Emily Dawn Long Spring 2027

For Spring 2027, Emily Dawn Long turned cheeky humour, Southern references and experimental fabrications into a playful capsule that moves between vintage sportswear, workwear and more elaborate evening pieces.

It has been a particularly productive year for Emily Dawn Long, whose label has expanded from downtown New York cult favourite into a more established fashion business. Her Spring 2027 collection arrived through The Crack of Dawn, a short film presented at Bridges rather than a conventional runway, following a Paris pop-up, a larger Lower East Side headquarters and recognition from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. The format suited a collection built around humour, personality and a deliberately irreverent take on dressing.

The central idea was “crack meets ruffles”, which Long approached with the kind of knowing absurdity that runs through her work. A purple minidress used ruffles to trace the body and wrap around one leg like a garter, while denim and Hawaiian-print shirts referenced deliberately unpolished paparazzi imagery, including Bruce Willis and Leonardo DiCaprio. The result was sexy without taking itself particularly seriously, with Southern Cleavage becoming less a literal theme than an attitude towards the body and dressing.

Long’s more experimental side emerged through her manipulation of fabric and collaboration with artists. Silk dresses drew on folded constructions associated with Petra Blaisse and Torbjørn Vejvi, while an everyday waffle knit carried a frozen-ruffle image based on a painting commissioned from Ian Stanton. Rubber-tree-sap-coated cockades appeared on cutout knit dresses and colourful barn jackets, paired with suede trousers and classic jeans to bring the more unusual elements back into an everyday wardrobe.

The collection also reflected the breadth of what Long is building. Alongside slogan T-shirts, novelty knits and workwear, she is increasingly moving into gowns, furniture and now footwear, with leather slides joining the offering. That range is part of the appeal: Spring 2027 never seems too concerned with deciding what a fashion label is supposed to be. Instead, Emily Dawn Long is making room for humour, craft, commerce and a little bit of chaos — and finding a coherent identity somewhere between them.