Susan Fang Spring/Summer 2027 / SS27 at London Fashion Week entitled ‘AIR • ILLUSION’
London – SUSAN FANG unveils Air • Illusion, a Spring/Summer 2027 collection inspired by M. Butterfly and the imagined worlds people create around love. Drawing on observations of relationships, Susan explores how fantasy shapes the way we see another person, and how love can remain real even when the image we hold of them is an illusion. The collection experiments with optical illusion through geometry and colour, drawing on traditional Chinese prints and ceramics.
Attendees of Susan Fang SS27 / Spring/Summer 2027 included: Camille Razat, Ella Eyre, Tigerlily Taylor, Amelia Windsor, Taylah Elaine, Roxy Horner, Yves, Beka, Annie Tagoe.
Inspiration of Susan Fang SS27 / Spring/Summer 2027, inspired by M. Butterfly and the imagined worlds people create around love. Drawing on observations of relationships, Susan explores how fantasy shapes the way we see another person, and how love can remain real even when the image we hold of them is an illusion. Inspired by real events, M. Butterfly begins in the 1960s and follows French diplomat René Gallimard and Chinese opera singer Song Liling. After twenty years, Gallimard discovers that the woman he loves is a man and a spy. Song knows the truth, while Gallimard sees in him the fulfilment of his fantasy of an ideal woman. For Susan, the beauty of the story lies in the love between the two characters: although the image was an illusion, the love was real. Alongside the collection, SUSAN FANG has designed the costumes for a new production of the opera at La Monnaie / De Munt in Brussels, opening in April 2027.
Details of Susan Fang SS27 / Spring/Summer 2027, Working with the themes of illusion, fantasy and love, the collection experiments with optical illusion through geometry and colour, drawing on traditional Chinese prints and ceramics. Broken porcelain, transparent layers and flowers that appear and dissolve depending on where you stand give these ideas a physical form.
The qipao silhouette is reworked as a transparent bubble qipao, symbolising Song Liling’s fabricated femininity and the idealised woman Gallimard sees in him. A bubble Beijing opera headpiece, decorated with resin lilies, symbolises an imaginary purity held inside transparent bubbles, as if the whole thing were a dream. Together, these pieces hold the fragility of Gallimard’s fantasy alongside the tenderness Susan finds in the characters’ love.
Broken porcelain reappears as a ghostly air-painting effect: colour and feathers are embroidered between layers of clear organza on dresses and an abstract qipao silhouette, expressing the delicate breaking of a fabricated lie. The signature air-flower pieces take their colours from traditional porcelain. Crochet knitwear echoes the blue and white of Chinese ceramics, alongside soft mint and peach.
Prints combine hand-drawn motifs inspired by Chinese porcelain painting with a digital garden in the colourways of traditional ceramics and Chinese dress. Seen closely, the garden resolves into ASCII characters: letters and numbers. The print is the work of Orelio De Jonghe, Susan Fang’s husband, a former Dyson industrial designer and SUSAN FANG’s Head of 3D Design and Accessories.
SUSAN FANG’s Air-Puzzle technique interlocks geometric shapes and colours like a jigsaw, building three-dimensional planes of colour into abstract silhouettes. Broken porcelain pieces are repainted by hand and reset as accessories and embellishments. Broken jade is rejoined with gold to create multicoloured jade flower jewellery, turning each fracture into an ornament rather than concealing it.
The show featured collaborations with: Crocs, Bambu Lab, Jade Master Li Ke and partnerships with: Penhaligon’s, Dot Dot. Crocs × SUSAN FANG: Flowers also grow across the season’s footwear. Crocs and SUSAN FANG introduce Echo Blume, the first collaboration created for Crocs’ new Echo Lume silhouette. Bambu Lab joins the season as official technology partner, supporting SUSAN FANG’s ongoing exploration of future craft through nature, technology and handwork. Jade Master Li Ke has been working with jade in Beijing for more than twenty years and has crafted a series of intricate jade earrings for the collection.
THE SHOW of Susan Fang SS27, The show marks the first time a fashion show has been staged at the Barbican Centre Lakeside. Its brutalist architecture, where nature meets the built environment, provides a setting for a collection about surfaces and what lies beneath them. There is also a historical connection: the Barbican scheme was agreed in 1959, with construction continuing through the 1960s, the decade in which M. Butterfly begins. The set, created by XL+ Architects, introduces silver floating circles that drift through the air and mirror their surroundings, reflecting the timeless experience of illusion in love and reality. This play of perception begins before the doors open: held at one angle, the invitation reveals the SUSAN FANG four-leaf clover monogram; turned to another, it resolves into a heart. The invitation is printed with Bambu Lab 3D printer. The collection is scented throughout with Penhaligon’s Bold Blend, a potion perfume chosen for its ambiguity: a fragrance that can play either the female or the male role. Small potion bubble bags are styled into the show as hints of each character’s mystery.
All images Susan Fang SS27 / Spring/Summer 2027 by the brand. CREDITS: Creative Direction Susan Fang & Orelio De Jonghe / Show Set Design XL+ Architects / Show & Lighting Director Amy Chan / Stylist Victoire Simmoney / Casting Director Emilie Lou Åström / Makeup Erin Green / Hair Anna Cofone / Front of House Photography Jason Lloyd-Evans / Videography Craig Maddison / Backstage Photography Otto Masters, Jess Segal, Yana Kasa / PR PURPLE / Venue Barbican Centre Lakeside Terrace