Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

Beautiful Chaos Reigns on the Runways

Beautiful Chaos Reigns on the Runways

Fashion Month continues to reflect our fractured times.

If your life feels like a never-ending parade of concentric Zoom windows, FaceTime squares, and a thousand open tabs, the fall 2021 collections suggest you’re not alone. Perhaps inspired by our ragtag lockdown uniforms of corporate casual on top, sweatpants party on the bottom, designers in London and Milan went for unusual combinations that transcended the typical styling tricks to reflect our fractured, fragmented reality. Along the way, they ended up tapping into the strange, in-between mood of the present, where lockdowns alternate with abrupt re-openings and we wait for our vaccine shots but worry about the variants, constantly whipsawing between hesitation and hope.



At Marni, where “Franken-jackets” (to use Mary H.K. Choi’s genius coinage) popped up for spring, designer Francesco Risso extended the metaphor this season, gleefully trotting out pants with mismatched legs and a leather coat with different-colored quadrants. He paired some looks with comically oversized handbags, a joke of scale, and even turned some pieces into mixed-media collages of found objects, a collaboration with the jeweler Tom Binns. Tactile and soft, the show felt like a nod to the magic of in-person experiences. Right now, "romanticism feels more powerful than any form of protest," Risso reflected in his show notes, "a way to delve into reality with another gaze and another touch, finding another meaning to the everyday. It also felt like a response to the growing pressure for clothes to "pop" onscreen, in our digital-only landscape-these looks felt linked to the physical world, which only made them more desirable.



Meanwhile, in London, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena of Chopova Lowena opted for mesh tops and leggings made from dead stock material, and looks that incorporated equestrian uniforms mashed up with school uniforms, for the horse girl who’s studying for the SATs in her spare time. A standout motif was the split-personality dresses, kilts, and blouses in contrasting prints.



And up-and-coming label HRH, known for its gigantic scrunchies, showed as a part of the Fashion East presentation, which spotlights the city's up-and-coming designers. The designer, who goes by Hannah HRH, drew from her past life as a gymnast, finding herself inspired by the interstitial lives of athletes (which aren't that different from an existence spent perpetually idling in a Zoom lobby.) “The moments when teams aren’t on ice, or on the court, but are all boarding the plane together or waiting along the sidelines for results," influenced her, as she said in her show notes. The symphonies of sweatpants and mega-scrunchies and puffy scarves, equal parts workaday and showy, were intended to channel the feeling of triumph "when you watch Simone Biles win gold, or when you see Surya Bonaly spiral across the ice in her glistening lamé.”



Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen forwent the mood board this season, choosing instead to focus on fabrics. She gestured at the chaotic aeshetic of pandemic dressing, turning out all-in-one pieces that removed the need for layering and felt like they contained multitudes, like this sweater and off-the-shoulder dress combo, worn with leg warmers.



And Erin Beatty of Rentrayage has made slicing and dicing upcycled finds into a brand signature, but she went further this season and came up with "Zoom collars" meant to zhush up the sweatshirts we're trying to pass off as office wear. These days, she admitted in her show notes, “fashion continues to feel a touch irrelevant...Where getting dressed felt once a pleasure, a daily sense of opportunity in expression, right now it is hardly a note on the day. We are in an age of such seeming dysfunction, that the functionality of our clothing becomes top priority. One of the few things we can control in a day. One of the few places where we can find literal comfort." For her, pieces that were "a bit strange and perfectly off," including this sweatsuit bisected by cottagecore florals, felt the most suited to our time.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
×