‘Who are we? Where are we going? Is it real, is it not real?’ said Jonathan Anderson after his A/W 2022 menswear show for Loewe, a collection which indeed inhabits a surreal realm: a vest is illuminated with glowing LED lights, rubber boots arrive in bulbous proportions, jackets and handbags are covered with metal plugholes as if transplanted from a kitchen sink (the latter reminiscent of American sculptor Robert Gober’s riffs on the domestic, which take the familiar and make it strange, much like Anderson’s work).
A/W 2022 menswear: conceptual moments
Shoes, part of the Off-White c/o Church’s collection, £1,200, by Church’s and Off-White
It is a reflection of a conceptual mood which permeates the menswear collections this season, where everyday garments are reimagined with unexpected results. A classic Church’s loafer is sliced with holes – designed to recall those in found Swiss cheese or the craters left after a meteor storm – part of a collaboration between the historic shoemaker and Off-White (the partnership was first teased in the late Virgil Abloh’s final collection for the brand, marking one of the designer’s last fashion collaborations). When worn, they offer a playful glimpse of sock – or foot – beneath.
At Raf Simons, a cap is melded with a cape, inspired by a hooded figure in a 16th-century painting by Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, refracted through the Belgium designer’s always contemporary lens (he worked on the design with legendary milliner Stephen Jones). Abloh’s swansong at Louis Vuitton perhaps best encapsulates A/W22’s imaginative flights – handbags fashioned to evoke paint pots, bunches of leather flowers, or dotted with coloured ‘holds’ like those found on a climbing wall – where surreal fashion reflects surreal times.
A version of this article appears in the November 2022 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today!
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV conceptThe AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
-
Inside Izza Marrakech: A new riad where art and bohemian luxury meetHonouring the late Bill Willis’ hedonistic style, Izza Marrakech fuses traditional Moroccan craftsmanship with the best of contemporary art
-
Clocking on: the bedside analogue timepieces that won’t alarm your aestheticWe track down the only tick-tocks that matter, nine traditional alarm clocks that tell the time with minimum fuss and maximum visual impact
-
What makes a ‘winter perfume’? The Wallpaper* guide to fragrances that linger on the skin and in the airThe Wallpaper* guide to winter perfume has been compiled by our beauty editor Hannah Tindle, including scents from the likes of Bottega Veneta, Frederic Malle and Marissa Zappas
-
A closer look at Loewe’s delirious, erotically-charged collaboration with artist Richard Hawkins‘Modern life has become a collage,’ said Jonathan Anderson after his A/W 2024 menswear show, which featured Los Angeles-based artist Richard Hawkins’ collages across sweaters and bags
-
The Wallpaper* S/S 2025 trend report: ‘A rejection of the derivative and the expected’Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss unpacks five trends and takeaways from the S/S 2025 shows, which paid ode to individual style and transformed the everyday
-
Inside the making of Loewe Perfumes’ porcelain bottle toppers, delicately crafted by LladróLoewe Perfumes’ limited edition flask toppers are crafted by Spanish porcelain company Lladró. Mary Cleary takes a look inside the making process, as featured in the October 2024 issue of Wallpaper*
-
The breathtaking runway sets of S/S 2025, from beanbag animals to a twisted living roomWallpaper* picks the best runway sets and show spaces of fashion month, which featured Bottega Veneta’s beanbag menagerie, opulence at Saint Laurent, and artist collaborations at Acne Studios and Burberry
-
Watch: Jamie Dornan takes a bath in Le Corbusier’s villa for Loewe PerfumesJamie Dornan stars alongside Sophie Wilde in the new Loewe Perfumes 2024 campaign, shot by David Sims in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
-
Why solid soap is the most pleasurable object to bathe withSolid soap provides a tactile bathing experience like no other. Hannah Tindle explores why in the September 2024 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, with soaps by Chanel, Celine, Diptyque, and more, photographed by Sophie Gladstone
-
The A/W 2024 menswear collections were defined by a ‘new flamboyance’Sleek and streamlined ensembles imbued with a sense of performance take centre stage in ‘Quiet on Set’, a portfolio of the A/W 2024 menswear collections photographed by Matthieu Delbreuve
