Fashion Month has once again come and gone this September, and Spring/Summer 2027 was a notable one. The fashion industry works six months ahead, so during this Fashion Month brands were showing their collections for 2027 in New York City, moving to London, then Milan, and concluding in Paris. Each week showcases new runway shows, presentations, and lots of controversial and political statements– because, let’s be honest, fashion has never been just about clothes. Watching the discourse following SS27, many newer brands were celebrated for speaking out against the United States administration, the fashion industry itself, and the racist, sexist, and classist inequalities that affect many consumers of these brands. These shows were beautiful not only in terms of clothing but also in the messages behind it, which made the silence of the major couture houses extremely loud. Especially because these brands have used their runways to protest in the past, people are starting to question: what is it going to take for these brands to speak out about current events? While that is very disappointing, it is not necessarily surprising. But where the more established brands lacked, some smaller high fashion labels more than made up for it.
To kick off the conversation, let’s begin with a Montréal fashion brand, Matières Fécales. The brand was founded in 2014 by Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, and has worked with Lady Gaga, Sarah Pulson, and Zendaya. They made their Runway debut during Paris Fashion Week in March of 2025, and this show put the brand on the map for avant-garde couture. Hopes were high for their 99 Percent show this Paris Fashion Week. Their FW26 show, The One Percent, showcased symbols of greed, power, and deprivation in their luxury looks. Their most recent collection focuses on this, with more streetwear styles that challenge high fashion norms. One look from this collection showcased a mannequin wearing a look from The One Percent slung over the shoulders of a model, exhibiting how the most wealthy cannot function without the labor, cultures, and ideas of the less fortunate. This show is especially notable as it took place in Place de la République, Paris’ “main site of protest”. This collection is a clear example of how fashion can be used as commentary on class inequalities and the billionaires that benefit when people with less are disadvantaged.
New York has always been both a fashion and social justice capital, and SS27 did not disappoint. One brand that beautifully characterized the complexities of American politics with their collection was Advisry. Their AMERICA STILL collection is meant to display the paradox of disagreeing with American politics and still admiring the incredible cultural scene along with all that America has been and could be. Advisry’s creative director and designer, Keith Herron, took inspiration from the 1970s – a major era of political uncertainty – and broke his collection into 3 characters, describing them as “those who react, those who cope, and those who transcend.”
Another brand that made its New York Fashion Week debut this September is Ella Mae, whose collection PEACE ON EARTH!! combines Marie Antoinette with the trashy Jersey Shore party girl. Her collection combined ruffles and corsets with pink sweats and graphic tees reading “Earth Our Mother, take care.” The designer Ella Mae Jepson graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design with a concentration in Culture and Sustainability while getting her degree in apparel design. Sustainability is important to Jepson and her collection; she notes that the girl she wants to design clothes for is “someone who fights for the Earth.”
In the past, making political commentary as a brand has been a lose-lose situation. If a brand doesn’t speak out, it’s abusing its platform; if it does, it’s seen as hypocritical because it often benefits from the very things it’s speaking out against. Now the need is greater than ever for brands to show their consumers where they stand and who they support. In SS25, just a few months before the election in November of 2024, the fashion community hosted a march, Fashion for Our Futures, where over 1,000 prominent figures in fashion and politics got together, encouraging people to vote. With the midterms coming up in the States, the very least that could have been done is something similar, but the silence feels intentional. If new small labels like Ella Mae, Advisry, and Matières Fécales can do it, I’m certain Chanel, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, who have spoken out before, can do it again. It is also time for consumers to hold these brands accountable. There is so much that brands could be doing with all the war, poverty, injustices, and hate in the world; it is shocking to assume designers just failed to think about speaking out against one of those things. In this day and age, when the news is everywhere and when it is so easy to speak up, silence says something.
