State of Resistance. Off-White’s Paris Fashion Week 2025 Show
Paris Fashion Week has long been a stage for high conceptual storytelling, but Off White State of Resistance took it to another level. Staged at 2 Place du Colonel Fabien, a building that felt like a relic from a retro-futuristic dystopian film. What comes to mind are worlds from THX-1138, 1984, or Dune. The collection looked like a rebellion in motion. The stark, monolithic setting, with its concrete corridors, provided the perfect backdrop for a collection that seemed fit for the resistance.
State of Resistance Setting: Espace Niemeyer
Guests entered what appeared to be an abandoned government complex, its brutalist architecture amplifying the tension in the air. The main space was inside an aluminium covered dome. A sense of surveillance loomed over the show, as if the models were under constant watch, like rebels of an authoritarian state. The venue’s lighting was soft, cast over sand colored concrete. Despite the warm color palette and light neutrals, the space gave a heavy feeling of oppression.
IB Kamara, Off-White’s creative director, carried Virgil Abloh’s legacy forward with a narrative that felt eerily relevant in today’s world. Off-White collections have always blended technical fabrics with dress code trims, but this time it was different. Instead of being a playful juxtaposition of street style and conservative, it felt more like protective equipment for something more specific.
State of Resistance Collection: Armour For the Revolution
Off-White’s latest collection wasn’t simply streetwear. It was combat ready attire for a world on the brink. The designs embraced functionality and defiance in equal measure, with technical fabrics, modular pieces, and tactical silhouettes present on the runway.
Political Aesthetics and Fashion as Defiance
With State of Resistance, the collection seems to be a consequence of today’s international context. The show’s location, the former headquarters of the French Communist Party, was a deliberate choice, reinforcing the underlying theme of rebellion.
The visuals evoked both sci-fi dystopias and real world struggles against oppression. The collection reminded us of Dune’s Fremen warriors, who weaponize their clothing for survival. The garments blurred the line between fashion and function, reflecting the growing tension between control and autonomy in contemporary society.
More than 20 years ago, Fashion at the Edge, Caroline Evans’ doctoral thesis, studies how designers channel cultural anxieties into their work. Off-White’s collection fit squarely into this tradition, offering a wardrobe for those standing at the margins of a collapsing world. The raw, almost aggressive nature of the garments spoke to a resistance not just against political oppression but also against fashion’s own cycles of excess and disposability.
Conclusion
Rather than simply reflecting dystopian aesthetics, State of Resistance functioned as a mirror to the collective consciousness. As Fashion at the Edge argues, fashion is a response to the anxieties of its time, and Off-White’s collection captured the unease of a generation grappling with surveillance, climate crisis, and socio-political unrest. At a time in which rebellion is commodified yet necessary, fashion is both a symptom and a statement. Resistance is not just a theme. It is the condition of our time.