Raid your granny's wardrobe. Bloomers are back. The surprising resurrection of Victorian underwear as outerwear is one of the big trends of Paris Fashion Week, along with the proliferation of the girl-power business suit.
Spring summer 2025 is going to be full of flowery feminine prints and floaty blouses and skirts if the Paris runway shows that end Tuesday are anything to go by. But the retro boudoir chic comes with a hard, deeply emancipated edge. Irish designer Jonathan Anderson at Loewe won a lot of fans for his hooped steampunky flowery dresses where you could see not just the crinolines underneath, but the boxing boots too.
"We are seeing sexy and practical at the same time," Claire Thomson Jonville of fashion bible Vogue told AFP. "You see an evening dress with a parka," she added, referencing the Australian brand Zimmerman, whose flowing powder-pastel dresses were given a hard edge by almost military jackets. Another quiet revolution has been going on on the catwalks.
High heels have been giving way to a procession of flatter, more practical footwear. Dior's famously feminist designer Maria Grazia Chiuri pretty much did away with heels in her collection..
. though a few discreet kittens did escape the cull. Instead her models walked in flat, thigh-high hi-tech versions of what you would imagine ancient Amazons or Spartan warriors would wear, as well embroidered sandals with ultra-thin soles.
Sweden's Acne Studios matched its chicest business suits and skirts with imit.