Aliens Come In Peace at Walter Van Beirendonck FW25
Emphasizing newness and futurism throughout the collection.
Walter Van Beirendonck took the typical fashion crowd slightly outside the 18th arrondissement of Paris for his Fall/Winter 2025 collection.
Before the show starts, guests of the show are greeted with show notes on their seat that reveal a provocative statement from the designer. The statement reads, “The boom of vintage or archival clothing, although a fantastic step towards a more sustainable fashion world, makes for few interesting or unseen volumes walking the streets. The nostalgia for the looks of old subcultures leaves little space for mind-blowing new techniques, applications, or cuts to land on the runways.” Walter Van Beirendonck evidently looks to the future for inspiration and appears to comment on the current state of fashion. Where fashion stylists, designers and editors are expected to push the culture forward, he begs the question how one does so if they are constantly looking at the past.
Van Beirendonck looks to the future by taking an extraterrestrial stance, bringing in outer-worldly elements and alien-like motifs to the forefront. From silicone finger extensions reminiscent of E.T.’s, clothing-wise the designer focuses on wide-legged trousers, fringed baseball caps, dystopian workwear, colorful suiting with creative cuts and more. Each model walked the runway before sitting themselves down on an alien-shaped chair to match their outfit. The remained there until the end of the show, flashing a peace sign. Van Beirendonck fans know that ultimately, his greatest declaration statement in his collections have always been about peace and just like that, on cue, the same sentiment is reflected in this collection.
