Thom Browne Takes Us Into A Garden Of Insects For Spring 2027

By Jessica Ye (Jessica Yap)

Can we take a moment to talk about this spectacular collection?

Because Thom Browne’s Spring/Summer 2027 show may have just turned a garden full of insects into one of the most extraordinary fashion spectacles of New York Fashion Week.

Presented at The Shed in New York, the show opened around a giant chrysalis surrounded by green tendrils and leaves. Models dressed as caterpillars moved around it before the collection began to emerge, setting the scene for what followed.

And what followed was very Thom Browne.

The designer took his familiar grey tailoring and covered it with the creatures you might normally try very hard to keep away from your wardrobe. Butterflies, bees, dragonflies and ants appeared through embroidery, jacquard and intarsia, worked into jackets, coats and pleated skirts.

One jacket carried a daisy with a bumblebee perched on the flower. Elsewhere, dragonflies appeared within checked coats, while ants crawled across pieces in gold bullion thread. A chesterfield coat even became home to a rather elaborate bee hive.

Checks and tailoring remained recognisably Browne, but the surfaces became increasingly elaborate, with wool Swiss-dot pieces, raffia trims and tweeds mixed with organza, grosgrain and pouf yarns. The effect suggested a meadow without turning the clothes into literal costumes.

Some of the collection’s most spectacular pieces transformed the insects themselves into clothing. Ladybugs, weevils, tansy beetles and Goliath beetles became rounded, sculptural dresses, with their markings and shapes translated into the proportions of the garments.

There was something wonderfully strange about seeing a model walk down the runway looking as though a beetle had decided to become couture.

Browne’s fascination with the insect world continued through the accessories. Grasshopper clutches came in pink, orange, green and yellow, while miniature attaché cases were pieced together from leather panels resembling beetles. The Teviot tote appeared with butterfly wings, and shoes picked up quieter references to bees, dragonflies and caterpillars.

By this point, the garden had become rather crowded.

The collection eventually moved into darker territory, with a black widow appearing in black duchess satin, silk moiré and mohair, marked by its flash of red. A cricket-inspired dress traced the insect’s exoskeleton, while another look brought the shape of a fly into an oiled-leather jacket.

One of my favourite looks was perhaps the most restrained of them all: a fitted top, corset and long skirt covered in hundreds of tiny folds, finished with the red marking of a black widow at the hip. It was truly exquisite.

Browne has said that A Bug’s Life was one of the references behind the collection, and that he wanted the idea to remain playful rather than becoming too serious. Looking at the clothes, that sense of humour is certainly there. The craftsmanship may be elaborate, but the collection never takes itself too seriously.

And then, finally, the cocoon opens.

The last section of the show was given over to butterflies, with winged dresses inspired by real species including the leopard lacewing, emerald swallowtail, purple emperor, scarlet Mormon, Apollo and painted lady.

The silhouettes became lighter and more fluid, with pleated skirts moving around the body like wings.

And then came the bride. She appeared in a cropped duchess satin jacket framed by butterfly wings, a padded corset defining the waist and an asymmetric pleated skirt trailing behind her.

After all those caterpillars, beetles and spiders, she was the final transformation. A rather spectacular one at that.

What I love about Thom Browne is that even when he takes an idea this far, you can still see the designer underneath it. The grey tailoring, the checks, the ties and those wonderfully particular proportions never disappear. They simply become the foundation for something much more fantastical.

This collection could have easily become a parade of insect costumes.

Instead, Browne made the insects part of the clothes themselves. And that is quite the difference.

Spring/Summer 2027 was presented at The Shed in New York on 15 September 2026.