BY JAY AQUINO

JUNE 27. 2026

Simon Cracker Spring/Summer 2027 opened with clothes that looked as if they had been dragged through heat, memory, domestic chaos, and emotional resistance. Simone Botte called the collection “An Annoying Summer Fairy Tale," framing summer as irritation, not fantasy, and romance as something crumpled, boiled, reassembled, and made strange.

A loose denim jacket and wide, almost skirt-like trousers showed how the strongest looks began with proportion, establishing the collection’s interest in collapse through an elongated silhouette that refused traditional elegance. Underneath, a pale printed shirt softened the workwear shell, while the paper-bag accessory and narrow sunglasses pushed the look somewhere more eccentric, part street uniform, part art-school scavenger. It was everyday clothing, slightly displaced, which is where Simon Cracker often thrives.

That displacement became more heightened in the white ruffled looks, where clouds of fabric swallowed the shoulders and exposed the torso above low-slung jeans, creating an unstable conversation between couture volume and denim pragmatism. Up close, the gathered panels, crushed surfaces, and tied construction suggested garments held together by instinct. Botte’s reference to Cinderella matters, as he was drawn less to the fairy godmother’s finished dress than to the mice gathering scraps and making something beautiful from whatever they could find.

IMAGE SOURCE: FRANCESCO PIVIDORI

The white dress with ruffled shoulders and uneven hems seemed to shelter the body, while heavy boots and a lace neckpiece made the look tougher. Another look, built around a narrow white base with floral construction cascading down one side, pushed bridal language further into decay. The black jacket sleeves cut through the sweetness, while the floral appliqué looked like a bouquet broken apart and rebuilt, proving that beauty here was not perfected but assembled.

A cropped pleated vest worn over a printed shirt and knee-length shorts gave the look a sharper, more school-uniform proportion. A pale jacket, sheer top, and wide green trousers translated that same push and pull into utility, with protection above, exposure beneath, and earthiness below. Botte’s natural dye process, which produced shifting tones of magenta, green, black, and midnight blue depending on the fabric, strengthened the feeling that nothing in the collection was fully fixed.

IMAGE SOURCE: FRANCESCO PIVIDORI

By the finale, layers of white tulle expanded around the seated body like a garden apparition, somewhere between bride, sculpture, and ghost, showing that the collection had fully entered its own logic. It closed the show with force because it made softness structural, emotional, and almost defiant.

In the end, Simon Cracker SS27 worked because it understood that fairy tales do not need to be clean to be convincing. They can be annoying, damaged, funny, and excessive, yet still deeply sincere. In a fashion economy that often rewards polish, Botte’s decision not to smooth out the flaws felt like the point.

Discover Simon Cracker Spring/Summer 2027 here.