A straitjacket made from a soft play set. Fingerless gloves with disembodied doll heads. A naked woman lounging at the feet of a 10 foot child. No, these aren’t the components of some bizarre, modernist art piece, but the recent fashion on display in the streets of Paris. Though, in the past, we’ve seen its citizens ponder their own existence, or lean heavily into the current tooth cap trend, this time around things got seriously surreal, with a day in the city feeling like some sort of freakish fever dream.
A giant panda head swung from one woman’s shoulder, which was actually a huge plushie messenger bag, while another passerby went incognito in Kurt Cobain shades and a leafy green camouflage hat. Close by, a couple of Walter Van Beirendonck stans came covered in the Belgian designer’s cartoonish gear, while another pair in matching motorcycle fits were pretending to ride some static step ladders for some reason. It seems that, in fashion, when the boundaries of acceptability have already been pushed to the Nth degree, there’s nothing left to do but lean into the weird and secure that coveted street style shot.
Elsewhere in the city, Rick Owens also appeared, not just in the imposing, arachnoid silhouettes of his collections, but as a disembodied head floating on the back of someone’s hand. Other tattoos also helped to ring in the bizarre, with a keyboard-made cat spotted on the abdomen of one person, and another arm that just said “You can but you can’t” (whatever that means). Causing the most dissonance from reality, however, were the various trompe l’oeil prints, a collection of double-take garms that trick the eye with their imagined truth. One woman roamed the streets in a head scarf painted with their own pigtails, another man looked to be in a purple bikini thanks to the trick of his tee, and a see-through bag brazenly displaying its contents actually had credit cards and cigarettes embroidered on its side. During fashion week, Paris transforms into a weird and vibrant place, and it’s the city’s youth who are leading the charge.
Scroll through the gallery above for all the vibrant and surreal fashion.