Dubai Fashion Week SS27: Bogotá Takes the Stage

On October 24, Dubai Fashion Week turned its attention to Colombian design. Presented through the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce's Colombia Day initiative, Laura Aparicio, Adriana Capasso, ODA Store and Mónica Schuster by Sermetex approached Spring/Summer 2027 from different directions. The evening concluded with FADTALENTS, an anniversary showcase for emerging designers. Across the runway, landscape, city life and celestial imagery became starting points for experiments with cut, fabric and ornament.

Laura Aparicio: Colour Refuses to Behave

Pale blue hovered above bright yellow as Laura Aparicio sent a rounded cropped top down the Dubai Fashion Week runway with cargo trousers and a cobalt belt bag. The upper garment's broad, inflated-looking shape shifted the emphasis towards the shoulders, while its short hem exposed the waistband.

Her collection, NANDA, brought Colombian identity into conversation with sportswear, oversized menswear and confident femininity. Another outfit paired a cobalt sleeveless top with black tailored trousers. Extended squared shoulders widened the torso, an asymmetric hem interrupted its outline, and a trailing red belt added movement.

A black draped gown introduced a different rhythm. Fabric gathered towards the waist before falling into a long, fluid skirt, while vivid blue shoes disrupted the otherwise dark palette. Across the collection, lightweight, lustrous surfaces sat alongside utility-inspired pockets and more structured trouser construction.

Aparicio imagined clothing as an active negotiation between the body and the space around it. Her most convincing pieces used cropped lengths, exaggerated shoulders and dangling accessories to create deliberately unstable proportions.

Adriana Capasso: The Landscape Has a Waistline

Colombia's coffee-growing Quindío region inspired Adriana Capasso's TRACE, presented at Dubai Fashion Week through folded fabric, overlapping panels and sculpted tailoring. Instead of reproducing scenery as a print, Capasso explored how the contours of a landscape could be suggested by the contours of a garment.

A burgundy jacket featured broad geometric panels crossing at the front. A substantial belt cinched the waist, while a peplum-like extension projected over wide-leg trousers. The tailoring drew attention to the torso's changing dimensions: square shoulders narrowed towards the middle, then opened again at the hip.

In a champagne-gold one-shoulder ensemble, closely arranged folds travelled diagonally across the bodice. Draping formed a sculpted waist treatment before descending into flowing panels. Another cream look combined a plunging, shawl-like neckline with soft pleating and straight trousers.

Ivory, sand, brown and burgundy established an earthy palette. Satin surfaces caught the light along the folds, while sheer layers introduced transparency.

Capasso's strongest work transformed inspiration into construction. The folded panels behaved almost like topographical lines, changing direction as they travelled around the waist and shoulder.

ODA Store: City Lines, Recut

The street grid became a tailoring reference in Convergencia, ODA Store's contribution to Dubai Fashion Week. Designer Paula Mejia explored Bogotá as a place of encounters and intersecting paths, translating that idea into cropped layers, angular collars and asymmetric fastenings.

One cream jacket featured a cape-like upper section, wide sleeves and a pointed collar. Beneath it, a vertically striped dress used an off-centre button closure to introduce a diagonal interruption.

Another look combined a chocolate-brown cropped cape top with fitted sleeves and high-waisted wide-leg trousers. The rounded outer layer expanded around the shoulders before stopping abruptly above the waistband, leaving the trousers to extend the silhouette towards the floor. A fitted black top with diagonal decorative detailing and subtle waist cutouts accompanied pale tailored trousers traced with darker piping.

Textured suiting, ribbed or striped surfaces and layered tailoring gave these looks their utilitarian precision. Mejia's collection succeeded when the city reference could be understood through the cut itself. Even the placement of a fastening became part of that spatial argument.

Mónica Schuster: An Eclipse You Can Wear

Gold emerged against black and ivory in Mónica Schuster by Sermetex's ECLIPSE, which brought celestial imagery to Dubai Fashion Week through embellished eveningwear.

A high-neck gold column gown featured an asymmetric shoulder treatment and a translucent cape. Dense embellishment followed the torso before becoming more dispersed across the sheer lower section. As the cape moved, the gown's narrow silhouette remained visible beneath it, creating distinct layers of reflected light.

A strapless ivory dress presented an opposing construction. Its fitted bodice and crystal-encrusted hip area opened into a skirt assembled from dimensional, petal-like layers. Elsewhere, a black asymmetric gown combined a raised neckline, thigh slit and enlarged ruffled sleeves, with reflective ornament concentrated around the waist.

Tulle transparency, satin surfaces, tiered ruffles and hand-applied crystals supplied the collection's visual contrasts. A cropped black embellished jacket and sweeping skirt introduced starburst motifs, making the cosmic reference explicit.

Schuster was strongest where light altered the perception of shape. The embroidery worked as a visual guide, drawing the eye from closely sculpted bodices towards flowing capes and skirts.

FADTALENTS: Tomorrow Tries Everything On

The evening closed with FADTALENTS, marking ten years of the FAD Institute of Luxury, Fashion & Style. More than 20 emerging designers presented experiments in tailoring, print and unconventional volume at Dubai Fashion Week.

A pastel marbled suit combined wide-leg trousers with sheer extensions projecting from the shoulders. Another look layered an exaggerated peplum jacket over an asymmetric high-low skirt, while a printed dress brought rounded orange panels into its silhouette. Embroidered capes and tasselled details further diversified the presentation. Their varied approaches brought a welcome sense of risk to the evening.

At Dubai Fashion Week, The Cut Told the Story

The Colombian presentations suggested that a collection's strongest identity can develop from the way material is handled. Aparicio altered proportion, Capasso shaped folds, Mejia manipulated layering and Schuster directed light through ornament. The young designers then widened the possibilities further. For Dubai Fashion Week, the productive tension lay between inspiration and execution: references become compelling when a viewer can discover them in the seams, the volumes and the movement of the clothing.