When in Doubt, Wear Your Clothes Backwards or Inside Out

Vogue

11 hours ago

For as long as I can remember, I've loved wearing things the 'wrong' way and repurposing non-traditional objects as outfits. Skirts as sleeveless dresses, necklaces as belts and vice versa, button-down tops backwards, wide belts as skirts, skirts over pants. I also have a penchant for Christmas ornaments as earrings, and antique miniature portraits meant for walls on chains as charms. There is nothing better to me than wearing vintage skinny belts (preferably by Whiting & Davis) as necklaces. But most of all: jackets, coats, shirts and dresses, inside out.
So, I was overjoyed when on the fall 2025 runways, more than one designer engaged in flipping the script on how we conventionally wear our clothes. Upside down, inside out, reversed and contorted. For the final of Yohji Yamamoto's fall 2025 collection, a group of models emerged wearing long back jackets with brilliant royal purple accents. They paused for the audience to look on, as they swapped the garments and turned them literally inside out, helping each other along the way to reveal outfits that were entirely different from what they first wore. Yohji-San famously doesn't do interviews unless they're in-person, but via an email, he tells Vogue that the concept was about 'perfection... imperfection... I think they are the same. They can switch. So I want to show both sides.'
He continues: 'When you wear clothes in a different way, maybe you find something new. When you turn them inside out, you can see the construction. You see the truth. Sometimes this part is more beautiful.'
Yohji Yamamoto fall 2025 collection.
Yohji Yamamoto fall 2025 collection.
Likewise, the rising brand Zomer, run by Danial Aitouganov and Imruh Asha, kicked off its fall 2025 show backwards, with models taking their final walk first. They all wore pieces that were upside down, turned around, or purposely inverted. 'It all began with a conversation between us, a shared desire to go back in time and redo things,' says Aitouganov. 'That idea sparked our styling process, which then evolved into the design phase. Some pieces are intentionally designed to be worn back to front. They might look 'wrong' at first, but the fit is just right. And some items were styled specifically for the show.'
For Sarah Burton's fall 2025 Givenchy debut, structured dresses looked like they had been intentionally designed to look backwards, revealing the flip side of a collar that may have been on the back. Similarly, sustainable designer Maria McManus had models wear outerwear inside out for the spring 2025 show, to show the otherwise hidden details like organic cotton lining, buttons made from biodegradable potato starch and corozo nuts, and expertly bound seams.