Why Is Fashion So Puffy?
The puffication trend offers us an escape from reality
The world of fashion is puffed up and proud. I’m talking viral, show-stopping, I can’t quite believe I’m seeing this type of proud that's as attention-hogging as it is surreal. MSCHF, an art collective and design studio adept at creating the kind of designs that stop people in the streets and get them talking, did just that with the launch of their Big Red Boots. Yes, I'm talking about those boots that have the internet completely and utterly divided.
Puffed up, cartoonish and weighing around 3.5 pounds each, MSCHF’s Big Red Boots command a big price tag to match at $350 a pair, but the fact that this unserious yet serious design catapulted its way around social media at warp speed says something more about the fashionable times we're living in.
Another puffed-up sensation taking America by storm is Rachel Antonoff’s puffer jacket. But it’s not just any old puffer jacket, this version is a far cry from what you’ll find online or in a department store. And why’s that? It's because it's a farfalle puffer jacket. Yes, you read that right, it’s adorned with a bow-tie pasta print that looks as good as it sounds. Mindy Kaling wore it and it’s sold out three times since it launched in 2021.
And the puffication trend doesn’t stop there, it's trickled its way down to the high street with Blackpink’s Jennie wearing a £59 quilted cream COS shoulder bag that sent the internet into a frenzy. So, what’s with all this puffy fashion? It's no coincidence that the rise of padded, pillow-like and puffed-up fashion is popular at a time when the world is chaotic.
We’re still living through a pandemic, not to mention geopolitical warfare, a climate and a cost of living crisis. That's why people are turning to soft, padded and puffy clothing that offers a quick dopamine hit and is a break from all of the doom and gloom.
It's why Coach’s pillow Tabby handbag is a TikTok hit with over 15 million views on its dedicated hashtag, with the brand launching a new Tabby bag campaign featuring Lil Nas X, Camila Mendes, Kōki, and Wu JinYan, and it’s why puffed-up fashion has become a welcome respite from serious and uptight attire.
“In a world which nothing seems real were opting for cartoonish fashion,” says trend forecaster and strategist Agus Panzoni. “This aligns with ongoing trends such as the puffication of fashion.”
What's the next phase of this blown-up fashion trend? With trends coming and going at such a high speed who knows, but if one things for certain it’s that puffy fashion has crossed over to the runways and into the luxury space for the foreseeable future. Chen Peng’s finale at Paris Fashion Week FW23 featured puffers in couture shapes and RAXXY’s FW23/24 collection saw duvet-esque silhouettes in the brand's signature style glide down the runway.
Raf Simons has reimagined classic Prada styles giving them a fuller figure via soft Napa leather, as handbags and loafers have undergone the inflation treatment emerging on the other side as fully puff-ified. The rise in puffy fashion may at first seem ludicrous and OTT, but it's evidence that deliciously squishy fashion is more than clickbait fodder. The puffication trend is a fashionable escape from reality.
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