In a recent interview during Paris Fashion Week, Soshi Otsuki said that, growing up, he did not have a chance to experience a European summer holiday. That is one of the reasons why, for SOSHIOTSUKI’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection, the Japanese designer and founder of his namesake label opted to imagine what that would feel like.
His inspiration was rooted in memory and nostalgia, drawn from personal perception and from what he had seen in film, photography, and the lives of others, the latter known and perceived mostly through imagination.
Otsuki’s muse is not, however, your average tourist. Instead, he envisioned a traditional, business-attire-wearing, strict father who goes on holiday and, slowly, relaxes and loosens up. The clothes reflected this idea, softly tailored by applying a technique that goes beyond fabric choice and is also mastered via precise pattern cutting and material construction.
Collars were purposefully flipped out, and the buttons on shirts and shorts were consciously undone. Belts and lapels, wired to form an “S” shape, freeze the moment when clothes come off, and stiffness and rigidity are left behind for complete freedom. Otsuki aimed to translate this almost awkward, vulnerable feeling, only possible once any idea of business-centred perfection is left behind.
Woven threads of wool and linens formed new colourways in a palette marked by grey and beige, blues, clay, and pale green, while cottons were washed and garment-dyed to create a marked-by-time, worn, aired, and sun-bleached effect.
On the mood board for the collection was also the work of Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, who often depicted melted objects in his paintings. The concept was introduced into SOSHIOTSUKI’s lineup by the use of structured, internal reinforcements inside the garments, which, from a distance, looked soft and able to collapse.
Trompe-l'œil ties on shirts, as well as shorts that seemed to have swim trunks or underwear peeking out, served as prime examples of Otsuki’s impressive garment construction skills, one of the traits that granted him an LVMH Prize for Young Designers in 2025.
