New York just said goodbye to the clean girl

The spring/summer 2027 season opened in New York last week with a declaration of independence from the clean girl. After a year of polished polo shirts and black-and-white tailoring, the shows — seventy of them in six days — came back loud: supersized shirt cuffs, scarf belts, cummerbunds escaped from the tuxedo, fringe in unexpected places, and a playful 1960s spirit that Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera and a tier of younger houses all reached for at once. Tory Burch called it the 'joy of getting dressed', and for once the mood board matched the mood.

The data people saw it coming. Trend forecasters have spent the summer charting the retreat of quiet luxury, watching clashing colours and self-styled 'messy girl' energy move from record sleeves to street style. What New York proved is that it has crossed into the commercial collections — Ralph Lauren is staking the season on a velvet duster coat, which is about as loud as a legacy house gets.

My take: the pendulum swing is real, but the interesting part is not the volume — it is the styling. Every look that worked on the floor paired one extravagant element against something calm: a fringed cuff over a plain trouser, a coin belt on an ordinary white shirt. That is a wearable lesson, not a costume. The designers who simply turned everything up to ten will look dated by March; the ones who learned to edit the exuberance will own the season.

The street level confirmed it. Outside the venues the photographers were chasing fringe and coin belts, not minimalist layers — a leading trend report from the week put bold colour, statement shapes and double denim at the top of the take-home list. When the sidewalk and the runway agree this fast, the trend has already won.

Cast your verdict in this week's polls: is maximalism back for good, or a one-season exhale before the greys return?