At every Fashion Week, audiences are left gobsmacked by the absurdity of runway fashion. Rarely practical, the designs and construction of pieces modelled by fashion houses are often questionable.  

This year’s Paris Fashion Week (PFW) was no exception, where its own name was challenged by spanning over the course of nine hectic days. Who could blame them though? When you’re holding a total of 106 events with 64 of them being fashion shows, it’s inevitable that it’s going to be a struggle to fit so many designers into only seven days.  

Paris successfully delivered fuel for headlines as audiences witnessed the diverse extremes of fashion. There were major standouts included a cute little gremlin stuffed toy used as a fashion accessory by Gucci, and a Balenciaga scarf inspired by an umbilical cord. Though they do sound pretty absurd, it’s undeniable that condom gloves, plants for clothes and a spray on dress takes the cake for this year’s PFW highlights.  

Opening the second day of a quirk filled week was Botter who took their opportunity to make themselves known (let’s be real guys, have any of us actually heard of them?) by including an unusual ‘fashion’ accessory worn by their models. Botter had their models wearing condom gloves filled with blue coloured water.  

Classy, I know.  

Being classified as an aquatic wear brand, Botter wanted to bring water on the runway, and they found their solution, don’t let the plastic be deceiving. The aim was to raise awareness about plastic pollution in oceans along with how warming water temperatures endanger species and environments. Botter is a Caribbean inspired fashion label who use recycled plastics and kelp (AKA: algae) in their collections, so don’t worry they’re raising awareness for environmental sustainability.  

Well done, Botter, I can’t wait to see my TikTok FYP filled with people wearing the fashion accessory over the coming months… not.  

Loewe (which is apparently pronounced “Lowve”) took their opportunity to turn heads by dressing their models in anthurium leaves.  

I’m not even kidding.  

 Like, a leaf for a shirt.  

 Being quite different to Botter, the leaves were used to symbolise sensuality. The runway had the leaf as a statement centrepiece, where the models could be seen wearing deflated balloons in shoes, exaggerated waistlines on dresses and even pixelated jumpers (the models looked like they jumped straight out of Pacman). The leaf was used on a fair number of pieces including dresses, body suits, shoes, bags, and is said to have inspired the construction of what had the potential to be half normal clothes. 

 Despite the questionable wearability of the designs, Loewe seemed to think the pieces weren’t awkward at all and made every piece a part of their ‘ready to wear’ collection.  

 Don’t be surprised if you see someone looking like they’ve just escaped a tropical garden at your next formal function! 

Coperni has clearly taken some inspiration from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, remodelling Flint Lockwood’s spray-on shoes with a spray-on dress, modelled by none other than Bella Hadid (although it is hard to beat Flint’s iconic, sparkly shoes).  

Entering the runway, Bella was ‘dressed’ by three men to close the fashion show. With the help of a scientist, Coperni was able to showcase a dress made from a patented spray-on material called Fabricant, which hardens to a wearable textile. A female artist then went on to perfect the look by tidying it up with her bare hands and adding features with a pair of scissors.  

 It’s no secret that the audience was awestruck when Bella exited in a full dress, fitting her like a glove and exceeding durability expectations as she modelled it on the runway.  

Unfortunately, unlike Loewe, Coperni did not include the dress in their ‘ready to wear’ collection (which is a real shame because out of everything that’s been talked about, a spray-on dress shockingly looks the most wearable).   

 Over nine hectic days, Paris Fashion Week gave audiences something to talk about, fuelling the success of the event. With controversial gloves, a garden for clothes and a whiteout dress all going viral on social media platforms, the hype around fashion week increased as people question the wearability of some designs. 

 In summary, I think most fashion houses shoot way beyond the boundaries of fashion laws as a marketing strategy to gain traction.  

  And hey, no shade at all.  

 It worked.