We saw a lot of fashion trends emerge from Paris Fashion Week this season, from capuches to low-rise bottoms, just to name a few. There was also a major one that we’ve seen before, but that made it no less interesting: the trompe l’oeil effect.
Translating to “trick the eye” in French, the trippy fashion technique is defined as an object that seems realistically presented in 3D but turns out to be an optical illusion – hence, deceiving the eye. Trompe l’oeil was birthed on the runway in the late 1920s by none other than Elsa Schiaparelli, fooling onlookers into believing that the garments hitting the runway were, indeed, all that they seemed to be.
For Spring 2023, Paris was the home base for this trend’s re-emergence. The latest Off-White collection is laced with trompe l’oeil affectations resembling a faded skeleton, which appear on denim suits and knitted onto T-shirts, for example. The optical illusion also found its way into Loewe’s Spring 2023 collection as designer Jonathan Anderson surprised onlookers with Minecraft-like designs including pixelated hoodies and khakis.
Balmain’s Olivier Rousteing showcased renaissance-inspired gowns that appeared almost as if the models themselves were painted nude; and on the last day of Paris Fashion Week, Louis Vuitton debuted a few outfits with larger-than-life belt buckles on mini dresses and suited looks (which were not real, FYI). And of course, Schiaparelli’s Daniel Roseberry brought in influences from the surrealism-loving house’s early collections, manifesting in gold glitter-dusted anatomical designs on top of fitted catsuits and gowns.
Check out more examples of the trompe l’oeil trend at Paris Fashion Week in the gallery, below.
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