Paper isn’t the only thing shredded at Avavav’s FW26

There is no need for introduction of Avavav’s rightfully-so viral collection presentations, but this time the shred is literally in, and not in terms of grinding on a trackfield (à la SS25) or being shredded to bits online (think FW24). The FW26 collection was brought into an office and the garments became victim to the shredding machine. As per tradition of the ultimate comeback demands, Avavav pulled an UNO reverse card where the models turn into audience and the spectator is the one to strut down the runway. 

The show has its intended audience enter one-by-one the presentation space, in which the guest-turned-model discovers figures flanked on each side of the room, a cleared path to walk across, and photographers and crew waiting at the end of the catwalk. The collection is accordingly titled “The Female Gaze” in which the OG guest discovers the looks under scrutinising voiceover audios of male designers describing their female muses. The eerie march is accompanied by the poker-faced gaze of the 28 models, hazily staring down at you with some eyes redder than others (perhaps from the office screen, or simply exasperation from the male nonsense broadcasted above). 

The cold sterility of masculine-associated machinery (think office equipment and its aggressively messy paper shredders, or intrusive medical scanners that reveal you to the core) is now reappropriated by women dressing for other women, where clothing doesn’t seek male approval. Featuring skeleton shirts, ribbed-like dresses, the garments literally expose the chalky insides. X-ray vision now rubs shoulders with the paper shredder machine, where one shows everything and the other destroys evidence. The story takes us to work where the 9-to-5 tie turns bow-like or it disintegrates into a polo shirt. The feminine blends into the masculine, where work bottoms aren’t just trousers, they’re also a pencil AND a maxi skirt (yes, all three at once, and no, male designers still can’t give us enough pockets). Shreds stick to heels, and tissues are scrunched up and stuffed in granny bras. This collection also birthed the fourth love-child between Avavav and Adidas, and this time it’s brought to the office to play. Sneakers turned bags are firmly held by some, and the three-stripes eternally meet the four toes.