Are some shows at Fashion Week a big joke?

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Paris Fashion Week has just ended, and with it the shows, some of which seem disjointed both literally and figuratively. For example, we saw a sort of standing table, a few gift packages, a cottony purple candlestick wandering around… Deciphering this vast hoax.

As usual, Paris Fashion Week, which ended on October 1, kept all its promises. And as is very often the case, the general public, those who look down on fashionistas and say “poor beings” (and vice versa, because yes, there are bad people in fashion, I swear, I’ve tried it) , raised an eyebrow.

A sweet mix of contempt, incomprehension and ignorance when seeing images of fashion shows passing by on social networks, wondering “but aren’t they making fun of us, the fashions?”

“Who wears this?”

The general public is sometimes doubtful about certain looks presented in Paris, Milan, London, Copenhagen, New York… Humans who wonder why models were asked to parade who seem to have taken their feet in the curtain and to whom we said “it’s magnificent, SO FASHION, go for it like that”.

These humans met in the comments under an Instagram post from Vogue. A post with images from the spring/summer 2025 fashion show by the Japanese brand Comme des Garçons, which took place a few days ago at Paris Fashion Week.

Certain pieces presented during Fashion Weeks are then worn on the red carpet later in the year by stars, like at the Oscars, the Grammy Awards or even at the Annecy Animated Film Festival (the people don’t all have the same aura and that’s okay, kindness and respect here, thank you).

But these are most often the outfits a little fancy (and more classic, let’s say) than we saw on the red carpet; a little less the “chandeliesque” pieces of Comme des Garçons, it must be admitted… And there are several explanations for this.

Art, yes, but also policy

For Geneva journalist Melissa N’Dila, who dissects fashion at elle.ch and has just returned from Paris Fashion Week, certain pieces are above all works of art. The specialist also emphasizes that their particularly expensive price means that they are often intended for an elite, such as celebrities or very wealthy fashion enthusiasts.

So what are these importable creations for? “Fashion is above all an art. At Fashion Week, there’s more than just “wearable” clothing. It’s an opportunity to contemplate artistic performances where the ideas of the creators are transcended,” continues Melissa N’Dila.

An observation which, precisely, is in line with the explanation given by the stylist Rei Kawakubo, who designed the Comme des Garçons pieces. The one who is also the creator of the brand spoke in the Japanese edition of Vogue about it:

Still according to the stylist, this collection pays homage to hope, while the previous one was inspired by anger.

And just by comparing a piece from the old collection with another from the new one, for example to one reminiscent of a cottony purple candlestick, we actually understand what Rei Kawakubo means.

“Importables” that influence trends

All right. Art, politics, performances… But in the end, is there really a connection with fashion and trends when we look at objectively wearable pieces, like those by Rei Kawakubo ? For the fashion journalist, there is no doubt.

Words that Melissa N’Dila supports with a concrete example. “Layering for example (i.e. the act of superimposing lots of clothing in an outfit) – which is very trendy in recent seasons – originally comes from subversive Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons or Yohji Yamamoto, who had propelled the movement in an exaggerated way on the podium.

And the fashion journalist recalls that “the street then took up this layering trend in a more nuanced way”.

So of course, to answer the many Internet users who ask themselves on Instagram, “but who can wear that?”, the answer is “no one in real life”, or almost. But as the journalist at elle.ch points out, that is not the aim of these pieces. Not all fashion week outfits are meant to be worn every day or on a red carpet. Some are clothes in the literal sense of the term, others are part of an ephemeral performance which says something, according to the designer’s view, about the world in which we live.

In other words: don’t be afraid, no one will force you to dress like a high table that escaped from an aperitif-dinner to go to the office, or like a cottony purple candlestick to go to dinner at your mother-in-law’s on Sunday. From there to say that you will never succumb to a trend inspired by certain lines, shapes, colors or textures of Rei Kawakubo, and this, without even realizing it while admiring the look of a person in the street or that of ‘a mannequin in the window of a Zara…

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