Designer Natasha Zinko explored themes of surveillance and performance in her Spring 2027 collection, staged in a brutalist theater setting.

Natasha Zinko debuted her Spring 2027 collection, titled 'Pay Per View,' in an underground brutalist theater in London. The show featured a diverse cast of performers, musicians, and models positioned in individual windows arranged in the round. Inspired by the concept of the panopticon, the presentation examined how modern social media and live-streaming influence self-regulation and behavior under the constant gaze of an audience.

The Concept of Performance

Zinko drew inspiration from Michel Foucault’s writings on Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, a prison structure where inmates regulate their behavior because they cannot determine when they are being watched. The designer applied this to modern society, noting that social media forces individuals to act as if they are constantly under observation. The show’s layout required the audience to turn their attention toward individual, illuminated windows where performers were stationed.

Cast and Garments

The cast included figures such as Kelly Osbourne, Faris Badwan, and Katie Price, each of whom brought a personal prop to the performance. The garments featured distorted archetypes, blending elements of fetishwear, club gear, and theater costumes. Notable looks included a tenor in a sheer pink latex jacket and rubber gloves, and a sailor wearing a striped, backless halter crop top with a low-slung skirt. Zinko’s designs intentionally avoided clear categorization, oscillating between various aesthetic identities.