LAYERS OF SHEER AND SHINY GRATITUDE IN MARC JACOBS SPRING/SUMMER 2027 SHOW

words by FRANCESCO PIZZUTI

Marc Jacobs returned to the marble grandeur of the New York Public Library with another one of his perfectly timed shows; this time, it was his Spring/Summer 2027 show, which lasted four minutes. While the schedule may have been tight, the abundance reigned elsewhere, in the colours, the shapes, the contrasts, the infinite layers; everything perfectly in line with the collection’s defining word: gratitude. This richness felt like a gesture of appreciation, of return to fashion, to its history and materiality and the million references that consistently shape Jacobs’ work.

Gratitude here becomes a way of layering garments, of layering histories, of layering references until the body is almost overwhelmed by the act of dressing itself. Where his Spring ’26 collection pushed forward tight silhouettes, compressed gestures, and an almost punitive sense of border and control, this season feels like an unfastening. Yet it is not chaos. It is still rigorously composed, so that every look sits perfectly next to the others.

There is something distinctly cinematic running through the collection; a kind of 80s/90s visual grammar. At moments, it evokes the hyper-stylised clarity of American Psycho and its clear lab coats and sharp contrasts. The clothes seem aware of their own construction. Seams are visible, layers are exposed, transparency is insisted upon as the made becomes as important as the making in an almost ethical gesture of openness, where creation itself becomes the subject.

Perhaps this is where gratitude materialises most clearly: in the refusal to conceal process. This is also achieved through styling, where colour and texture are played with uniquely and harmoniously. A PVC tank top layered over nylon sleeves, then interrupted by a pleated skirt or a doubled belt. Everything insists on being seen in relation to something else. The sheer and the shiny are constantly combined in unexpected ways. Silk organza looks almost like plastic, mesh pieces layer colour flawlessly and jackets and mini skirts give pointier shapes and structure to the silhouettes. Transparency functions as a visual connection; bodies, fabrics, and references constantly slipping through one another.

As clearly stated in the press notes, Chanel and YSL echoes, Prada inflexions, and earlier Jacobs eras resurface as acknowledgement. Fashion is relational. The references are everywhere, but never nostalgic in a fixed sense.

In the end, what remains is a belief in fashion as something still capable of generosity, of newness, of giving it all and doing it with the utmost coherence.