This season’s most dramatic runway sets, from curtains of slime to disco balls

Dystopian herbariums, destroyed disco balls, serene meadows: this season’s best runway sets were a surreal trip through time and space. From the return of Prada’s oozing curtains of slime to artwork-adorned catwalks – including a smattering of Lynda Benglis sculptures at Loewe – we run through the best-designed show sets of S/S 2024 fashion month. 

Best in show: S/S 2024’s dramatic runway sets

Acne Studios

Acne Studios creative director Jonny Johansson drafted Austrian artist Lukas Gschwandtner – best known for his pillow-like sculptures which evoke the shapes of women reclining in historical portraiture – to collaborate on the Swedish brand’s S/S 2024 show set. Capturing a mood of ‘after-hours liberation’, the ecru canvas-covered space featured an enormous deconstructed disco ball as well as Gschwandtner’s ‘soft furnishings‘ which were scattered about the space. ‘[We were thinking about] soft furnishing that you sink into – you almost become them,’ he told Wallpaper*.

Read the story behind the Acne Studios S/S 2024 set. 

Miu Miu

A new video installation by Qatari-American artist Sophia Al-Maria provided the backdrop to Miuccia Prada’s latest collection, which explored ‘a rationale of beauty today’. Titled Gravity & Grace, the short film featured stunt woman Ayesha Hussain as a pair of ‘archetypal twins’ fighting each other with crossbows and swords in what Al-Maria called ‘an epic battle over POV’. ‘There is a theme of questioning what is real and what is not,’ she told Wallpaper*.

Read the story behind the Miu Miu S/S 2024 set.

Loewe 

Jonathan Anderson once again populated the Loewe runway with a series of sculptures by Lynda Benglis, following a trio of fountains by the American artist that backdropped his menswear show earlier this year. The large, twisting forms in metallic gold and silver were cast from manipulated pieces of clay; in the collection itself, they were reflected by jewellery created in collaboration with the artist’s studio. ‘She doesn’t need to use words, she's using something which is physical,’ Anderson said. ‘There’s something of her that I see in this collection – the attitude, the confidence.’ 

Sportmax

Drawing inspiration from Czech artist Krištof Kintera’s ‘Postnatural‘ works, which depict dystopian imaginings of botanical herbariums, the Sportmax showspace was intersected by a fluorescent-lit glass vitrine filled with colourful tropical flowers and plants. It provided a reflection of the collection’s experimental, science fiction-infused mood: from strange padded forms and sculptural silhouettes to austere white shift dresses recalling medical uniforms. 

Louis Vuitton

The as-yet-unnamed site of a vast Louis Vuitton project on Champs-Élysées – rumours are circulating are that it will be a hotel from the house – provided the setting for Nicolas Ghesquière’s latest womenswear collection. Still a building site, the former art nouveau bank was entirely covered in orange material, with a matching orange runway, grandstand seating and enormous light fixtures. Part of a continuing collaboration with Hollywood set designer James Chinlund, the house describes the setting as ‘simultaneously familiar and new’, a mood of disorientation captured in the era-hopping collection itself.

Prada

Following the house’s menswear show held this past June, Prada’s womenswear showspace – created in collaboration with AMO – saw a stainless-steel runway divided by dripping curtains of slime. ‘An environment of liquid partitions intertwined with elements of industrial architecture,’ described AMO of the setting, which provided the backdrop for a collection of material richness, from featherweight diaphanous dresses to tassel, eyelet and crystal adornment, each a demonstration of Prada’s decades-long commitment to craft. ‘We tried to make the best out of our work, to make beautiful things, for today,’ said Miuccia Prada, who co-creates the house’s collections with Raf Simons. ‘That may sound banal, but it is the truth.’ 

Bottega Veneta

Matthieu Blazy described his fourth collection for Bottega Veneta as a fantastical round-the-world odyssey, ’a journey of transformation and escape’ in which he imagined his protagonist for the season picking up elements of dress from journeys around the globe. The tiled setting – in part recalling those found around a swimming pool – reflected the mood, adorned with a world map playfully populated with illustrated penguins, sardines, crabs and roosters. 

Saint Laurent

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Eiffel Tower at night – complete with shimmering light show – this season’s Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello show set comprised a series of monolithic stone and marble walls and sleek cuboid benches. ‘A modernist set of kaleidoscopic, mineral surfaces, affording views of the Eiffel Tower while highlighting its soft elegance,’ described the house.

Givenchy

Matthew M Williams’ latest collection for Givenchy was staged inside a new work by architect Gabriel Calatrava for the Collaborative Architecture Laboratory. An enormous inverted tent – affording views of Paris’ L’École Militaire at each end – the monochrome white interior was a reflection of ‘the collection’s themes of ease and elegance,’ said the house. Each of the set’s elements was rented or reusable. 

Burberry

Daniel Lee chose Highbury Fields – a historic slice of green space in north London – to present his much-anticipated sophomore collection. For the occasion, a Burberry-check-adorned tent was erected in the park; inside, a series of park benches covered with Burberry blankets provided the show’s seating.

Dior

Maria Grazia Chiuri continued a tradition of collaboration with women artists on her show sets this season. For S/S 2024, it was Italian artist Elena Bellantoni, who created a video installation that parodied sexist depictions of womanhood in advertising from the 1960s to the 2000s. ‘It is about breaking out of a semantic grid,’ the house described of the piece, which was displayed on vast LED screens around the space. 

Also see our highlights of the recent S/S 2024 runway shows:
Paris Fashion Week S/S 2024
Milan Fashion Week S/S 2024
London Fashion Week S/S 2024
New York Fashion Week S/S 2024