Public School New York Spring 2027: Here Comes the Rain

by · WWD
Public School Spring 2027 ready-to-wear collection at New York Fashion Week.George Chinsee/WWD

In their second runway show since returning to New York Fashion Week, Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne were looking toward the future.

Indeed, as February’s show served as a reintroduction to the brand, Chow noted that this season, dubbed “Living Proof,” was all about moving forward and exploring the “extremes” of the world.

“For our second season, it’s all about looking at modularity,” Chow explained. “Modularity for us is having items around in a way that you’re able to react to anything that’s coming your way.”

Weather and rain were major themes of the show, from the beauty looks — hair was styled to look windswept, and makeup was meant to appear weathered — to embellishments that looked like rain drops on top of a suit jacket. And even the music for the night dove into the rain theme.

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Turning to what exactly the Public School man needs for the future extremes of the world, Chow and Osborne explored a range of natural wools, to baby ribbed cotton, yarn dyed cupro, viscose and cashmere cottons mixed with washed synthetics and ripstop nylons, all meant to give a sense of readiness in an unpredictable world.

And as Osborne said, “there will always be tailoring and leather pieces in our collection,” which did stand out among the technical fabrics. “There will also always be navy, black and gray in the line,” which spanned the majority of it.

Other interesting callouts were a small splattering of velvet pieces that were placed together utilizing a trompe-l’oeil effect made to look like a denim set, double waistband pants to add to the layering look and galoshes covering a range of footwear.

Spring 2027 will also see the second collaboration between Public School and Allen Edmonds. The two-style collection featured the Denzel laceless derby, available in black and white garment-dyed crust leather, and the Russell Longwing offered in a black washed cordovan leather.

“The laceless derby has a really big toe spring, so it’s kind of creased and washed again, like as if you wore it out,” Osborne noted. “Then the laces are out of shoe, again, because you’ve got to get in and out of them really quickly.”

A set of custom Nike Moon Shoes were also used as styling for the show. Asked if this could mean a potential official collaboration in the future, the cofounders remained mum, but admitted “never say never.”

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