In response to a world that is being rocked daily by conflict, economic uncertainty, and political volatility the runways chose to present a romantic resilience to combat the chaos. Leaning into unrestrained displays of hyper-femininity; ruffles, lace, corsetry, and fluid forms that enveloped the female body were proposed as a way to fight the dark with something altogether lighter.
While it may not at first present as a statement of rebellion there was a collective effort by designers to let beauty be a show of strength. Romantic opulence was seen across the collections of Chanel, Chloé, Erdem and McQueen who layered on historical details such as lacing and wallpaper florals and contrasted it with the freedom that was afforded to women in the 1920s in the form of drop-waist and straight-cut silhouettes at Khaite and Simone Rocha.
Simone Rocha
