With Duranimal, Duran Lantink continues to redefine the boundaries of fashion, pushing past convention with a defiant take on shape and silhouette. Known for warping silhouettes beyond recognition, the designer once again shredded convention, stitching together a vision of beauty that felt more like a challenge than an invitation. Shoulders towered past the ears, hips jutted out at unnatural angles, and skirts seemed to hover mid-air—a gravity-defying trick engineered through rigid metal bands.
Backstage, Lantink was talking cosplay, rule-breaking, and liberation. “It’s about figuring out new things and not caring about the rules too much,” he mused, a philosophy that manifested in graphic, body-mod silhouettes. His signature sloped shoulders and padded hips returned in full force, alongside trousers with exaggerated waist protrusions and NSFW assless jeans—because, of course.
Lantink staged his show in a Parisian office mid-renovation, complete with cubicles stacked with paperwork and employees unknowingly doubling as performance artists, their conversations picked up via clip mics to create an eerie, ambient soundscape. As models slunk through the space, it felt like an intrusion—like fashion refusing to be confined to its own realm.
“Bad taste” was a running theme, too. Clashing zebra prints and military camo played with ideas of kitsch and class. The timing of this aesthetic rebellion is more than convenient, considering whispers that Lantink is in the running for the Creative Director job at Jean Paul Gaultier—a house built on the art of subversion.
Despite the exaggerated forms, Lantink ensured wearability was not sacrificed. A reimagined Barbour jacket, sourced from a market and given his signature padding treatment, was a prime example of how his avant-garde sensibilities can translate into real-world dressing. It was a moment where the industry seemed to finally catch up with his vision.
Then came the real conversation starters. Mica Argañaraz opened the show in a latex top sculpted into the shape of a hyper-masculine torso, baggy trousers hanging low on her hips followed by Leon Dame storming through in a clash of textures and animal prints. The finale? Chandler Frye in a latex breastplate featuring oversized, bouncing, cartoonishly exaggerated breasts. Was it a joke? A statement? A critique of gender norms? Maybe all of the above. All we know is that Chandler reportedly loved it.
The show felt less like a fashion event and more like a cultural shift in real-time. Lantink doesn’t just design clothes—he dismantles and reconstructs the entire idea of what fashion should be. And in an industry often plagued by predictability, Lantink’s Duranimal is a battle cry for creative liberation.
