“These nymphs, I do not want to let them go—/ their clear, carnation-tinted afterglow/ still shimmering in air, the warp of sleep. / Was it a dream I fell for?” Inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé's L'Après-midi d'un faune, Julian Klausner staged the most romantic show of the season. Embracing the atmosphere of the poem, where reality is suspended to favour fantasy, Klausner’s collection did something similar. In the Tennis Club of Paris, in the city’s 16th arrondissement, amidst a heatwave, the designer suspended the sweat dripping from guests’ foreheads.
Dries Van Noten Spring/Summer 2027 unfolded with lightness. Organza shirts hovered over the body, silk cargo trousers moved with effortless fluidity, tailoring dissolved into sheer layers, and embroidery shimmered across garments.
Klausner understands that the house has always excelled at creating mood. Prints, decoration and rich colour have never functioned as isolated signatures. This season, fabric carried that responsibility. Transparency became a way of constructing silhouettes rather than exposing them. Layers shifted with every step, giving garments a sense of motion, every look designed to respond to light, air and movement.
Klausner trusts texture to carry the narrative. Silk scarves are suspended on bodies as tops, its back showing the flowing corners. A pair of embroidered shorts juxtaposed adorned opacity with translucent movement. Transparent layers transform with changing light.
The colour story reinforced that feeling. Washed lilacs, dusty ochres, pale greens and softened neutrals flowed through the collection without dramatic interruption. The wardrobe unfolded gradually, like changing daylight across the course of an afternoon, just as the poem Klausner was inspired by does. As the collection progressed, the soft pastels transitioned into dark navy and warm purple. “Farewell, sweet pair. / I’m entering the darkness you now are.”
Words by Pedro Vasconcelos
