Paris Fashion Week has always been a playground for the bold, the avant-garde, and the utterly unexpected. But this season? It wasn’t just a spectacle—it was a full-fledged altered reality. From wearable digital screens to hyperrealistic nudity, designers challenged the very concept of fashion, bending perceptions and blurring the line between clothing, technology, and art.
Some collections sparked wonder. Others stirred controversy. But one thing’s for certain: no one left the shows feeling indifferent. These were the most shocking, surreal, and conversation-sparking moments from Paris Fashion Week.
Anrealage: The Future is a Wearable Screen
Anrealage didn’t just present a collection; it unveiled a vision of the future—one where clothing isn’t just worn but experienced. Models walked out cloaked in imposing black silhouettes, their presence more like shadowy monoliths than people. And then—transformation. The dark voids peeled away to reveal garments that functioned as living, breathing digital canvases.
Using LED-LCD technology developed in collaboration with MPLUSPLUS, the brand created textiles that could display changing images—foldable, drapable and sewable screens that redefined what fabric could be. Models became walking billboards, evoking the neon glow of Tokyo’s Shibuya and New York’s Times Square, their clothes shifting designs in real-time.
But the concept went beyond spectacle. Anrealage envisioned a world where fashion is fluid—where you can exchange designs digitally rather than physically, giving individuals the power to alter their clothing’s appearance on demand. Fashion as a wearable, ever-changing identity? The future has never looked so surreal.
Junya Watanabe: When Cubism Walks the Runway
Junya Watanabe isn’t one to follow the rules of conventional tailoring, and this season, she shattered them completely. The designer presented a collection built from exaggerated geometric forms, turning garments into architectural masterpieces.
Think sharp angles, sculptural layering, and distorted body proportions, all from a cubist perspective. Some pieces swirled around the models like shifting optical illusions, making it impossible to determine where the fabric ended and space began.
Watanabe didn’t just design a collection—he constructed a world where the body itself was a puzzle, refracted through a hyper-stylized lens.
Noir Kei Ninomiya: A Fantasy You Can’t Quite Grasp
Kei Ninomiya didn’t create a collection—he crafted a dreamscape so strange, it felt like stepping into a surrealist painting. The models looked less like humans and more like illustrated characters come to life, swathed in plush bows, cascading tulle, and bioluminescent textures that seemed to glow in the dark.
The garments blurred the line between fashion and hallucination, their materials resembling everything from marshmallows to sea creatures to childhood toys. Some looked weightless, hovering on the brink of reality, while others seemed to consume the wearer entirely, swallowing the body in layers of enigmatic textiles.
It wasn’t just a collection—it was an emotion, an atmosphere, a feeling that couldn’t quite be named. And maybe that’s what made it so compelling.
“Fashion isn’t just about wearing clothes—it’s about questioning reality.”
Duran Lantink: The Human Body as Fashion’s Ultimate Canvas
Duran Lantink is no stranger to controversy, but this season, he took things to an entirely new level of discomfort. His collection wasn’t just inspired by the human form—it became it.
Models strutted down the runway in garments that mimicked naked male and female torsos, sculpted from hyperrealistic silicone. In a gender-flipping twist, women wore the male versions and vice versa. The illusion was jarring—skin where fabric should be, texture where clothing usually conceals.
Paired with minimal makeup and relaxed trousers, the pieces felt unsettling in their simplicity. And as expected, the internet had strong opinions. Some hailed it as a bold critique of body politics, while others dismissed it as shock value for the sake of controversy. One thing is certain—Lantink knew exactly what he was doing.
Zomer: When Clothes Play Mind Games
Zomer’s collection was a masterclass in surrealist fashion—clothing that played with perception and disrupted the very idea of identity.
One of the most bizarre yet compelling elements? Garments are worn entirely backward, with buttons, lapels, and fastenings positioned at the back rather than the front. The effect was uncanny, making it look as though the models were somehow facing the wrong way. It was disorienting, almost like a moving optical illusion, challenging the way we expect clothes—and bodies—to move.
And then there was the lamp moment—a model walked the runway wearing an abat-jour (lampshade) on her head, resembling an avant-garde piece of home décor reimagined as high fashion. It was absurd. It was brilliant. It was pure Zomer.
Undercover: Rebellion Wrapped in Whimsy
Jun Takahashi’s latest Undercover collection blurred the line between raw rebellion and poetic fantasy. Inspired by Anne-Valérie Dupond’s plush sculptures and Patti Smith’s untamed spirit, classic silhouettes were disrupted with asymmetry, unexpected buttons, and unconventional paneling. The real standouts? Heels sculpted into owls and crows, outerwear adorned with feathers and wings, and oversized puffers—one even resembling a giant stuffed bear. Undercover once again proved that fashion is at its best when it breaks the rules.
Coperni: Gaming and High Fashion Collide
Coperni has always been one step ahead of the curve, but this time, they merged fashion with gaming culture in a way no one saw coming.
Rather than just a traditional runway show, Coperni invited over 200 gamers to live-stream their gameplay during the presentation. Fortnite battles, virtual city explorations, competitive matches—all happening in real-time, projected across screens as models walked past.
It was fashion meets esports, couture meets Twitch culture—a groundbreaking moment that blurred the digital and physical worlds. In an era where the Metaverse is looming, Coperni raised an important question: Is the future of fashion shows interactive?
Paris Fashion Week, Where Reality Shifts and Fashion Redefines Itself
Paris Fashion Week has always been a place where designers push boundaries, but this season felt different. It wasn’t just about bold statements—it was about new realities.
From wearable screens to optical illusions, from hyperreal nudity to gaming culture woven into couture, these collections proved that fashion is no longer just about clothing. It’s about experience, transformation, and challenging perception itself.
Love it or hate it, one thing’s for sure—this season left us speechless.
