At Loewe, the metallic chest plates recalled a sort of armor–and designer Jonathan Anderson wanted to play on tension and surrealism earmarking the world as we know it today too. “In a weird way, I wanted the collection to be hysterical,” he said after the show. “So that there’s a tension. Because this is a strange moment.” It’s interesting to note, that Loewe’s pieces as well as the others coming down the runway also play into the idea of protection in a world that’s also very fragile: “Often nudity suggests vulnerability, but when in the context of armor or clothes that cover the body, it highlights both protectiveness and the artificiality of the body underneath,” adds Elenowitz-Hess. Adds the historian and Parsons professor Pamela Roskin, “These new pieces put the focus on the breasts but also make the shoulders appear stronger and more capable—goodbye bralette. We are shedding our recent past. It comes from a desire to emerge stronger and what better way than with armor?”