Paris Fashion Week show and street style: familiar but out of this world

Paris Fashion Week always manages to take ideas and trends to new levels. This season, several designers demonstrated this in shows that took familiar clothes and concepts beyond the ordinary and, at times, out of this world.

Supernatural moments on the catwalk included braces that gave uncanny smiles to models at the Maison Margiela show, as well as conical burlap hats at Comme des Garçons that nearly scraped the ceiling. The Fecal Matter show featured demonic makeup that made the models look like they came from hell. At Thom Browne, some models wore alien masks with fanciful outfits while walking to the soundtrack of The Carpenters’ “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.” And at Chanel, the last show of fashion week, the parade was a starry path among large illuminated replicas of planets and the sun.

That didn’t mean the clothes were science fiction. Many brands (Dior, Loewe, Chanel, to name just three) presented collections with pieces that had crowds buzzing about their wearability. Wearability was also a theme connecting the standout looks on the street. Some involved practical trench coats, others were built around shades of brown, and a few featured belts and ruffles in surprising ways.