YUHAN AO Spring/Summer27

For Spring/Summer 2027, YUHAN AO looks to Arthur Rimbaud’s The Drunken Boat and its image of a vessel breaking free from the forces that once determined its course. Titled “I am no longer guided by the haulers”, the collection considers what happens when materials are released from the functions, histories and social identities traditionally assigned to them. The question is less about giving familiar materials a new meaning than allowing their inherent qualities — weight, texture, softness, rigidity, tension and movement — to shape the clothes themselves.

At the centre of the collection is an unusual dialogue between ramie and mohair. Using a traditional shuttle loom, YUHAN AO replaces the conventional weft yarn with mohair, weaving it together with ramie. The contrast is deliberate: ramie brings structure and tension, while mohair introduces softness, warmth and texture. Neither material is disguised or made to imitate something else. Instead, their original characteristics remain visible, with the new relationship between them becoming the point of the design.

That idea extends beyond the garments and into the presentation itself. YUHAN AO has long been interested in what exists behind the finished image, and for SS27 the backstage becomes part of the show. Dressing, makeup and last-minute adjustments take place in view of the audience, dissolving the traditional division between backstage, runway and spectator. The process, labour and craftsmanship behind each garment become as visible as the final looks.

In that sense, the presentation becomes an extension of The Drunken Boat: the runway itself is freed from the conventions that usually dictate how a fashion show should operate. YUHAN AO SS27 is ultimately concerned with relationships — between material and function, garment and body, maker and audience. The clothes do not need to become something else to be liberated. They simply need the space to exist on their own terms.