Paris Fashion Week recap: Human violins, plastic boobs and lampshade hats

It’s curtain call for Paris Fashion Week — but some looks will haunt us well beyond the last show.

From prosthetic breasts and violin suits to lampshade hats and hairy sweaters, the fall/winter 2025 runways in the French capital were riddled with sartorial curiosities.

On the catwalk for Matières Fécales — which translates to “fecal matter” — subversive Canadian design duo Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran sent models down the runway in sky-high plumes of feathers from their shoulders and collars, some wearing the brand’s viral thigh-high, hyperrealistic silicone “skin” shoes.

In a similar vein, Dutch designer Duran Lantink debuted his “Duranimal” collection featuring size DD prosthetic breasts dangling from a male model’s chest, an NSFW number that elicited backlash from viewers at home, who bashed the design as “not fashion” and the “objectification of the female body.”

Peculiarly worn garments or objects served as a common thread throughout the week as well.

At Vacquera, XXL bras acted as off-the-shoulder blouses, while Zomer’s runway saw a collection of backward apparel, with button-ups, bomber jackets and blazers worn in reverse.

The same catwalk also saw a model in a floral print frock and a matching headpiece modeled like a lampshade that veiled the model’s face.

Meanwhile, Kenzo crafted apparel made of pastel rabbits, Undercover debuted an oversized teddy bear-shaped puffer jacket, and models for Junya Watanabe sported knits woven with hair and moto jackets with sleeves fashioned like lace-up boots.

On the Comme des Garçons catwalk, models donned topsy turvy garments, from double-brimmed hats with fringe obscuring the eyes to frocks created with layer upon layer of identically cut fabric in various sizes and colors.

And, at the show for Hoda Kova, founded by designer Ellen Hodakova Larsson, a model wore a human-sized violin suit, while another sported the stringed instrument atop their head.

Some ensembles involved single trouser legs worn as scarves or hats or that enveloped the model whole, with only their face peeking through an opening.

Similarly, at Alaïa, sheer clothing covered the models’ torsos with only their faces poking out from sculptural turtleneck, which framed the head with a halo of fabric.

In one number, the garment lacked holes for limbs, and the model’s arms were swaddled in the sheer, nude fabric.

But perhaps the most technologically innovative designs were from Anrealage — helmed by creative director Kunihiko Morinaga, the mastermind behind fan-powered clothes — which put on an LED spectacular during Paris Fashion Week.

Models were styled in freaky, billowing light-up garments that displayed moving technicolor patterns as the models paraded down the runway.

Titled “SCREEN,” the collection envisioned “a future where individuals can exchange and share the designs of the clothes they wear,” according to the brand’s Instagram page, which likened the clothes to a “living billboard.”