Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2025

Party Clothes Are Getting Weird

Party Clothes Are Getting Weird

This past fashion month brought a new take on the "going-out" look.

As Fashion Month shape-shifted and swelled beyond its bounds, I spent the past two months Zooming with designers, hearing how they're adapting to this moment in time and what their customers are asking for now. For some, the answer to both questions is loungewear, with even brands who previously wouldn’t be caught dead around an elastic waist starting their own loungewear capsules or categories. Labels from Mara Hoffman to Alejandra Alonso Rojas to the spa brand Chillhouse have recently dipped a toe into the format, with The RealReal set to launch a line of upcycled loungewear later this month.

But for the most part, what I'm hearing about is party clothes. People are craving going-out tops, dresses, and acres of sequins, even if they can't wear them out for months. No wonder Blumarine's club-happy collection went mega-viral.



Area spring 2021

Whether or not the coming months will inaugurate a new Roaring Twenties is a little uncertain, and that uncertainty was expressed in the clothes we saw for fall 2021, whether it’s the split-screen quality of many of the virtual looks on offer or the mixing of comfort and tailoring that dominated the season. But nowhere has it been clearer than in the styling, as masks and other face coverings, which have become a staple of many runway shows, are shown with party-ready looks. Admittedly, this may not be a real-world styling suggestion, but it speaks volumes about our unclear moment, and about the fact that protective gear is, at this point, so neutral that designers are using it as a canvas for their own creative flights of fancy.



Rick Owens titled his fall collection Gethsemane, after the garden that Jesus prayed in the night before his crucifixion, which he described in his show notes as "a place of uneasy repose and disquiet before a final reckoning," adding, "We’ve all been living a tense period in history waiting for a resolution, be it catastrophic or rational, in a suspense that feels almost Biblical in its drama." Like so much of his work, his show confronted a moment in time head-on rather than veering into escapism. He leaned into apocalyptic party looks like sequined bodysuits with power shoulders, all worn with masks. ("I have shown masks with these pandemic shows," Owens wrote, "not because my masks are guaranteed protection, but because they are a vote for responsibility and consideration and an acknowledgement of our immediate collective experience.") Owens set his show in what he referred to as his own "garden," Venice's Lido beach, where Visconti shot Death in Venice. The Biblical references showed up in hooded robes and in slashed pieces that referenced Bible figures' rending of garments of their garments during times of trouble-a visual shorthand for suffering and trauma.



Schiaparelli fall 2021

For Schiaparelli's Daniel Roseberry, his Dadaist inspiration came through in jewelry pieces "that are as much armor as they are embellishment." They included an innovation that would have made Elsa Schiaparelli proud-a sunglass/mask/phone case hybrid cast in gold. And at Area, Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk presented spring 2021 in see-now, buy-now fashion, turning their signature club-ready, maximalist point of view to fantastical protective gear like crystal-embellished full-face masks. They had one foot in a festive, four-on-the-floor gathering, and one firmly planted in our dystopian reality.



Christian Siriano fall 2021

Christian Siriano's show notes referenced a “psychedelic alternate reality,” one that we'd all very much like to be living in. A strong-shouldered python-print lamé gown came with a coordinating mask, as did a black lace number that nodded to the idea of cautiously stepping back into the world. For the designer, who pivoted his atelier into a nimble mask-making operation at the start of the pandemic, the pairing no doubt came as second nature.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
Nurse who raped woman continued working for a year despite police alert
Drought forces closures of England’s canal routes, canceling boat holidays
Sweet tooth scents: food-inspired perfumes surge as weight-loss drugs suppress appetites
Experts warn Britain dangerously reliant on imported food
Family of Notting Hill Carnival murder victim call event unmanageable
Bunkers, Billions and Apocalypse: The Secret Compounds of Zuckerberg and the Tech Giants
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
×