Cannes show off what’s in fashion this year

Circles and discs, symbols associated with femininity, were also abundant. The invitation to Jonathan Anderson’s spring show for Loewe was a ring, and on the runway the man who resurrected the structured pannier for spring/summer 2023, went further back in history to bring the bell-shaped hoop skirt back into rotation. His had a weightlessness the originals lacked. Panniers put in an appearance too, most notably on side-bolstered robe de style dresses popularised a century ago by Jeanne Lanvin.

Also coming out from the shadows were bewitching looks. These ranged from the darkly mysterious (banshees were referenced at McQueen; Disney’s Wicked antiheroines made their presence known), to the romantic á la Stevie Nicks’s “Rhiannon” (who, as “a woman taken by the wind” is exceedingly on trend). Seduction is a kind of sorcery that designers played with via cone bras and transparent (tulle) veiling that was like a physical replication of a soft filter.

May 15, 2025 | 7:26 am