it shed much of its bravado. Designers instead embraced a more undone kind of sensuality, built on half-fastened garments and almost incidental flashes of skin.

Instead of relying solely on overtly sheer clothes (though there were plenty of those at brands like Alaïa and Chloé), the prevailing idea was that looking as though you’d been caught mid-undress was the sexiest statement of all. Ackermann explored that tension with semi-sheer wrap skirts layered over trousers and a liquid-shine wrap bodysuit worn with a tuxedo jacket that slipped off Anok Yai’s shoulders. Elsewhere, silk button-downs were draped sideways across the body, while one model wore little more than a matching bra, thong, and mesh skirt, her shirt hanging precariously from one shoulder.

Much of the effect came down to styling, with shirts left unbuttoned, jackets shrugged off the shoulders, and layers intentionally askew. But some designers built that sense of dishevelment directly into the clothes themselves. LVMH Prize finalist Julie Kegels, for instance, layered lace minidresses over jersey T-shirts that looked as though they’d been weathered with moth-eaten holes and years of wear.

For his final Diesel show, Glenn Martens sent ringer tees twisted into askew bra tops down a runway surrounded by performers who moaned and kissed in the audience. To no one’s surprise, the look was popular among fashion’s rule-breaking independent set: August Barron and Eckhaus Latta echoed the sentiment with party dresses that looked deliberately unfinished, featuring half-unzipped closures and sliding straps.

Maybe that’s the appeal. At a time when every image is polished within an inch of its life, these clothes embraced the opposite. A strap slipped. A shirt stayed half-buttoned. Nothing looked too considered. By letting the wearer decide how much to reveal (or conceal), the clothes become far more alluring than anything completely exposed. Naked dressing, it seems, is shifting away from overt exposure toward something quieter and far more suggestive.