Congratulations are in order for many of Xander Zhou’s models this season, as a number of them seemed to have given birth to the babies they carried at his SS19 show. 

Wearing super-cosy fleece tracksuits, the models’ newly-born offspring were held closely to their chests or carried in baby harnesses, with accessories including dummies and feeding bottles seen peeking out of their pockets at his AW19 LFWM presentation today.

As well as the new dads, there were doctor-like human engineers in neat polo tops and slim trousers and otherworldly boys in scuba-style all-in-ones with protruding fins. Others wore futuristic sportswear and sharp tailored jackets, while some appeared to have bionic limbs, wires protruding from their bodies, and embryonic goo on their faces. Not a sentence we thought we’d necessarily be writing on a Sunday afternoon, but here we are.

The show notes explained that this was phase two of Supernatural, Extraterrestrial & Co’s exploration of human evolution, and offered a glimpse of what the future might look like for our species, as AI technology develops rapidly and the idea of genetically engineered people living among us becomes less a question of if and more a question of when.

So should we be worried about what’s coming as part of phase three? According to Zhou, as long as we ‘smile and be welcoming’ to these new beings, approach them with respect, and demonstrate a desire to open a dialogue of peace and inclusivity, we should be fine. “Together is good”, he says. You heard it here first.