1. Shopping Bags
Kate Lanphear, women’s style director: We’d seen Bottega Veneta models carrying shopping bags in recent seasons, leather versions made to look like paper bags. Karl Lagerfeld did similar trompe l’oeil bags at Chanel, too. But this season, there were actual paper shopping bags or, as was the case at Balenciaga and Moschino, plastic ones on the runways.
Nick Haramis, editor at large: Sunnei just opened a new store in Milan, and when you left the runway show, you exited through the shop, which was quite clever. The models also carried Sunnei-branded paper shopping bags.
K.L.: At Moschino, there was a dress made out of trash bags, and another model carried them, which seemed like commentary on consumerism, whereas at Sunnei, the bags felt more like a suggestion to buy.
2. Constricted Hands
K.L.: At Luar and Weinsanto, the models’ arms were constricted by garments into contorted positions.
N.H.: Almost like if you were doing the “Thriller” dance but not moving.
Angela Koh, market editor: At Luar, Raul Lopez’s inspiration was growing up as a closeted gay kid, and thinking about hand gestures as an implication of homosexuality.
K.L.: There were also a lot of women walking down the runway with their arms crossed. That felt very protective.
3. Backward Clothes
Patrick Li, creative director: Several collections reflected this topsy-turvy cultural moment. At Sarah Burton’s fantastic Givenchy debut, there were a couple of meticulously crafted suits that were designed to be worn backward, and Issey Miyake and Hodakova showed some bottoms as tops.
K.L.: At Zomer, clothes were intentionally constructed to be worn backward, jeans with their back pockets in the front. The show even ran backward, starting with a soundtrack of applause. The word that came to mind was “rewind,” or turning back the clock and doing things over.
4. Household Objects
K.L.: At Zomer, there was a lampshade hat and a carpet maxi skirt. At Givenchy, a minidress was covered in mirrored beauty compacts. And at Hodakova, a violin was worn as a hat and a snare drum served as a skirt.
P.L.: We also saw a watchband dress at Marine Serre.
N.H.: At Noir Kei Ninomiya, for the designer’s final look, he turned a garment into essentially a baby mobile that covered the entire body and chimed as the model walked down the runway.
K.L.: I kept thinking about austerity — the idea of using what you have, like the scene in “The Sound of Music” where Maria makes play clothes out of the drapes.
5. Hair Everywhere
Jameson Montgomery, fashion assistant: We saw hair in various forms, and I think it meant different things at different places. Junya Watanabe cited Cubism as a reference and it made me think of how in a Picasso portrait a body part sometimes appears in a surprising place and here, in several looks, the hair became the garment. At first it looked like shearling; then I realized it was wigs, which was unsettling.
At Dilara Findikoglu, there was one look where hair was spiraling around the model’s body. For her, it was a rebellious feminine thing.
A.K.: There’s something very primitive about it, using your own hair to cover yourself. It’s witchy.
6. Grown-Up Goth
N.H.: The duo behind Matières Fécales (Fecal Matter), Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran, are the unofficial protégés of Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy. They designed clothes that are quite goth but also, like Rick’s clothes, really precise and elevated. The tailoring was beautiful.
K.L.: And the models wore Scandinavian death metal makeup. It wasn’t like Hot Topic —
N.H.: It was Haute Topic.
K.L.: Exactly. And we were all excited for Haider Ackermann’s debut at Tom Ford. The opening look was a vampy lip, slicked-back hair and a leather jacket and pant, but it felt so grown-up and sophisticated. There was a very witchy vibe to the entire season and I keep wondering if this is a type of protest. The witch archetype is particularly political: Throughout history, any woman in her power has been persecuted.
7. Light-Up Garments
N.H.: At the Japanese brand Anrealage’s show, models came out in dresses that looked almost like skyscrapers, and partway through the show, the garments became illuminated by LEDs. The venue was a church, so it felt really beatific. At Sunnei, there was a garment with LEDs spelling “You Are Listening to Radio Sunnei.”
K.L.: We’re in the middle of a technology boom, and these LED clothes felt more relevant than past iterations. Anrealage’s lights created plaid patterns — might we soon be able to buy pieces that change prints depending on our mood or what our Neuralinks say? Maybe.
8. Angel Wings
K.L.: There were full angel wings on the runway at several shows, including Matières Fécales. They felt like expressions of hope.
N.H.: At Undercover, two models came out wearing wings, one dressed in black and one in white. There was an interplay between those two opposites. I don’t know if that’s the Elphaba and Glinda effect.
J.M.: At Di Petsa, there were angel wings but also swords, so I got a holy war theme from that.
P.L.: But the trend generally feels less Wim Wenders and more tied to protection — guardian angels.
9. Prosthetic Body Parts
N.H.: The Duran Lantink show opened with a female model who was wearing a silicone six-pack and it closed with a male model in a breastplate.
K.L.: He winked at Nick.
N.H.: The most striking example of the prosthetics trend for me was the trompe l’oeil effect the designer Glenn Martens created at Diesel. One model wore a rubber garment that resembled not only a cable-knit sweater but also the wearer’s chest underneath it. It was sort of grotesque but also weirdly beautiful.
K.L.: It’s a surrealist moment. Don’t we all wonder right now what’s real and what’s fake?
N.H.: I also wonder if these representations of the body as clothing are a comment on how much all kinds of bodies are being policed at the moment.
10. Giant Lashes
K.L.: The ones at Vaquera and Marni were so big and fluffy.
A.K.: At Thom Browne, the models wore colorful lashes that looked like bird feathers. It was a bit more whimsical, more costume-y.
J.M.: Both Vaquera and Marni felt a little mod to me. There’s been a ’60s undercurrent. Penelope Tree, one of the most popular models of that decade, even walked in a couple shows this season.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
