{"id":111,"date":"2026-10-29T20:21:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:21:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/?p=111"},"modified":"2026-10-29T20:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:21:56","slug":"boss-reboots-womenswear-from-sizing-to-silhouette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/?p=111","title":{"rendered":"Boss Reboots Womenswear From Sizing to Silhouette"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tPARIS \u2014 <\/strong>\u201cTailoring is so much more than a suit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo said Kerstin Dorst, who joined Hugo Boss as senior vice president of the womenswear business unit in January and is resetting the category starting with its fall 2027 offering.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a long-overdue move, given that the Boss brand had \u201clost the creativity of what we can do with a wardrobe, and that\u2019s obviously what the consumer wants and needs,\u201d she told WWD in an interview at the brand\u2019s Paris headquarters.<\/p>\n

\n\tPotential is there, given womenswear accounts for around 10 percent of the business \u2014 steady but without a breakthrough, according to the company.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the opportunity Dorst intends to tap with a lineup rife with handsome jackets and coats, but also came with smartly cut dresses, knitwear and plenty of interesting details that prevented the ensemble from feeling buttoned-up.<\/p>\n

\n\tRather than a target share of sales, the ambition is to reinstall the brand in the minds of women, as part of the \u201cbetter before bigger\u201d leitmotiv of the Claim 5 Touchdown turnaround strategy unveiled in December by the German company, which has since come under control of British conglomerate Frasers Group on Oct. 23.<\/p>\n

\n\tDorst\u2019s arrival came as part of a new organizational structure, described by the company as \u201cdesigned to ensure gender-specific expertise across all brand and product areas, unlock synergies, and drive efficiency and collaboration\u201d between the Boss and Hugo brands. She oversees the creative direction for womenswear collections, working closely with Hugo Boss creative director Marco Falcioni.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kerstin<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tKerstin Dorst<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Hugo Boss<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tResetting Boss\u2019 womenswear was an overhaul done from the ground up. \u201cWe\u2019re not just relaunching the design part; we really reshaped and reconstructed the product from sizing to fit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe brand now follows the French scale and goes from 30 to 50, and product development took a classic and hands-on approach based on draping to assess how clothes sit and move on the body. \u201cSometimes you need to feel the fabric,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving at once deep expertise in patternmaking, which she deemed a \u201cdying art\u201d and its own factories on its campus in Germany had Dorst convinced of the huge potential at hand. \u201cWe have all that playing field; we just need the vision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the board asked Dorst what hers is, she said she wanted to \u201ccreate a more feminine collection,\u201d she recalled. \u201cWe need to dress women that you actually want to date or you want to be married to \u2014 it\u2019s as simple as that \u2014 because I don\u2019t think you would want to be a woman or date a woman who isn\u2019t fully herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a track record that included over a decade at Tory Burch in New York where she played a key role in the brand\u2019s main collection and sportswear, and more than five years at Adidas contributing to the launch of its Slvr premium sportswear line, Dorst\u2019s women\u2019s-only background and international perspective also made her a fit.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Boss womenswear, she follows the idea that women of today lead multifaceted lives, and \u201cdon\u2019t have too much time to figure out what to wear,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to love the pieces we wear, and we want to have a wardrobe that kind of evolves with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCue an approach where designs need to be wearable, easy and \u201csomething that everybody just puts on and feels super confident in [through] the whole day,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was put into practice in the fall 2027 collection that spans around 200 styles, all \u201cfeminine tailoring, from beautifully cut dresses and blazers to coats, complemented by knitwear, blouses and sophisticated layering pieces,\u201d as Dorst summed up the lineup.<\/p>\n

\n\tPrices have been kept at \u201ccore foundation price points while extending the upper range selectively,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have simplified the collection and created a much sharper core, representing around 20 percent [of the collection],\u201d she said. \u201cBut core doesn\u2019t mean basic. We have rethought those products entirely, with much greater attention to silhouette, fit, fabrication and detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"BOSS<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>

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\t\t\t\t\tA one-shoulder dress from the Boss fall 2027 collection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Boss<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThese included a roomy jacket zhuzhed up with tone-on-tone thread embroidery; skirts constructed from long raw-edged panels that created a trompe-l\u2019\u0153il pleating effect; and a poplin shirt that had a sequin-embellished silk collar, which turned out to be a removable element. Dorst said she wanted to play with such details without making a garment difficult to wear or care for.<\/p>\n

\n\tCreating easy-to-style combinations also went through the color palette, owing to Dorst\u2019s belief that texture and tone are an inseparable pair. \u201cThe moment you just go with Pantones and put knitwear, leather and everything in the same color, [it] normally never works,\u201d she said. \u201c[Color] lives through the fabric, not the other way around.\u201d Workhorse blues, burgundies, whites and neutrals come paired with luminous reds, delicate yellows, nubbly marled wools and spot-on denim washes.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne idea she was quick to nip in the bud was the notion that womenswear with roots in men\u2019s tailoring would be all about smaller or merely adjusted versions of male styles.<\/p>\n

\n\tHer constructions are rife with hourglass seams that make coats conform to, rather than constrict, the body\u2019s curves, or panels under the arm to enhance range of movement. No-brainer options included handsome denims with a curving leg and neo-suiting playing on mixing rather than matching sets.<\/p>\n

\n\tLikewise, bags are about the practical needs of a customer who might carry a tote for a computer during the day and keep a clutch inside for evening. Clothes and accessories should make it easier to move between different moments of the day, she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tPlus, items such as cummerbunds nod to the brand\u2019s menswear heritage but with a \u201cmodern female interpretation,\u201d Dorst said, holding an embellished one against mid-wash jeans. \u201cAll of a sudden we [realized] it\u2019s kind of cool with denim, so it\u2019s taking things we did back in the day and giving [them] a different life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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PARIS \u2014 \u201cTailoring is so much more than a suit.\u201d So said Kerstin Dorst, who joined Hugo Boss as senior vice president of the womenswear business unit in January and is resetting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wom.beauty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}