Andreas Kronthaler brought “Body & Soul” to Paris for Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2027, delivering a collection where the male body becomes part of the clothing itself. Looking specifically at the menswear, Kronthaler moves between tailoring, draping, exposed skin and theatrical historical references with the irreverence expected from the Westwood universe.
The title carries a purpose beyond the runway. Kronthaler explained that the collection reconnects with Body & Soul, a charity Vivienne Westwood first encountered more than twenty years ago and which works in long-term suicide prevention. A limited run of T-shirts has also been created to raise money for the organization.
“In celebration of this we called our Spring/Summer show ‘Body & Soul’,” Kronthaler explains.
Dressing — and Undressing — the Male Body
There is very little conventionality in this wardrobe. Jackets open almost completely across bare torsos, shirts become elongated dresses, trousers are cropped, wrapped or dramatically widened, and tiny shorts leave legs fully exposed.
One of the opening black looks establishes the mood immediately: a huge, almost ecclesiastical black coat frames a transparent top and extremely wide trousers. Rather than hiding the body beneath all that volume, Kronthaler makes the sheer layer underneath feel unexpectedly vulnerable.
That tension runs throughout the collection: covered versus exposed, masculine versus feminine, ceremonial versus casual.
Some of the strongest looks are built from tailoring that appears to have escaped the rules of tailoring. A pale checked suit is softened into something almost pajama-like, while another jacket is worn with abbreviated patterned bottoms. Elsewhere, grey and striped trousers sit alongside loosely buttoned shirts, scarves, wraps and unconventional footwear.
The Westwood Man Has No Interest in Playing It Safe
Kronthaler’s menswear becomes considerably more provocative as the show develops.
Micro shorts appear beneath cropped knits. A bright red-and-white top is combined with voluminous printed shorts, while another model wears a long olive cardigan over a draped green ensemble decorated with flowers. A vivid turquoise suit is transformed by a green headscarf, bare chest and knee-high socks.
These aren’t simply women’s clothes transferred onto male models. The styling questions why those categories need to remain so rigid in the first place.
Skirts, dresses and draped pieces repeatedly enter the men’s wardrobe. A translucent silver mesh dress exposes the torso and legs underneath; a shimmering brown column falls loosely around another male body; and a striking purple floor-length garment demonstrates just how comfortably Kronthaler can move between gown, robe and menswear.
Yet traditional masculine references remain visible. There are tailored jackets, striped trousers, workwear-like fabrics, sportswear, shirts and even an almost straightforward grey shirt-and-trouser combination — until furry leg coverings and mismatched footwear disrupt any sense of normality.
Skin Is Part of the Silhouette
Perhaps the clearest message from the menswear is that the body itself functions as another textile.
Chests are frequently exposed. Tops plunge dramatically. Knitwear becomes transparent. Shorts become briefs. Shirts are tied rather than conventionally buttoned.
One especially memorable runway look reduces the outfit to red-and-grey striped trousers, jewelry and a bandana, leaving the model completely bare-chested. Another uses tiny red printed shorts with suspenders over an exposed torso.
Even when the collection becomes sensual, however, it rarely feels polished in the conventional luxury-fashion sense. Everything is deliberately a little crooked, distressed, improvised or unfinished.
That imperfection is fundamental to Westwood.
Prints, Color and Controlled Chaos
The palette refuses to settle down. Black and earthy brown open the story before checks, florals, pinks, greens, turquoise, purple, red and harlequin-like geometric patterns begin colliding.
Print is treated almost as collage.
Pink patterned trousers meet a loosely knotted shirt. Burgundy trousers covered in circular motifs are paired with a champagne-colored top and scarf. Patchworked tailoring combines multiple patterns within a single look. Denim arrives distressed, cut apart and reconstructed.
Accessories add another layer of disorder: bandanas, scarves, necklaces, enormous bags, unusual socks and strappy shoes all contribute to the impression that these characters dressed themselves according to instinct rather than instruction.
And that’s precisely where the collection becomes convincing.
Body & Soul
Beneath all the visual eccentricity, Body & Soul feels unusually appropriate as a title.
Kronthaler’s Spring/Summer 2027 men are allowed to be glamorous, ridiculous, sexy, vulnerable, masculine, feminine and theatrical — sometimes simultaneously. Clothes don’t discipline their bodies into one prescribed idea of manhood; they give those bodies another vocabulary.
It is unmistakably Vivienne Westwood: historical references collide with punk instinct, tailoring refuses obedience and gender conventions are treated less like rules than raw material.
For Spring/Summer 2027, the Westwood man doesn’t simply wear the clothes.
He becomes part of them.
