Without stating the obvious, something weird is happening in fashion: it’s going out the window. It was at the catwalk shows last September that I first noticed. For the most part the clothes – which were for spring 2023 – were works of art. But a lot of them also looked deranged. Dresses full of holes at Chloé, vivid crochet tops ripped at the seams at Marni, bras made from handbags at Givenchy and almost everywhere, trousers so wide they seemed to swallow up shoes. It wasn’t a mess, but it was messy.
It’s OK to be suspicious of the idea that fashion trends predict the future. It can all get very “hemline index” – ie the theory that short skirts are in vogue during economic boom times, and the longer they get, the more miserable the outlook. Sometimes a coat is just a coat. The amount of men’s underwear sold is not a perfect indicator of the direction of the economy. But as I watched one particular model wearing an unwalkably long, aubergine-coloured dress that pooled precariously around her heels, it honestly seemed to say – in a clipped French accent – that the economy, just like the model, wouldn’t just topple over, but would also struggle to get back up again quickly.
