Curved aluminum sculptures anchored the show space, setting the tone for Ruohan Nie’s spring 2027 collection before any garments appeared: familiar elements rearranged into new forms.

Rather than impose a fixed silhouette, Nie let each piece find its own character, loosening the long proportions associated with earlier collections. She also introduced outerwear, including windbreaker-like pieces and vests, alongside her exploration of knit manipulation and unconventional materials. Pointing at one of the checkered looks backstage, Nie said it was linen that got woven into a grid through eight yarns crossing four directions and two surfaces.

Overall, the Shanghai-based designer said the collection began with the strokes that form Chinese characters: heng, shu, pie and na, meaning horizontal, vertical, left-falling and right-falling in English. Through cutouts and origami-like folds, she turned these basic gestures into architectural forms that shift freely.

The same idea informed her use of garment components. Jackets, skirts and sleeve parts became building blocks to divide, rearrange and recombine, allowing new forms to drape on the body.

Nie also teased a November opening for the brand’s first stand-alone store on Shanghai’s tree-lined Hunan Road.