A model carried a yoga mat at Cottweiler’s techy spiritual retreat show

Of all the things we didn’t expect to see at LFWM, models carrying yoga mats and LCD screens were probably fairly high up there. Enter: Cottweiler.

For SS19, the brand had something slightly more sedate than last season’s cave excursion in mind, as models (and the audience) were invited to check-in to the brand’s spiritual wellbeing and relaxation spa – part of ‘a new golden age of personal renewal’, according to the show notes.

As guests took their places on low cushioned benches, it all felt a bit like being transported to Goan retreat circa 1996, or maybe one knowingly reconstructed inside a modern art museum. Models took to the runway gleaming with sweat (cosmic concentration or just out of the sauna?), before assembling around a radar centrepiece – as chants, chilled out 90s tracks, and relaxing water sounds played throughout.

As well as the yoga mat, one boy sported fire cupping marks on his back, while others wore massage beads over a series of tactile, lightweight tracksuits and sportswear-inspired looks presented in soothing (obvs) tones and gradients.

With printed shirts bearing graphics not dissimilar to those of a Windows 95 screensaver, plus the waiting-room-meets-meditation-centre vibes, it was if the designers had amassed their knowledge of spirituality via digital art scraped from Tumblr. And let’s face it – as a generation brought up on the internet with no idea how to disconnect, it brought with it some pretty welcome zen.