The Body Politic

If the spring summer 2022 runways proved anything, it's that skin is once again in. But there's much more to it than bringing sexy back.

- Alison S. Cohn

At some point in the distant future, it will be difficult to identify the precise moment when we began to even contemplate the prospect of a post-pandemic life. But the spring/summer 2022 runways may offer a clue. Offering a bold new wave of body consciousness, the shows were a radical departure from the oversize layers that have dominated the high-fashion conversation in the decade since Phoebe Philo's Céline made it cool to be covered up.

There were bras everywhere: Dainty triangular ones at Fendi worn under tailored blazers and cropped bombers, sporty ones at Dior paired with silk boxing shorts, boob tape as tops at Vaquera and Missoni. For Miuccia Prada, bras seemed to be an idée fixe; she paired push-ups with low-riding skirts at Miu Miu and inserted underwires into colourful knit tops for her Prada collection, co-created with Raf Simons. And then there was just ... So. Much. Skin. At Chanel, a bouclé miniskirt barely concealed a matching bikini bottom; Balmain's Olivier Rousteing marked his 10th anniversary at the French house by sending out an array of hybrid garments that melded sharp-shouldered tailoring with bra cups and thong straps; LOEWE offered funny little windows on the knees-a referendum on what makes a body part a so-called erogenous zone; and New York- and LA-based Eckhaus Latta produced a range of transformable garments, like a t-shirt that unsnaps around the waist to create a corset or a cropped top, and a jumpsuit with removable thigh panels. It could be really conservative or really slutty, depending on your mood, jokes co-designer Mike Eckhaus.