Fashion thrives on spectacle, but this season, designers didn’t just flirt with the absurd; they married it. From models trapped inside musical instruments to AI-powered runway stars, Fall/Winter 2025 blurred the line between fashion and performance art. Some of it was genius, some of it was pure chaos, and all of it was designed to keep people talking. Let’s break down the most surreal moments from the season’s most daring designers.
GIUSEPPE DI MORABITO
It’s not every day that a humanoid robot closes a fashion show, but Giuseppe di Morabito wasn’t interested in an ordinary runway moment. Instead, his Fall/Winter 2025 debut featured Ameca—the world’s most advanced humanoid—sharing the stage with supermodel Yasmin Wijnaldum.
Before the first human model even stepped onto the runway, Ameca “woke up” and began reading a 19th-century philosophical text on clothing. The collection itself mirrored this eerie contrast between old and new: floral corsets were frozen in cast metal, armor-like suits redefined menswear, and crinoline was repurposed as outerwear. The show’s grand finale? Wijnaldum and Ameca facing each other, the robot mimicking the model’s movements. A statement on technology’s role in fashion or a preview of our dystopian future? Either way, it was impossible to look away.
HODAKOVA
Ellen Hodakova Larsson took deconstruction to another level this season. If last year’s LVMH Prize win put her on the industry’s radar, this collection made sure no one would forget her name. Pants were not pants anymore—they were gowns, skirts, and even military-style jackets. A snare drum became a skirt, a violin was perched on a model’s head like a fascinator, and, in the ultimate commitment to musical fashion, one model walked the runway fully encased in a cello. It was bold, surreal, and at times, impractical, but unforgettable, nevertheless.
DURAN LANTINK
Duran Lantink has never been one for subtlety, but this season, he fully embraced the outrageous. The runway was setinside an office space, where employees stamped papers while singing opera. The clothes? A riot of clashing prints, exaggerated silhouettes, and—because why not?—of course, prosthetic body parts. The show opened with a second-skin top molded to look like a chiseled male torso. Elsewhere, hunter hats and camo prints met inflated-looking dresses, and Lantink’s signature proportion play hit new heights (and widths). It was provocative, hilarious, and slightly absurd, but that was precisely the point. Lantink isn’t afraid to embrace kitsch, and this season, he proved that bad taste can be brilliant when done with the right amount of confidence.
ZOMER
Leave it to Dutch label Zomer to open its show with a fake finale—because why start at the beginning when you can start at the end? That was our cue: nothing in this show was going to follow convention. From that moment on, it was clear that logic, structure, and even the basic rules of getting dressed were all up for debate.
Clothing was worn backward. Models strutted in lampshade-style veils, their faces obscured as if stepping out of an Alice in Wonderland fever dream. “Bags” without the bags were essentially just handles, deliberately misshapen with tiny fringes dangling from their edges like some kind of surrealist joke. And despite being a Fall/Winter collection, the palette screamed summer, with bold greens, purples, and yellows bringing a burst of sunshine to Paris Fashion Week. It was weird, whimsical, and completely unserious—in the best way possible.
NOIR KEI NINOMIYA
Noir Kei Ninomiya celebrated its tenth runway anniversary with a collection that looked like it had emerged from the depths of an alien ocean. The show opened in darkness, illuminated only by eerie blue light. Models glided down the runway in glowing bioluminescent sculptures, their intricate resin tendrils reflecting the light like crystallized sea creatures. As the lights brightened, the garments shifted from ethereal to ominous: oversized ponchos and dresses made of clustered orbs resembled sea urchins, and sculptural 3D-printed headpieces twisted like windswept wigs.
ANREALAGE
Kunihiko Morinaga has never been interested in simply designing clothes; he’s crafting the future. Anrealage’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection, ‘The Screen,’ turned the runway into a digital dreamscape, exploring the intersection of technology and creativity.
The show opened with 12 pixelated, printed ensembles that resembled glitched-out computer screens. Then, things got truly surreal. The next wave of garments—each made of one million pinpoint-sized LEDs—changed colors and patterns in real time, reacting to the wearer’s mood. According to the brand, these “SCREEN” garments can display an endless library of digital designs rendered in ultra-saturated RGB colors that are impossible to replicate with traditional printing methods. It was a mind-bending blend of physical and virtual fashion, blurring the boundaries of what clothing can be.
CHRISTIAN COWAN
Christian Cowan has always been about camp, glam, and excess, but his Fall/Winter 2025 collection was also deeply personal. Staged at The Glasshouse in New York City with the skyline as a dramatic backdrop, the collection paid tribute to his late muse, Abbie—a fearless fashion lover whose influence was stitched into every look.
Cowan’s signature sense of play was on full display, taking childhood dress-up fantasies and turning them into reality. High heels weren’t just for feet anymore—they were integrated into gowns, party dresses, and even office-ready suits, thanks to a second-time collaboration with DSW. Meanwhile, an unexpected texture stole the show: clothing that looked like chewed gum. First seen on Julia Fox, this sticky, draped silicone effect gave garments an oddly satisfying, sculptural quality, referencing Abbie’s playful spirit.
MOSCHINO
Leading up to the show, Moschino teased its collection with clips of models doing the most mundane things—taking out the trash, sewing on exaggerated stitches—setting the stage for a collection that embraced chaos with couture precision. On the runway, accessories took a turn for the hyper-realistic. A clutch shaped like a bundle of spaghetti? Check. A handbag disguised as a Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie packet? Naturally. There was even a brooch alternative: a literal Polaroid of a jeweled brooch pinned to the chest, in case you misplaced the real one.
Then there was the trash couture. Gowns, bustiers, and satchels made of glossy garbage bag material walked down the runway, a tongue-in-cheek nod to both fashion waste and Moschino’s commitment to camp.
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