At some point in the distant future, it will be difficult to identify the precise moment when we began to even contemplate the prospect of a post-pandemic life. But the Spring ’22 runways may offer a clue. Offering a bold, new wave of body consciousness, the shows were a radical departure from the oversized layers that have dominated the high-fashion conversation in the decade since Phoebe Philo’s Céline made it cool to be covered up.
There were bras everywhere: dainty triangle ones at Fendi worn under tailored blazers and cropped bombers, sporty ones at Christian Dior paired with silk boxing shorts, and boob tape as tops at Vaquera and Missoni. For Miuccia Prada, bras seemed to be an idée fixe; she paired push-ups with low-riding skirts at Miu Miu and inserted underwires into colourful knit tops for her Prada collection, co-created with Raf Simons. And then there was just So. Much. Skin… At Chanel, a bouclé miniskirt barely concealed a matching bikini bottom; Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing marked his 10 anniversary at the French House by sending out an array of hybrid garments that melded sharp-shouldered tailoring with bra cups and thong straps; Loewe offered funny little windows on the knees—a referendum on what makes a body part a so-called erogenous zone; and New York- and L.A.-based duo Eckhaus Latta produced a range of transformable garments, like a T-shirt that unsnaps around the waist to create a corset or a crop top and a jumpsuit with removable thigh panels. “It could be really conservative or really slutty depending on your mood,” jokes co-designer Mike Eckhaus.