The tie is back. Across the Milan and Paris shows for spring/summer 2027, which ran through 6 October, the strongest thread was not a colour or a silhouette but a way of dressing: tailoring. FashionUnited listed the return of the tie at Loewe in Paris on 2 October among the season’s trends, and Gucci, Saint Laurent, Chanel and Jil Sander all gave the suit a new angle. For men and women in the Gulf who live in tailoring through the working week and on formal evenings, it is the most wearable idea of the season.
This story stays on tailoring. The season’s debuts and wider verdicts are covered separately.
The tie returns
At Loewe, designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez showed backwards-cut polo shirts and silk anoraks, and FashionUnited singled out the tie as the show’s signal. At Gucci, Wallpaper described tailoring that ranged from relaxed to severe under Demna, with equestrian-inspired pieces and polo shirts worn with ties tucked in. Wallpaper also reported that Demna framed the house in terms of polished bourgeois respectability.
The idea is easy to understand. A tie tucked into a polo shirt keeps the structure of formal dress while loosening its mood. It suits a region where the working day often asks for a jacket but the temperature does not.
Precision in Milan
Milan approached the suit from several directions. At Giorgio Armani, the women’s creative director, Silvana Armani, paired tailored jackets with city shorts and reworked a parka and joggers in silk. FashionUnited noted menswear-inspired jackets at the house, shown on 28 September.
At Jil Sander, Simone Bellotti cut suit jackets to splay open, with skewed collars and ultra-narrow lapels, in a show held at the brand’s Milan headquarters. Ferragamo, under Maximilian Davis, offered pencil skirts with unexpected pockets and leather utility vests, drawing on 1940s wartime dressing. At Max Mara, Ian Griffiths showed a belted safari-style jacket and popped-collar shirting, with Freya Stark and Amelia Earhart among the references.
Emporio Armani held a static presentation at Armani/Teatro rather than a show. Dario Vitale, who has moved from Versace to the house according to Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, takes over Emporio Armani from next season.
Paris: sharp lines and reworked tweed
At Saint Laurent, the collection included sharp-shouldered tailoring, boxy jackets inspired by the 1980s, short and precise suits, sahariennes and trenches, according to Who What Wear. The saharienne, or safari jacket, has been a Saint Laurent code since Yves Saint Laurent’s 1968 version. Victoria Beckham showed tailored suits with feminine shirting.
Chanel, on Monday 5 October at the Grand Palais, loosened its tweed into a wide windowpane print and recut it in a red-and-white tiger print. Harper’s Bazaar Arabia picked Chanel’s navy tweed tailoring for a morning at DIFC, and Schiaparelli’s pink tailoring for the evening.
At Mulberry, Christopher Kane carried the shape of the Bayswater bag into tailoring, according to Retail Gazette. It is a reminder that tailoring is not only about suits: it is also a way of thinking about structure in every garment.
A regional note: Elie Saab’s first menswear
For readers in the region, one tailoring story has a local thread. Lebanese couturier Elie Saab designed menswear for the first time in his collaboration with H&M, which includes tailored garments among its embellished pieces. The collection goes on sale online in the UAE, Kuwait and Riyadh on 22 October, according to Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. No prices have been announced.
Finishing the look
To complete a tailored outfit, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia pointed to Loewe’s Double L Loafer, hand-sewn in suede and lined in calfskin. It comes in black, caramel latte, dark chocolate and deep purple. Prices were not published in the source.
How to wear it
The SS27 shows themselves are not in stores yet. Spring/summer collections shown in September usually reach boutiques from about January to February, so the ideas above are best treated as a guide for what to look for. A few practical principles emerge. Choose a jacket with a clean shoulder in a light fabric. Treat the tie as an accent rather than a uniform, and let a polo shirt soften it. Keep colours calm, with navy, chocolate and stone sitting well in Gulf offices and majlis evenings alike.
Gulf workwear in DIFC, KAFD and Doha’s West Bay already leans on tailoring, often worn with or under traditional dress. What SS27 adds is permission to play with it. The suit has not been abandoned: it has been loosened, sharpened and given back some personality.
Sources: FashionUnited, Wallpaper, Who What Wear, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Reuters via WHTC