Maybe it was Saint Laurent and their series of translucent trench dresses, but ever since that SS26 show, clothes have been getting more transparent. However, it’s not a matter of showing skin. Sheer fashion has returned with creative styling and ingenuity.
Innovation came at Herbert Levine’s SS26 collection, which took a high heel and added a sheer fabric over it, creating a “sheer boot” that plays with the collection’s theme of light and darkness.
Whereas other runways took to sheer layering with opaque foundations. But unlike its ‘90s and 2015 predecessors, layering here was a styling choice shaped by colour and silhouette, rather than just skin. During AW26, Issey Miyake displayed that layering effect with its inversive. A sheer turtleneck was layered with two shirts, creating a peak-a-boo effect. It translated to Seoul Fashion Week SS27, where designer GREEDILOUS let models down the runway in floral mesh hidden behind a trench coat.
Elsewhere at Copenhagen Fashion Week SS27, sheer went from an accent point to a fully flourished detail. Anne Sofie Madsen used sheer mesh over dresses, skirts, and graphic T-shirts in a colour-contrasting fashion. The same was done at MKDT Studio, which used sheer button-ups over T-shirts, creating a double-shouldered silhouette amongst its fairly neutral palette.
At Calvin Klein, the sheers got colourful with layers showing off under mini skirts. Fine silk pieces gave off a translucent look and were similarly styled in a peek-a-boo fashion.
For the modest dresser looking to style sheer layers, there are plenty of kaftans and abayas that style sheer fabrics with regional sensibilities. But for the global fashion market that doesn’t cater to modest principles, it’s all the more interesting when they choose to do so.
