Kyle Ho SS27

Chapter Three 'The Human Condition’

Writer: Lily Egleton

For SS27, Kyle Ho continues his ongoing exploration of the human condition with Chapter III, a collection that places the designer’s signature tailoring at the centre while pushing it into stranger, more playful territory. Presented at The Crypt on the Green during London Fashion Week, the collection moves between sharply constructed suiting, exaggerated proportions and unexpected flashes of skin, colour and decoration.

Tailoring remains the foundation of Ho’s work. His practice is rooted in traditional Savile Row techniques, which he has consistently used as a starting point for questioning conventional ideas of menswear. In SS27, that relationship with tailoring feels particularly pronounced: a long charcoal wrap coat is cut with a strong, sculpted shoulder and cinched at the waist, while another look transforms a classic grey suit into something far less conventional, pairing it with shorts, knee-high socks and a dramatically elongated coat.

The collection repeatedly takes familiar menswear codes and shifts them slightly off-centre. A sharply checked double-breasted suit is softened by a pale yellow shirt, rolled cuffs and black leather gloves, while another look layers a striped shirt beneath an oversized grey jacket and replaces traditional trousers with short shorts. There is a sense of formality throughout, but it is never allowed to become completely predictable.

That tension between the traditional and the unexpected has long been central to Ho's design language. The British Fashion Council describes his approach as one that combines radical bespoke tailoring with exaggerated proportions and contemporary silhouettes, while his earlier collections have similarly explored the distortion and reworking of established menswear archetypes. SS27 feels like a continuation of that conversation, but with a lighter, more eccentric attitude.

The details are where the collection becomes particularly expressive. Oversized floral corsages appear against otherwise restrained tailoring, turning the lapel into a point of decoration rather than simply structure. Black flowers punctuate the grey checked suit and charcoal tailoring, while a white flower sits against the cropped navy top of another look. These touches introduce an almost romantic quality to pieces that could otherwise read as strictly sartorial.

One of the most striking looks takes this idea considerably further: a voluminous navy top gathers dramatically around the body, exposing the stomach above a pair of high-waisted white trousers. The proportions are deliberately unusual, balancing the restrictive feeling of the gathered garment with the openness of the exposed midriff. Elsewhere, a fitted checked suit and oversized black gloves create a more polished, almost retro silhouette.

The palette reinforces the collection's contrast. Charcoal, black and navy dominate, punctuated by crisp white and softer shades of yellow. Rather than relying on colour for impact, Ho allows silhouette, construction and styling to do most of the work. Even the most dramatic pieces remain connected to the visual language of tailoring.

There is also something distinctly theatrical about the styling. Corsages, gloves, exaggerated shoulders, elongated coats and exposed skin turn otherwise recognisable wardrobe staples into characters in their own right. It makes sense within Ho's wider practice: his collections are built around narratives rather than simply seasonal themes, with the designer previously describing his work as stories developed through successive chapters.

Following SS26's “Goodbye, Martin”, which explored release and the end of a relationship through softened tailoring, ceremony and fluid silhouettes, Chapter III marks another stage in Ho's ongoing narrative approach. Here, the clothes feel less like straightforward expressions of conventional masculinity and more like experiments with how that identity can be dressed, distorted and reconstructed.

Ultimately, The Human Condition, Chapter III demonstrates what makes Kyle Ho's work distinctive: an understanding of tailoring that is sufficiently deep to allow him to disrupt it. The collection doesn't abandon the suit; instead, it stretches, shortens, cinches, decorates and deconstructs it. The result is menswear that can be highly polished and deliberately peculiar while simultaneously rooted in London's tailoring heritage, but unwilling to be confined by it.