5 Fashion Brands Revolutionizing Reality with Surrealist Designs

The surrealist art movement emerged in the aftermath of World War I as an artistic and humanistic response to a conflict-ridden society—the literal rejection of reality. “Surrealism aims to revolutionize the human experience,” says the website of London’s Tate Modern Museum. “He balances a rational vision of life with one that emphasizes the power of the unconscious and dreams.”

From the 1930s to the 1950s, French designer Elsa Schiaparelli drew on elements of surrealism and expressed the feelings and sentiments of art in her designs. In recent seasons, but especially since the pandemic, some designers have been exploring the interface between reality and the virtual world. FashionUnited brings you five brands that are leading this movement

Iris Van Herpen

Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen is not only the first designer to create a 3D printed dress, she is also known for her futuristic designs. For her 2017 Haute Couture collection, she formed metal into numerous geodesic roses and combined them into an extravagant dress. Post-pandemic, her SS22 collection was characterized by mesmerizing looks inspired by the digital world.

Moschino (designed by Jeremy Scott)

Since his debut in 1997, the American designer Jeremy Scott has stood for his flashy shows. In 2013 he took over the reins at Italian fashion house Moschino, known for its playful collections. Scott’s Fall/Winter 2023 collection was inspired by the bedroom scene from Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. For example, you could see a dress in the silhouette of a grandfather clock or a hat in the shape of a lampshade.

The following season, Scott was influenced by rising inflation in the US, presenting looks featuring lifebuoys and flotation devices wrapped around dresses.

JW Anderson

The JW Anderson label is known for its distinctive style. The designer Jonathan Anderson from Northern Ireland founded his own label in 2008 and has also been designing for the Spanish fashion house Loewe since 2013. For his spring/summer 2023 collection, the designer presented outfits decorated with broken skateboards, bicycle handlebars and CDs. His idea was to recognize the “immanent transience of modernity”.

Loewe

For Loewe’s Fall/Winter 2022 collection, Anderson designed a long, elegant tube dress on which two female arms suggest an embrace.

For the next fall season’s Loewe collection, Anderson looked to human perception. He played with the way people see things on the internet and in real life. This is how cardigans appeared in pink and turquoise, which in reality had been printed out on paper and glued to the skin of the models.

Schiaparelli

The American designer Daniel Roseberry has been the creative head of Schiaparelli since 2019. His SS23 couture collection was full of showstoppers – both on the runway and in the audience. Kylie Jenner sat in the front row in a black dress with a huge lion head. The look was also seen on the runway.

This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing: Pia Schulz