You don’t need to own a clapboard farmhouse built in 1792 in Western Massachusetts to fully grasp Northeastern prep, but it sure doesn’t hurt.
The spirit of this Colonial-era home feels inescapably entwined with what its owners, Loewe creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, put on the runway for the brand’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection. But this wasn’t any ordinary ode to fashion’s most endearing style.
Prep staples were twisted and flipped — and given far more vibrant colorways, befitting the sunny disposition of the Spanish brand. Take the polo shirt: it was “cut backward on the body, as if removed and hastily redressed in the heat,” the show notes explained. The collection featured plenty of boat shoes and sporty anoraks, collars and ties and plaid blazers, but each look subverted regional stereotypes — though more than one look was a clear nod to JFK Jr.’s strongest ‘90s fits. The styling never piled on too many prep signifiers, while super-reflective, bug-eyed sports shades lent everything a more futuristic spin.
The prep archetype has endured since the ‘50s for a reason (and the reason isn’t just because the sporty-but-polished look suits nearly anyone). So naturally, the Loewe duo weren’t the only designers to feel its pull in Paris. They just did it best, literally turning the codes backward for something far fresher than what others were working with.
That’s impressive, given that this past Paris Fashion Week saw the return of one of prep’s forefathers, Polo Ralph Lauren, to the Parisian runway (after a combo show with Purple Label in Milan earlier this year). Prep staples showed up in cropped, slim polos (or one polo dress) and suede sports jackets, but overall the lineup looked more suited to the wardrobe of a post-Ivy, globe-trotting, art-collecting socialite than anyone still campus-bound.
At Miu Miu, where guests sat on bleachers and watched a parade of pleated skirts and check blazers go by (along with the now-expected celebrity cameos from the likes of Olivia Colman), the shrunken prep look felt a bit formulaic.
Valentino at least revved the engine as Alessandro Michele took over the grand Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève library for a dreamy, occasionally horny show. Riding gloves, blazers and one standout blue coat — similar enough to my university graduation gown for a dash of PTSD — carried the expected Michele romanticism and made a strong case for him to costume design an Ivy League-set psychosexual drama.
All of these shows paid serviceable homage to prep, but Loewe’s take aced the assignment because it felt headed somewhere fresh. Ironic, given it hinged on facing the style’s most enduring piece backward.
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