Photo: Matteo Volta/Imaxtree /Matteo Volta/www.matteovolta.com.
Just when you thought fashion statements at Paris runway shows couldn’t get more ridiculous (see Rick Owens’s Penis-Out Runway Show Nods to Classical Sculpture and Van Gogh-Inspired Dresses at Viktor & Rolf Paris Show), Belgian designer Walter Van Beirdendonck unleashes his massive butt-plug brooches.
Known for making political statements on the catwalk, last year he sent headdresses adorned with the phrase “Stop Racism,” Van Beirdendonck opted to put in his two cents about the recent Paris attacks (see 12 Killed at Magazine Previously Attacked for Satirical Cartoons) and the on-going debate on artistic censorship, touching upon the dialogue surrounding Paul McCarthy’s enormous sculpture Tree (2014) that caused an uproar when it was installed in Paris’s Place Vendôme because it resembled a butt-plug sex toy more than it did a Christmas tree. The sculpture was vandalized and subsequently taken down (see Vandalized Paul McCarthy Butt Plug Pulled from Paris Square).
During Van Beirdendonck’s Fall 2015 men’s ready-to-wear presentation, the first look he sent down the runway was a sleeveless plastic tunic top that had the words “Stop Terrorising Our World.” Shortly afterwards, an array of orange, pink, yellow, and white variations of the butt-plug brooch appeared on the lapels of various models.
Interesting. But let’s just hope this fashion statement won’t inspire people to wear anal beads as necklaces.