Outrageous fashion in a crazy world

Not everything is at it seems during Paris Fashion Week. In one show, a cotton and jean look is revealed to be, in fact, made of leather. One puffy fur coat in another show turned out to be made of fine strands of silk. At Loewe, the element of surprise and wonder is taken to new heights. On one breastplate over a draped dress, many wonder, are those moldings a woman’s pursed lips — or a puckered sphincter? (It is confirmed that they are, indeed, lips.)

Is that woman flashing you? It’s an iridescent T-shirt designed to look like she’s literally only wearing water. Or it’s balloon bras, with the knots upright. Or it’s a trompe-l’oeil of a naked Schiaparelli-like embrace by a pair of feline-like begloved arms, evoking touch. The female body is framed in ways that question the desire or shock that it may entice.

When the world is crazy, the arts — especially fashion — reflect that. The surrealism movement, for example, came about as the world grew anxious about the imminent second world war.

Each piece in creative director J. W. Anderson’s latest collection is ripe with surrealist potential and humor. A leather dress is molded as if eternally swayed by a breeze, the curves on its hem and cap sleeves calling to mind the poured latex works of Lynda Benglis. A minidress hem is molded in the shape of a toy racecar. Stiletto heels appear like they’re about to burst against a mesh dress any minute now. The tension is exciting. The “balloons” in some sandals look like they’ll pop with one wrong step.

Even looks that appear conventional are meant to deceive. Galoshes appear like one of the house’s famous drawstring bags. Anderson, anointed by fashion fans as the King of Cardigans, makes an oversized one that is also forever stuck in the wind. Trouser waistbands are lined with fur while one molded dress in felt appears to be made of fur, referencing Meret Oppenheim’s fur teacup.

Anderson creates visual textures and 3-D details that can be felt through a screen in leather, felt, latex, tweed, knit, 3D-printed fiber, silk and resin. The latest Loewe excites with the thrill of kink and curiosity for the surreal. They make perfect conversation pieces as we make our way back into the art fairs of the new normal, as well as thinking pieces for the way we perceive women’s bodies, now that it’s Women’s Month.

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Loewe is at Shangri-La Plaza Mall East Wing.