There are designers who make menswear, and then there is Alejandro Gómez Palomo, who has spent the past decade questioning why the boundaries of menswear existed in the first place.
For Spring/Summer 2027, Palomo Spain celebrates its tenth anniversary in Madrid with “Et in Arcadia Ego,” a collection presented at La Rosaleda del Parque del Oeste. Rather than producing a conventional retrospective of the house’s greatest hits, Palomo returns to the ideas that have defined his work—romance, sensuality, tailoring, historical references, exposed skin and unapologetic decoration—and imagines what they can become after ten years of evolution.
The result is unmistakably Palomo.
And perhaps more importantly, the Palomo man no longer looks like he is asking anyone for permission.
Welcome to Palomo’s Arcadia
The title Et in Arcadia Ego immediately establishes a world somewhere between fantasy, history and reality.
Palomo’s Arcadia is populated by men dressed as romantic protagonists: bodies emerging underneath translucent fabrics, sharply tailored jackets competing with extravagant proportions, floral surfaces meeting bare skin, and delicate embellishment appearing alongside traditionally masculine construction.
The Madrid garden setting makes perfect sense.
Against greenery and the changing light of sunset, the clothes appear almost removed from contemporary city life. There is something pastoral about the presentation, but Palomo disrupts any temptation toward nostalgia. This isn’t an attempt to recreate another century.
Instead, historical beauty becomes material for dressing the contemporary man.
The Male Body Is Part of the Clothes
One of Palomo’s greatest strengths has always been his understanding that the male body doesn’t have to disappear underneath menswear.
Spring/Summer 2027 continues that conversation.
Transparency allows the torso to become another layer of the look. Open constructions reveal the chest. Soft fabrics move against the body instead of building armor around it. Elsewhere, more substantial tailoring exaggerates shoulders and proportions, creating a fascinating dialogue between exposure and structure.
It’s sensual without relying exclusively on conventional ideas of sexiness.
For years, mainstream menswear frequently reduced male sensuality to a familiar formula: shirtless bodies, tight trousers, underwear or sportswear. Palomo offers something much richer.
A man can be sensual in chiffon.
He can be seductive covered in embroidery.
He can wear a bow, feathers, crystals or a beautifully constructed jacket without any of those elements diminishing his masculinity.
That idea might sound considerably less radical in 2026 than it did when Palomo Spain emerged a decade ago. That, however, is precisely what makes this anniversary significant.
The culture around menswear has moved.
Tailoring Meets Fantasy
Beneath all the theatricality is serious construction.
The collection moves through Italian tailoring, silk chiffon, floral brocades, embroidered cotton, velvet and highly decorative surfaces incorporating crystals, metallic elements and feathers.
That collision gives Spring/Summer 2027 its energy.
A tailored silhouette can suddenly become transparent. Something that initially resembles formal eveningwear can be interrupted by exposed flesh. A romantic blouse can coexist with trousers that ground the look firmly within the vocabulary of menswear.
Palomo isn’t eliminating the suit.
He’s giving the man inside it considerably more possibilities.
The palette similarly moves between restraint and fantasy. Black repeatedly anchors the collection, while white, pink, green and intense flashes of red introduce the heightened romanticism associated with the house.
On the runway, these colors don’t simply decorate the clothes. They contribute to the characters.
And Palomo has always understood fashion through characters.
Ten Years Later, the Palomo Man Has Grown Up
Looking at this collection in the context of Palomo Spain’s tenth anniversary reveals something particularly interesting.
The shock has disappeared.
That isn’t criticism.
It may actually be one of Palomo’s greatest accomplishments.
A decade ago, putting a male model into an extraordinarily feminine silhouette could dominate the entire conversation surrounding a look. The garment became a statement about gender before anyone could even discuss its cut, fabric, beauty or desirability.
Today, the conversation can move further.
We can look at a man in sheer fabric and talk about the silhouette.
We can look at embroidery and discuss craftsmanship.
We can see a male body decorated rather than merely dressed and appreciate the image without immediately needing to categorize it as masculine or feminine.
Palomo helped create some of that visual freedom.
Spring/Summer 2027 benefits from it.
Romantic Masculinity Without Apology
There is also something refreshing about the collection’s refusal of minimalism.
Contemporary men’s fashion can sometimes become trapped between hyper-commercial basics and an endless pursuit of quiet sophistication. Palomo walks directly in the opposite direction.
More fabric.
More romance.
More decoration.
More body.
More fantasy.
Yet beneath all of that excess is an increasingly clear proposition about masculinity: beauty does not need to be rationed for men.
Men are allowed ornament.
Men are allowed softness.
Men are allowed theatricality.
And men are allowed to enjoy clothes that exist primarily because they are beautiful.
For Fashionably Male, that remains the most compelling aspect of Palomo’s work.
The Beautiful Man, Ten Years On
Et in Arcadia Ego ultimately feels less like an anniversary retrospective and more like evidence of how far Palomo’s original proposition has traveled.
Alejandro Gómez Palomo began building a universe in which the male wardrobe could borrow from practically anywhere—historical costume, couture, lingerie, Spanish tradition, womenswear, tailoring and erotic imagery—without surrendering its relationship with the male body.
Ten years later, that universe looks remarkably comfortable with itself.
The Palomo man of Spring/Summer 2027 doesn’t need to explain why he is wearing transparency, flowers, embroidery or extravagant proportions.
He simply wears them.
Perhaps that is the real evolution represented by this anniversary.
Palomo Spain once challenged us to reconsider what a man could wear.
Now the man walks through the garden as though the answer had always been obvious.
Welcome to Arcadia.
Menswear and womenswear by @alejandrogomezpalomo
