Dushane Noble is tapped into the ongoing discourse around taste as a social signifier. Can taste be acquired like wealth or commodities? (Tech bros sure think so.) Is it just something else to be flattened by the algorithm?
Status and Culture: How Our Desire For Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion And Constant Change by W. David Marx informed Noble’s spring 2027 collection. “[Marx] talks about this idea of status-seeking being the quiet engine behind taste and culture—that what we see as cool or good taste is really status,” Noble explained in Theory’s Meatpacking studio-turned-runway. Noble isn’t looking to weigh in on the great tasteslop debate, but it did raise the question: What sparks desire?
That led Noble to the yuppies of the 1980s, an era marked by its “obsession with status, power dressing, and glamour as we’ve come to know it today.” Power shoulders and skirt suits were focal points, of course. Noble offered two versions of a gray double-breasted skirt suit: a more conservative knee-length option, styled with a classic banker shirt and a nylon car coat, and a sexier miniskirt.
While glamour was the objective this season, in practice, the Theory customer is a working woman in a metropolitan city. “Glamour only really works for our customer if they can survive their commute,” Noble noted. Fabrics were of the utmost importance and daytime taffeta was the star of the season. “We love the idea of what taffeta does in terms of the sheen, the structure, the crispness. But on its own, it’s a delicate fabric, 100% silk. It’s not your everyday fabric,” he said. Nylon was woven in for more versatile wear, and the design followed suit: basketball shorts and a slinky boatneck minidress were among the highlights. “[We wanted to] take it out of that sort of extravagant, fancy world and into something that feels more everyday,” Noble said.
Theory is meant for everyday wear and Noble has no intention of changing that. But he is keen to bring glamour into ordinary life. Couture-inspired tailoring practices were brought down to earth: a sculptural leather jacket was constructed with minimal seams for a streamlined finish; a denim cocoon jacket nodded to Poiret. After all, who doesn’t desire couture?
