Martin Andersson is in a New York state of mind.
That’s not all that’s surprising considering Theory is rooted in the Big Apple. But the brand’s creative director for menswear took it one step further for spring ’27, poring through the vast archives of the New York Public Library for inspiration.
What he came to realize as he thumbed through the hundreds of thousands of images in the organization’s Picture Library was that there’s more to life than an app and an algorithm.
“It’s the beginning of an analog counter movement,” he said during a preview in Theory’s Meatpacking District showroom. “What people really want is a life connection, physicality, touching fabrics.”
That resulted in a collection infused with texture and chockful of rich and comfortable fabrics in modern silhouettes, injected with plenty of color.
Andersson referenced images from ’90s New York with the decades’ “relaxed, boxy silhouette” for the collection, he said. “For a while, we were talking a lot about a new uniform, but that’s a little bit strict, and a little bit monochrome. Now it’s much more about this idea of breaking things up, mixing and matching, and a tension between the formal and the casual, the old and the new.” An example, he said, is going on a bodega run in a cashmere coat.
Among the key pieces was an unlined, boxy suede blazer with raw edges that was clean and minimal and paired with indigo washed jeans. While Theory has long offered jeans, the brand is making a “broad statement around denim” for spring, Andersson said, offering pieces in brown, white and other shades.
Linen also made a regular appearance in the line, in everything from dusty pink short-sleeve button-down shirts and technical knit sweaters to an updated version of a flight jacket.
Andersson stepped out of the box with technical seersucker popovers in different colors that were both preppy and modern; an updated field jacket with four pockets and hidden buttons; an assortment of packable pieces — shirts, shorts and jackets — in light, water-resistant fabrics, and a trompe l’oeil cardigan that morphed a crewneck and a cardigan.
No Theory line would be complete without some tailored clothing, and the spring offering was created from a tropical wool sourced from a mill in Italy that dates back to the 1600s, in a flowy silhouette and a super light construction.
