Geopolitical tensions, social expectations, digital transformations and changing markets shape the current environment. At a time of profound turmoil in the fashion industry, Very Middle Ages looks forward by evoking a reimagined past. Not as a nostalgic retreat, but as a magnifying mirror of our current tensions.
The new edition of the trend book provides inspiration for the development of the spring/summer 2027 collections and supports creative professionals in combining imagination and the desire for innovation. We explore a dark universe in which protection, conflict, magic and expanded identity intertwine. A reimagined, digital and fragmented Middle Ages serves as a metaphor for the current upheavals.
Four creative universes to “upgrade” the imagination
Under the leadership of the artistic directors of Texworld Apparel Sourcing Paris, Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud, a document was created based on the reflections of an interdisciplinary collective of stylists, designers, authors and artists. At the center is a fundamental question: How can we create in a world that is beginning to doubt its own imagination? From this question a vision develops, divided into four narrative worlds that make different points of friction between reality and projection visible: the return to original functionality, comforting digital illusions, warlike attitudes in the face of global crises and the permanent expansion of the “digital self”.
“Very Middle Ages” does not see itself as a rigid prediction of the future, but as a sensitive, instinctive – and at times deliberately disturbing – reading of the spring/summer 2027 season. It is an invitation to rethink clothing: as an instrument of protection, self-assertion, resistance or transformation, in a world in which the boundaries between real and virtual, natural and artificial, and between past and future are increasingly blurring.
#1 Digital lordship
This first theme elevates the tech giants of Silicon Valley to omnipotent feudal lords of the present. Individuals become willing vassals of these digital empires, trading intimacy and freedom for a false form of security. Protection and control are at the center – two needs that are reflected in a fashion of layering and highly functional pieces. Symbolic covers made of heavy materials, textile armor with metallized surfaces and rigid ribbed structures in steel gray and anthracite characterize the image. Silver, holographic accents create futuristic contrasts.
#2 Nuclear sorcery
This colorful universe suggests a form of “re-enchantment,” but turns out to be an aesthetic of illusion. Technology and especially artificial intelligence (AI), which could promote a new obscurantism by dulling critical thinking, are paradoxically perceived as a source of artificial comfort. The silhouettes play with gentle deception: protective, soft materials such as iridescent organza, transparent fabrics, foamy knitwear, light mohair and “second skin” jerseys create an atmosphere of techno-mystical security – between an enveloping cocoon and a “digital aura”. The color palette ranges from spectral violet to carmine red and opaline to “radioactive” green tones.
#3 Speculative crusade
This creative sequence captures the human story of a never-ending, insatiable search for power and dominance. A dark, martial direction that is characterized by conflict. The silhouettes appear heavily “armored”, technical and inspired by the combat environment, or are created from hybrid materials with raw, visceral surfaces. The color world is organic and combative: deep red and brown tones, structured black, military khaki and accents in burnt chrome determine the image.
#4 Data inquisition
This last direction paints a picture of a screened society in which every person is potentially under suspicion. In a world of permanent inquisition, every deviation, every eccentricity and every nuance is immediately sanctioned. Individual identities dissolve, intimacy gives way to the collective. Here, clothing functions as an interface, as a second skin and as an extension of the “digital self”. Modular, customizable garments with interchangeable elements characterize this icy blue, cool algorithmic aesthetic.
To discover in February
The four theme worlds are complemented by mood boards and color concepts, each of which is based on three “Star Colors” and expanded to include six additional nuances. Each topic is designed as an independent design capsule or creative direction and is staged as part of the trend forums in Hall 2. The immersive presentation allows visitors to discover the looks developed by the artistic directors – implemented with carefully selected materials and finished products that are tailored to clearly defined sensory guiding principles. In addition, Louis Gérin will deepen the results of this work at his own conference and give creative professionals well-founded ideas for designing the spring/summer 2027 fashion season.
This article was created using digital tools translated.
FashionUnited uses artificial intelligence to speed up the translation of articles and improve the end result. They help us to make FashionUnited’s international reporting quickly and comprehensively accessible to a German-speaking readership. Articles translated using AI-based tools are proofread and carefully edited by our editors before they are published. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]