Vetements Takes Over a Parisian McDonald's for Its Anti-Capitalist Spring 2020 Runway Show

That’s rich, coming from a brand that sells $800 hoodies!

Vetements Spring 2020 at a Parisian McDonald’s. Photo: Imaxtree

Just in case you’d forgotten since it moved its seasonal runway show off-calendar, Demna Gvasalia-helmed design collective Vetements is still alive, kicking and trolling consumers all the way to the Swiss bank with its ironic, high-end wares. This season’s shtick? Gvasalia and co. once again take on capitalism and corporate greed (rich, coming from a label that sells $800 hoodies!) by flipping well-known international logos into cheeky branded graphics and putting a “fashion” spin on mundane workwear, including business suits, short-sleeved collared shirts paired with slacks and ties, and municipal service uniforms.

In keeping with the spirit of the everyman, Vetements took over a McDonald’s on the Champs Élysée; the dining room doubled as a runway, and guests were served beverages in fast-food cups scribbled with the brand’s name, while show notes were printed on napkins. Very convenient! A handful of models ate fries as they walked; others stared at their phones or looked generally broody with AirPods in their ears. The majority wore nail salon-style rubber flip-flops with colorful, freshly pedicured toes, regardless of gender identity.

The show opened with a male model in a red baseball cap — not a coincidence, we’re sure — embroidered with “FOR RENT” in white block letters. A series of familiar-yet-different logos followed behind: A play on the emblem for Swiss non-profit World Economic Forum read “Global Mind Fuck”; böse, the German word for “evil,” was done up in the same font as the audio equipment company; the Sony PlayStation logo lost a single letter to instead say “PayStation” and the now-iconic Internet Explorer “e” symbol was printed with the word “ecstacy” underneath. Other easily noticeable nods came in the forms of a Vetements graphic T-shirt that mimics Heineken beer branding, a riff on the once-ubiquitous Planet Hollywood merch and a simple tourist-style tee with an “I Heart Paris” print, updated with a squiggly signature of the name “Hilton” just below.

Typical Vetements fare like mixed-material silk and rayon dresses, patchwork statement jeans, sport-inspired, oversized outerwear and deliberately tacky head-to-toe animal prints made up the remainder of the collection. A light goth motif was present throughout, too, with Halloween-appropriate, black-and-white zombie makeup, leather platform boots and a black velvet bell-sleeved smock dress. Spooky!

Browse the full Vetements Spring 2020 collection in the gallery below, and join us in pondering the existential question: What stage of late capitalism is this?