At Pitti Uomo, Dover Street Market’s in-house label channelled the against-the-tide energy of punk into its debut runway collection.
Pitti Uomo is home for guys who like immaculate suits and barely sweat in the Florentine sun. Punk goes against the tide and the establishment. Tonight, DSM Kei Ninomiya brought the two worlds together with its Spring/Summer 2027 ‘Our Punk’ collection.
Because if there’s a place where peacocks and punks can live together in harmony, it’s Dover Street Market – the fashion emporium headed up by Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo and CEO Adrian Joffe. Its stores are meccas for fashion obsessives who like their shopping experience fiercely curated and a bit disorientating. These disciples range from slouchy tailoring obsessives drawn to Bottega Veneta, Jil Sander and The Row, to skaters supporting their mates’ brands – a worldwide fashion gang formed of many different minds and perspectives, all vibing together.
DSM Kei Ninomiya is the store’s own clothing label launched in June 2025. Ninomiya, who also heads up Comme des Garçons label Noir Kei Ninomiya is at the helm (although it is not fixed to any fashion schedule and is open to onboarding additional designers). Less avant-garde than Noir, it is inspired by the people and communities who visit Dover Street Market and has previously focused on football heads for its Autumn/Winter 2026 offering and university students in its SS26 collection.
Images courtesy of DSM Kei Ninomiya
This time around, it was the punk-ish scene kids who got their time in the spotlight. Many had towering spiked hair laced with flowers, others had bouquets fixed to the back of their heads and swaggered in and out of fencing, hanging with show guests in the stands, and mohawk-mogging anyone in Florence.
Sid Vicious-esque biker jackets featured throughout. Some were pre-beaten with a heady patina and embellished with chains and safety pins. Others housed the 1979 ‘Punk’ poster by Jamie Reid, the graphic artist behind the Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” record sleeve, in the lining. He was a gardener in early adulthood and remained inspired by the natural world throughout his life, hence the flowers. Reid’s graphics were also featured on T-shirts made with New York brand Pretty Relics, which screen print onto rare wafer-thin jerseys, drawing on the Punk aesthetic. Other collaborations included DSM-branded checkerboard Vans and George Cox creepers.
Ninomiya delved into tailoring with layered skirt-trousers and sharp three-button suiting, in loud purple and red plaids and in a muted white pattern. You might associate this stuff with more baked-in ideas of punk cemented in the 1970s, and by bands like The Clash and The Ramones. But there were also fishtail parka jackets, and zippered flight pants, the stuff you might see worn by scene kids today who you might find at Hackney Road gallery events.
Images courtesy of DSM Kei Ninomiya
The theme of punk wasn’t reserved for clothing alone. The venue – the former Sant’orsola convent, which was previously closed for 40 years and is now in the process of a major renovation – was like a mothership touching down in Florence to unleashing menswear rebellion and mirroring the deconstruction and modification seen on the runway.
According to the accompanying show notes, this Spring/Summer 2027 show was rooted in the “questioning of assumptions [and] the curiosity about alternatives to create your own identity.” With a collection spanning from beater tees to twisted suiting, we’re getting a malleable offering that could be worn full “Blitzkrieg Bop” or softened with flowers or more tailored pieces (see: Jordan Firstman’s roster of slogan tees at Cannes Film Festival this year for some rule-bending menswear fire). Ninomiya is arming his DSM community with the tools to do just that.
And in an increasingly changing world, and an increasingly homogenised menswearverse, going against the tide and setting your own agenda feels just as, if not more, relevant than ever. So rock on and buy the damn flowers devout menswear mosher .
