Kiko Kostadinov spring/summer 2027: ribbed knee socks and lilac tights, look by look

On Monday 5 October 2026, at 4 pm, Laura and Deanna Fanning showed the Kiko Kostadinov spring/summer 2027 womenswear collection in Paris: 36 looks, according to New York Style Guide. In the gallery WWD published with images courtesy of the brand, we count 15 looks with knee socks or tights, and the knee sock is the show's real legwear signature: ribbed, pulled up under the knee, with a contrast cuff, worn with pumps, loafers and sandals alike. We went through the looks one by one, in the order they walked.

The collection: light in the dark

The starting point is the Italian artist Nanda Vigo. Dazed writes that the Fanning sisters saw a retrospective of her work in Bordeaux in 2022, and recalls her Cronotopo pieces, cuboids of steel and fluted glass lit by neon tubes. The show was staged almost in darkness, cut by beams of light. "This play between structure and freedom runs throughout the collection," the designers told Dazed, and the show notes say that "the clothes are not intended to transform the woman into another character".

NSS Magazine describes the show as very dark, with every look glowing in bright colour combined in seemingly random ways, and coloured veils that swayed with each step. New York Style Guide quotes Deanna Fanning's line to ELLE, "our version of minimalism, which won't be minimal for others", and names the shoes: "woven leather pumps, twin-color stitched loafers on a custom Kiko Kostadinov sole, geometric Chronotopo sandals". All three appear in the photos with knee socks. None of the reviews we read mentions the socks.

Grey rib with a black cuff: looks 6, 8, 24, 27 and 28

This is the most repeated version: a grey or grey-and-black ribbed knee sock, with a fine vertical or check pattern, finished with a black band under the knee. In look 6 it goes under an orange pleated mini and a shiny navy jacket, with orange caged sandals; in look 28 under an asymmetric purple striped dress, with the same orange sandals. In look 27 the shoe is a tan fisherman sandal, under a purple coat and an orange and black striped skirt. In look 8 the sock is darker, under a grey patchwork dress.

Looks 6 and 28: grey ribbed knee socks with caged sandals. Photo: courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov, via WWD.

Look 24, the photo at the top, is the most direct pairing: the same grey sock with a black cuff, a red and blue woven pump, a pink and red striped pleated skirt, a grey jacket and a shiny red bag.

Cream and beige: looks 10, 14, 15, 20 and 31

The light version is a cream or beige rib, sometimes with a whiter cuff. Look 14 pairs it with a beige jacket, a chevron pleated skirt and tan suede slip-ons; look 15 with a brown jacket, a blurred check skirt in red and yellow and brown loafers. In look 10 the cream sock comes with a black skirt and black shoes with a sporty strap.

Looks 14 and 15: beige and cream ribbed knee socks. Photo: courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov, via WWD.

In look 31 a beige sock with a cream cuff goes under a pink and red striped dress with red woven pumps: the same pump as look 24, with the light sock instead of the grey one.

Looks 24 and 31: knee socks and woven pumps. Photo: courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov, via WWD.

Lime green: look 16

There is one coloured pair. Look 16 has lime green ribbed knee socks with a brighter cuff, under a blue, teal and olive striped dress, with black loafers stitched in a contrasting thread. Look 20 repeats the stripes of that dress in a halter version with cream knee socks with a white cuff and woven flats.

Looks 16 and 20: lime green and cream. Photo: courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov, via WWD.

Pale lilac tights: looks 2, 11, 34 and 36

Four looks swap the sock for tights, all in the same pale lilac, almost grey, and fairly opaque. Look 2 wears them with a lilac pleated skirt edged in blue and black pumps; look 11 under a black striped draped dress, with a black sporty sandal; look 34 with a blue velvet mini and a blue veil, and look 36, the closing look, with a white tunic dress, both with black pumps.

Looks 2 and 34: pale lilac tights. Photo: courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov, via WWD.

The other short dresses, such as the check slip of look 33 and the pink organza of look 35, are worn with bare legs and woven pumps.

How to read these legs now

No source gives the yarn or the length of the socks: from the photos they stop just under the knee. Three practical points:

• The cuff does the work. A contrast band under the knee (black on grey, white on cream) turns a plain knee sock into a styling choice: look for it on ribbed knee socks rather than on smooth ones.
• Knee socks with pumps are a proportion game. Here they always come with a skirt that stops at or above the knee, so a strip of leg shows between hem and sock. With a longer skirt the effect is lost.
• Pale tights read better opaque. The lilac of looks 2, 11, 34 and 36 is a light colour with little transparency: to understand the scale, see our denier guide.

For more of the season, read our Paris diary, the look-by-looks of Celine and Julie Kegels, and Paris street style with socks and heels.

The photos

The numbering follows the WWD gallery of Kiko Kostadinov spring/summer 2027, 36 images credited as courtesy of the brand; look 1 is the orange coat and look 36 the white tunic dress with lilac tights. The photos in this article are from that gallery, with credit, and the look numbers are the gallery's. The count of 15 (11 with knee socks, 4 with tights) is ours, from the photos.