The latest high fashion trend? Condoms.
Aquatic wear brand Botter turned heads when it unveiled a new runway accessory at Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday.
Models strutted down the catwalk in a variety of bright blue designs — completed with water-filled condoms worn as gloves.
Designer Roshemy Botter created the collection with Lisi Herrebrugh with a goal to “bring water to the runway,” according to Vogue.
“Our thinking was how can we collaborate with nature and not with another fashion brand? This is something that we’ve tried to research deeper and deeper every season,” Botter said.
There were “a lot of trials” to make these condom gloves, according to France 24. The condom gloves are meant to showcase the models’ hands swimming in prophylactic aquariums to raise awareness about the oceans.
“It’s almost bizarre, romantic, mermaid vibes,” Botter said.
Botter and Herrebrugh also featured designs with material made from kelp, which they used for a pair of tube dresses.
“It’s a starting point of how we can incorporate new material into the collection,” Herrebrugh told Vogue, hinting that we might see more kelp-like material in the Fall 2023 collection.
They incorporated the idea of the ocean in other ways, too, such as the men’s tailored jumpsuits representing wetsuits, and some of the T-shirts were entirely made from algae.
Paris Fashion Week kicked off on September 26, with 107 brands showcasing their spring-summer 2023 collections.
