Sportmax SS27 Is Dressing for a World That’s Getting Too Hot

Sportmax Spring/Summer 2027 was really, really cool. This opening statement might sound uninspired, but truly that's a great word to define the collection that showed: the Sportmax gal is effortlessly cool, from the way she wears her pieces, to the way she holds her bag and walk down the runway.

It's a pretty good sign when every look is good enough you'd want to own it, and that is basically what was happening here.

The collection however, didn't start with 'cool' as a starting point. Pretty much the opposite: aborn during a canicule, when the Sportmax studio started observing workers and commuters trying to get through everyday life in soaring temperatures. That image became the starting point for a wardrobe that still has places to go and jobs to do, but desperately wants some air.    

The result is tailoring you can almost see through, transparent accessories, organza layered like tinted glass and clothes that reveal just enough of what's happening underneath. Or, as the studio puts it, “the real fashion show is in the street.”    

Sportmax's answer is essentially to keep the idea of the suit and remove some of the suit. Pinstripes return in voile, viscose and wool, but tailoring is opened up with panels that create the illusion of pieces disappearing against the body. One pair of pinstripe trousers conceals Bermuda shorts underneath, leaving its wearer somewhere between businessman and someone who has sensibly accepted that it's far too hot for trousers.    

That tension works particularly well because the collection never abandons structure entirely. Jackets remain precise, waistbands and long belts pull volume back towards the body, and familiar office codes are still visible. They've simply been loosened, sliced open and made to breathe.

Colour arrives as though viewed through a glass of water. Greys give way to stronger jewel tones, while layers of écru, orange and blush-pink silk organza overlap to create entirely new shades. The effect feels less like colour-blocking and more like looking through several transparent filters at once.  

One of the loveliest ideas comes from an antique Venetian lace tablecloth, which Sportmax turns into a print rather than reproducing as embroidery. It then sits beneath an organza trench, visible without ever being completely exposed. There is a lot of revealing and concealing happening here, which makes transparency feel considerably more interesting than simply putting everyone in a sheer dress.

Leather in summer sounds like a terrible idea until Sportmax starts taking pieces away from it. Buttery nappa and suede are deconstructed into skirts, sleeveless jackets and coats with convertible panels that can be adjusted to expose more of the body. Denim becomes so fluid that it behaves more like flou, while trompe-l'oeil suit lapels are stitched flat onto the chest, preserving the visual language of formal dressing without necessarily keeping all of its construction.

It's clever because these clothes still look dressed; they haven't surrendered to the heat and become beachwear, they've simply negotiated better terms.

Although, eventually, Sportmax does start thinking about the beach. Knitwear borrows from cut-out swimwear and ribbed bathing suits, introducing the rather appealing fantasy of leaving work and heading directly towards water. The accessories continue the transparency obsession. There are slides with contrasting details, icicle-bijou pumps, and glass-like jewellery that emerges from cuffs or appears beneath liquid necklines.

The casting, meanwhile, spans generations, connecting the collection back to Sportmax's origins in 1969 as a brand intended to reflect the world around it - which we truly love.

In the end, SS27 strips away what summer no longer needs: heavy construction, opacity, unnecessary layers and anything that traps the body too tightly. What's left still functions as a wardrobe, only one built around movement, transparency and the possibility of catching a breeze.  

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