Best Set Design Fall 2022 Women's Fashion Shows

Occupying a space between and uniting elements from the artistic disciplines of theater, architecture, sculpture, and more, the staging of a runway show has a powerful impact on the feeling of the presentation as a whole. It’s the first thing an audience member sees as they enter a venue, and when executed correctly, this can be an intense moment of artistic experience. It also represents an important opportunity to develop on the concept and aesthetics of the collection. From a more social engagement-minded perspective, in the age of digital fashion an immersive physical experience is another reason for influencers to capture Instagram content and extend the reach of the brand.

The Fall 2022 runway season was especially rife with strong thinking on how to bring a designer’s vision and a brand identity out into the physical world and fill a space with artistic life.

From Louis Vuitton’s elegant neo-classicism, which worked with and maintained the mood of the Mussée d’Orsay’s central hall, to the minimal modernism of Ambush’s monumental orb, which transformed a bare venue space to an abstract sci-fi environment, creative directors and show producers did impressive collaborative work to leverage new artistic ideas and established brand identities into an immersive spatial experience.

Loewe Fall 2022 | Photo by Stephane Aït Ouarab

While Loewe’s mostly minimal set let the location of Paris’ Stade Pierre de Coubertin – and of course, the collection – speak for itself, creative director Jonathan Anderson introduced sculptures by trendy British artist Anthea Hamilton of pumpkins that seemed to melt into the ground.

Reminiscent of Kusama or Dali, the singular artistic touch lent itself to the designer’s signature surrealism, while also flexing the luxury house’s impressive artistic connections and command.

Meanwhile, Maria Grazia Chiuri’s partnership with Italian artist Mariella Bettineschi for Dior went for the opposite end of the spectrum of incorporating artwork into the staging, with the artist’s subtle reimagining of historical female portraits taking up the entire wallspace of the set – a focused expression of the house’s modern reconsideration of historical femininity.

The entire set of Balenciaga’s show functioned as a single art installation. With the audience behind glass, the models trod a circular space where a full-blown blizzard simulation blasted them with high speed winds and artificial snowflakes. Partially conceived as a rumination on impending climate crisis and what the weather of the future holds in store, as well as a sort of meta-digital presentation, the show also took on a more ominous and urgent meaning in the face of current events surrounding Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine.

While it’s still quite unlikely that nuclear war and ensuing nuclear winter will come to pass, the bleak whiteness of the setting felt like a reminder of the universal horrors of war and a cry for peace. Furthermore, with these elements in mind, it also felt like a universal reminder of the human importance of art in times of strife.

Here are the Impression’s Top Runway Set Designs of Fall 2022 season as selected by our Chief Impressionist, Kenneth Richard.