Often, the best part of a runway happens before the start of the show itself when the guests, especially the VIPs and the loyal patrons, start filing in and make their way to the seats. It’s not only a great opportunity to observe whether the clothes proposed by the designer from the previous season make sense in the lives of the women they dress, but also to witness how these women think about fashion and adapt it as their own.
That was on full display before Biyan’s Spring Summer 2027 show on Monday night. Many of them sported the relaxed long outer from the current season in varied styling that offered clues into their lives — one paired it with chunky colour-block sneakers, while another threw it over a casual white blouse and denim pants.
It was also trend forecasting happening in real time: more women are moving away from the tight, body-hugging silhouettes that dominated just a few years ago, opting instead for something more relaxed, casual, and irreverent. A clear push against conventional ideas of occasion dressing.
It’s no surprise that designer Biyan Wanaatmadja is fully attuned to the needs of his clientele. The show was a display of know-how and timing. The sense of dressing down as dressing up without forgoing aspiration is prevalent throughout the collection, all while retaining the Biyan-ness of its proportions and colours.
Some of the standout looks effectively blurred the lines between the day and night. Like the matching set of coral-pink blouse and cropped pants, cut with the ease of pyjamas and embellished with floral embroidery overlaid with beadwork that brought to mind fleeting reflections on the surface of a pond, worn beneath an airy sheer outer. Dresses in a collage of prints with a dropped waist by the way of robe de style. And in another, a blouse and jacket speckled with floral patterns worn with gold lamé three-quarter pants that made a lot of sense at a seated party.
The longevity of Biyan speaks volumes about the designer’s proficiency in balancing creative idealism with commercial acumen. Fashion, at the end of the day, is a business as much as it is a form of expression. Even though the collection stays close to the familiar formula of “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”, Biyan still manages to infuse it with enough aspiration and novelty to keep his clientele engaged.
More importantly, it reflects an understanding that women today are not necessarily looking for clothes that transform them into someone else. They are looking for clothes that help them become more fully themselves. Judging from the women who arrived at the show that evening, each interpreting Biyan’s designs in her own way, the collection works not because it dictates how to dress, but because it gives them a reason to get up, get dressed, and face the world in their own way.
