THE SHIP SINKS BUT THE DESIGNS SOAR AT THE TORISHÉJU SS25 RUNWAY

words by SONNY NGO

After an incredible debut show featuring Naomi Campbell and Paloma Elsesser, all eyes were on Torishéju Dumi’s sophomore show during Paris Fashion Week. The designer and her eponymous label had previously dressed global star Zendaya for her Dune: Part 2 red carpet run and her work has featured in the Metropolitian Museum of Art Sleeping Beauty: Reawakening Fashion exhibition. Here, the avant-gardist showcases her latest Spring/Summer’25 collection, titled “La Nef Des Fous,” or “The Ship of Fools,” which stages a contemporary chaos as a ship eclipses.

Inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s medieval painted vision on society’s collapse, the collection imagines a group of aristocrats aboard a sinking ship. In its chaos, no clear captain steers the ship homeward, instead the models are given the pretense. Dressed in lavish eveningwear, tailcoats and forking dresses, the ship meanders back and forth. Relaxed and tailored looks are mixed with transparent garments and patterened blazers and trousers.

As the show progresses, the looks begin to shift its tides as well. The prestigious garments turn weary and the colours and patterns turn grey and bleak as its ship’s passengers realise the severity of the ship’s status. The ballooning materials, once symbols for luxury, become liabilities, weighing down its passengers to the deep ocean.

In a class display of narrative storystelling and precision craft, Dumi’s sophomore show managed to set sail against the high tides of expectations. Even though her ship of fools may have sank, Torishéju’s designs certainly soared through.