Vivienne Westwood: "Rainbow Unisex" Runway show

You can always count on a Vivienne Westwood show (now headlined by her partner, Andreas Kronthaler) for some wild photos.

 This season, you would have snapped the model encased in a frame of rainbow metallic fabric; headwear made from mounds of straw and twigs; a girl wearing a jersey dress illustrated as if she were nude; earrings and necklaces boasting miniature severed fingers, hands, and penises; a male model naked except for the cape cupping his nether regions; and hyperbolically wide bustier necklines that made the models—some of them men—appear to have shrunken heads.

It wouldn’t hurt, however, to consider why Kronthaler created them (Europe is hurting) and what they represent (symbols of the continent on big and small scales). The woman in the rainbow frame, for instance, was a woman at a market stall; the jewelry denoted a combination of iconography from Christian churches and the pagan Greek phallus.

Keep going down this route and you end up further away from the actual clothes, which when removed from all the theatrical elements, boiled down to a wardrobe of eclectic daywear with Matisse-inspired cut-outs, beachy separates (a shout-out to Yasmine Eslami on the swimwear), and asymmetric dresses that possessed a certain impulsive spirit.

Some of the designs felt too deliberately tweaked in the company of such pared-down pieces as a sheer zip jumpsuit or lustrous green cross-body sweater. But the variety could be chalked up to a reflection of pan-European style.

“You need to be relevant somehow; I try to be conscious and responsible,” Kronthaler said backstage. “Clothes are a celebration of life, and that’s my responsibility.” When asked about his audacious volumes, Dame Vivienne replied, “He does develop and exaggerate things, but I think it’s the most sexy thing in I can’t remember when.” And with the first Vivienne Westwood boutique in Paris open as of this weekend, they have a new platform for both clothes and causes.