Searching for Real Life Through Objects in the Fall 2024 Collections

As the fall 2024 collections drew to a close this week, one thing became obvious: fantasy is over. Show after show after show, designers invoked a “wardrobe” as their inspiration for the season: real clothes for real women living real lives. At Undercover, where Wim Wenders read a poem titled “Watching A Working Woman,” Jun Takahashi delivered breathtaking meditations on modern motherhood by “flattening” wardrobes to all-in-one pieces that were as easy to put on as they were difficult to figure out. His models carried grocery bags, yoga mats, and other detritus of everyday life. Marine Serre incorporated similar objects like coffee cups, pizza boxes, and even records; things that are naturally present at Ground Control, the food court/ art space/ community center where she staged her show. (They were all emblazoned with her signature crescent moon logo.)

But different characters require different props, which is why this season there were also a barrage of flowers—a reminder to look for softness during hard times, perhaps—but also books, newspapers, and even a basketball. They’re also shorthand for designers to make a deeper connection with their audience, to reflect their own selves back at them.

“I Shop, Therefore I am,” Barbara Kruger said once, and in recent years the rallying cry of there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, has become the equivalent of the “This is Fine” meme, a way to laugh but acknowledge that in 2024, everything we carry does define us.