At Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week, the not-so-easily impressed attendees of Balenciaga’s 2023 show were, well, quite impressed. As the show came to a close and guests were treated to the final few avant garde looks from the collection, there was a surprise: a bride. Not just any bride, but a Balenciaga bride.
Clad head to toe in heavy, 3D-printed polished armour, Balenciaga’s final model emerged battle-ready, traversing the runway (with some difficulty) as she carried a sheer mass of silverware, forming a full suit of armour with a rounded ball gown skirt. Comfortable? Hell no. On trend? Hell yes.
Suits of armour have been causing quite a stir as of late - just last month a photoshoot with Jennifer Coolidge for GQ, where the actress was resplendent in a high shine set of armour, went viral. And the month before that, Met Gala obsessives were lovingly reposting Zendaya’s Joan of Arc-inspired Versace look from 2018 as they debated the best outfits of all time to have graced the museum’s steps.
So why is something so costume-like and impractical proving so successful in high fashion? “It allows the wearer to be transported into a fantasy,” says designer and fashion commentator Daylan Mollentze, “like a form of escapism.”
And it’s not just suits of armour taking the fashion world by storm - metalwork in general is going down a treat on red carpets worldwide. The breastplate, a moulded metallic bust attached to a gown, is particularly popular, with Sydney Sweeney, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, and Julia Fox all having repped the trend. Lil Nas X is a recent addition to the list, having performed at Glastonbury in a compartmental gold chest harness, strapped to his ab muscles like a bespoke bulletproof vest.
“It’s strengthening and empowering,” Mollentze says, “when Tom Ford made a breastplate for Zendaya back in 2020, her stylist Law Roach called her a ‘warrior woman.’ And not all chest plates need to be idealistic - some show accurate representations of what women’s bodies actually look like, with mismatching breasts, tummies and cellulite.” One of these realistic moulds was recently worn by actress Lupita Nyong’o, who donned a bespoke silver breastplate, nipples and all, for the 2023 Tony Awards earlier this month.
While Nyong’os breastplate was custom made for her body by Pakistani artist Misha Japanwala, Mollentze says a lot of what’s driving the metalwork trend is our growing fondness for archival pieces. “Unearthing and showcasing archival pieces has become the norm for a lot of celebrities in a time where finding brand new original pieces is hard to find that no one else has,” he says.
Which would explain why another form of armourcore, chainmail, has been making a reappearance. Popularised by Paco Rabanne in the 60s and Gianni Versace in the 90s, the chainmail dresses of the pre-y2k era may have had a resurgence in the past few years (you can thank Dua Lipa for that) but the latest pivot is towards small peek-a-boo mesh elements, like the chainmail bra straps seen in Fendi’s Spring/Summer 2023 couture collection.
So whether it’s a breastplate, chain mail bralette or full on Elizabethan set of armour, it’s time to suit up because armourcore is well and truly here to stay.
