SAUL NASH SS27: THE PERFORMANCE OF MASCULINITY
Masculinity is a performance. For SS27, Saul Nash is interested in its choreography. Presented at Forza e Coraggio, one of Milan’s oldest sporting societies, “STANCE” looks at how strength, desire and masculinity are communicated through the body: how men stand, flex, dress and expose themselves. Sportswear and tailoring collide, but so do two ways of looking at the male physique, as an instrument of performance and as an object of desire. “The collection began through researching archival imagery of sports figures and male pin-ups, examining how masculinity is constructed and performed through both clothes and gesture,” Nash explained after the show.
The comparison is revealing. The athlete and the pin-up are not as far apart as they might seem. Both perform for an audience. Both rely on carefully constructed images of physical confidence. Both turn the male body into something to be watched. Nash works within that tension without making it too obvious. Second-skin tops follow anatomical lines somewhere between compression wear and corsetry, while tailoring is pulled away from rigidity and towards movement. Skin appears throughout, but exposure is never the final destination. “It’s up to you if you want to reveal the skin or put it away,” Nash said. “The key for me was not to oversexualize the silhouettes.” That choice is what gives “STANCE” its sensuality. Desire is present, but it is controlled by the wearer. Nash does not simply replace one masculine stereotype with another, nor does he treat vulnerability as strength’s fashionable opposite. Instead, he makes room for both. The body becomes something mutable: concealed, exposed, disciplined, relaxed.
Looks 18 to 22 brought another layer to this conversation through selected pieces from SLNSH Summer 2026, Nash’s fifth and final chapter with lululemon. Lightweight layers, half-zip bodysuits, sun-faded tracksuits, printed T-shirts and waterproof jackets shift between performance and lifestyle, while lenticular prints and moving-body motifs change with light and movement. “When the sun reflects off objects, you get these beautiful shadows,” Nash said. It feels like an apt metaphor for the collection itself. Bodies rarely produce a single image. “STANCE” also introduced Nash’s second footwear collaboration with APICCAPS and To Work For. This time, he turns to the boat shoe, rebuilding the traditionally preppy silhouette in mesh and suede and tightening it with a drawstring-style lace fastening. Like much of Nash’s work, it sits deliberately between categories: technical and polished, familiar and slightly displaced.And perhaps displacement is the point.
Nash has never needed to destroy the codes of masculinity to question them. He shifts them just enough. A sports top starts resembling a corset. Tailoring follows rather than restricts the body. A masculine pose becomes an invitation to look. At Forza e Coraggio, a space built around physical discipline, “STANCE” ultimately asks who gets to decide what strength looks like. Nash’s answer is less about redefining masculinity than allowing it to move.
Words by @alraco43
Photographies by @myriam_ariana_