Christian Siriano’s NYFW show was a twisted take on a fairytale with corsets, florals and tulle

Christian Siriano brought his twist on a French fairytale fantasy to New York Fashion Week with a theatrical collection featuring dramatic corsets, florals and clouds of tulle.

The American designer, known for dressing stars including Zendaya, Celine Dion and Oprah Winfrey, unveiled his spring/summer 2027 collection at Gotham Hall in Manhattan on Thursday.

Siriano drew inspiration from the 18th-century French fairytale The Story Of The Queen Of The Flowery Isles, using its darker themes before transforming the runway into a colourful floral fantasy.

Corsets and florals dominated (Vincent Alban/AP)

The show began on a decidedly darker note, with models showcasing black lace, feathers and faux leather, while a male model walking the runway in a fitted, sheer top paired with loose silk trousers.

The show began on a darker note featuring only all-black outfits (Vincent Alban/AP)

Christian Siriano experimented with tulle and exaggerated proportions (Vincent Alban/AP)

The sombre palette reflected the darker side of the fairytale, which deals with themes including vanity, rivalry and revenge, before the collection gradually gave way to a softer and more romantic world.

“I think fashion needs that,” Siriano told the Associated Press of creating fantasy through clothes.

“I think people need a little bit of escape.”

The designer, who rose to fame after winning the fourth season of US reality competition Project Runway, has become particularly known for his theatrical red-carpet gowns and commitment to dressing a diverse range of body types.

That sense of drama was evident as the show progressed, with the black looks replaced by vivid pinks, purples, greens and oversized floral prints.

A vivid and acidic colour palette was used throughout the collection (Vincent Alban/AP)

One model walked in a floor-length purple gown which hugged the body before erupting into layers of purple and pale green tulle around the hem.

Another wore a fitted hot-pink gown topped with an enormous feathered collar, with black feathers appearing to float around the model as she walked.

A model in a hot pink gown with black feathers (Vincent Alban/AP)

Siriano also looked to the elaborate dress of the 18th century, experimenting with tapestry fabrics and exaggerated silhouettes.

Floral fabric was shaped into enormous skirts reminiscent of historical court dress, while corsetry was exposed through lace-up panels.

One of the most striking looks paired a cropped black top with a vast cream floral skirt, which featured a corseted lace-up panel through the front worn by Canadian model Coco Rocha.

Canadian fashion model Coco Rocha during the Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2027 show (Vincent Alban/AP)

Elsewhere, green fabric scattered with red roses was used for a cropped top and voluminous matching skirt, while another floral gown combined a fitted pink bodice with an exaggerated fishtail silhouette.

“I’ve never used tapestries before, and that felt exciting to me,” Siriano said of the collection.

“I wanted to modernise it.”

The designer also revisited tailoring, sending cropped tuxedo jackets and sharply fitted black pieces down the runway alongside his more extravagant eveningwear.

A model sporting a suit on the Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2027 runway (Vincent Alban/AP)

“I used to do a lot of beautiful suits, and I wanted to show that again,” he said.

Perhaps the clearest red-carpet contenders came towards the end of the show.

A vivid purple gown featured an enormous frothy cape-like collar and matching tulle hem, while a dramatic black minidress enveloped its model in layers of feather-like tulle around a tightly corseted waist.

A model in a sheer purple tulle gown (Vincent Alban/AP)

The runway maintained Siriano’s longstanding emphasis on inclusivity, with different body types represented among the models – something the designer has made a consistent feature of his shows.

Speaking at his previous New York Fashion Week show in February, Siriano described his runways as a celebration of “beauty, bodies, age and cultures”, noting that “we need to escape and be somewhere else […] in a dream world.”