Walter Van Beirendonck called his fall 2025 collection “New.” “It’s referring to the fact that we don’t have so many new subcultures or new things happening in fashion,” he explained, adding this has to do with the rise of vintage and archival garments. “It is a fantastic evolution, but due to that, we are missing the key silhouettes which we normally have in a decade.
“It’s also important as a designer to keep on searching for the new and designing something for the moment we’re living in,” continued Van Beirendonck, who was inspired, too, by a painting he’d made of himself with aliens in a sunflower field.
Van Beirendonck has a longstanding interest in other-worldly creatures, which can symbolize the alienation prevalent today. Alien eyes, arms and heads became leitmotifs in this strong collection full of fine sartorial tailoring and new shapes. Some pants, jackets and shirts had extreme detailing and unexpected volumes.
“I really approached it as a kind of new tailoring,” Van Beirendonck said.
Colors were generally muted, with dashes of fluorescent. Roomy brown pants came paired with a tight, longer-than-usual checked jacket and big brown bowler hat. Van Beirendonck returned to traditional Scottish and English fabrics and combined them with more technical materials. Ecru trousers with three-dimensional, geometric details might be topped with an azure Aran sweater emblazoned with the word “new.”
As usual, this Van Beirendonck lineup was chockablock with knitwear and messaging. “We Come in Peace” read the back of a jacket spangled as well with other patches with words “Dream,” “Love” and “Rave” 3D printed directly on to the fabrics. “It’s a nice clash to combine these two worlds,” he said.
The runway display ended with a peace statement, when models sitting on Van Beirendonck-designed, alien-shaped couches raised their — prosthetically — extended fingers in V signs.
