Alberta Ferretti Spring/Summer 2027

Lorenzo Serafini’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection for Alberta Ferretti is built around a fairly uncomplicated proposition: clothes should make you want to disappear somewhere warmer. Titled “A Beautiful Escape”, the collection trades the restraint of earlier seasons for colour, movement and a distinctly carefree attitude. Léon Bakst and George Balanchine provided references for freedom of movement, which translated into feather-trimmed trousers, fringed slip dresses and fluid shapes that seem designed to move rather than simply hang on the body.

Colour is perhaps the biggest shift. Floral prints are mixed across balloon trousers, obi belts and kimono jackets, while ikat patterns bring saturated colour into tops and relaxed separates. The effect is intentionally holiday-like without becoming entirely resortwear. Flat shoes and easy proportions reinforce the sense of nonchalance, although some of the pattern combinations come close to feeling overly picturesque. The strongest looks are those where the colour is given space to breathe against simpler silhouettes.

Serafini is more assured when he returns to Ferretti’s eveningwear vocabulary. The closing sequence of boudoir-inspired dresses strips away some of the collection’s louder decoration and allows the fabrics to do the work. Lightweight materials fall close to the body, feathers add movement rather than bulk, and the silhouettes retain the sensuality associated with the house without becoming overly formal. It is here that Serafini’s understanding of Ferretti’s legacy feels most convincing: not through imitation, but through an instinct for clothes that make femininity feel fluid rather than rigid.

There is something deliberately uncomplicated about the collection, and that is both its strength and its limitation. In a season where designers are frequently attempting to attach elaborate cultural or intellectual narratives to their clothes, Serafini simply wanted to make fashion feel lighter. SS27 does not radically redefine Alberta Ferretti, but it does offer a clear direction for Serafini’s interpretation of the house — softer, more colourful and less concerned with seriousness. Sometimes escapism does not need to be more complicated than that.