Weird Is The New Normal

Is surrealism the strongest fashion trend?

- KATERINA PAPAPOSTOLOU

Surrealism aims to revolutionise the human experience. It balances a rational vision of life by affirming the power of the unconscious and dreams. The artists of the movement find magic and strange beauty in the unexpected, the despised, and the unconventional. At the core of their works is the search for freedom and the willingness to question imposed values and rules.” This is the definition of surrealism on the website of Tate Modern [an art gallery located in London], which I borrow to put you in a climate beyond reality. Historically, the word ‘surrealist’ was coined by French poet Guillaume Apollinaire and appeared for the first time in the prologue of a play in 1917. But it was André Breton who wrote the Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924. In the world of fashion in 2023, surrealism and fashion move on the same trajectory.

Take note of Daniel Roseberry’s recent Couture 2023 show for Schiaparelli—there was little analysis behind the real inspiration of the animal heads that were on display. The controversial collection was a contemporary take on Dante’s Inferno. These surrealistic references, that Roseberry brought to life, were reimagined versions of the legendary poem’s three allegorical animals: the lion, the leopard, and the she-wolf.