Paris Fashion Week’s dystopian press presents media’s fight for truth
The newspaper printing press is not a relic yet, as even Paris Fashion Week’s most avant-garde show used it as a set to make a commentary about truth in a ‘post-factual’ world.
The Impression wrote that the ‘Miu Miu show was an example of the layers of storytelling … that only those in the room would be privy to’. The audience was ‘immersed in the set … made to replicate a newspaper printing plant’ and shown a three-minute film of a story between two undercover writers at ‘The Truthless Times, a newspaper which took a satirical look at our imagined AI-driven future in 2034’.
‘Headlines such as “Production Problems in Self-Production Discovered” and “Digital Malfunction Sparks Tempered Optimism” [formed part of a] conceptual collaboration between the brand and artist Goshka Macuga [to explore] the very complex and “deceptive nature of truth”.’
The ‘newspaper’ contained ‘not the written word as you would expect … but instead articles that could only be read via scanning a QR code (very AI, and a worrying glimpse into the not-so-distant future)’.
The Impression captured Miu Miu founder Miuccia Prada’s remarks in her notes for the show at the Palais d’Iéna on 1 October: ‘In the context of of the post-truth era, where the boundaries between fact and fiction are increasingly blurred, understanding who controls the narratives related to events becomes even more critical.’
‘Issues of truth, misinformation, and manipulation are intricately linked with questions of power, freedom of speech, and representation.’
The Impression‘s analysis included the belief that ‘news’ is losing touch with reality, using the fashion show stage as a metaphor: ‘This kind of necessary discourse and critical thinking is what can be frustratingly lost once the runway goes dark if it is not shared via social media, or highlighted in a campaign, or the designer themselves puts their head above the parapet and makes it about more than clothes.’
‘In today’s context, we the audience were asked to think about our own role in shaping the discourse, in our public expressions via social media apps and the written word. With the freedom we have to do so both a blessing and a curse as we struggle in the fight for truth.’
savoirflair.com went further, proposing: ‘In a world where reality is as slippery as silk, Miu Miu’s latest collection dares us to ask: What’s truth anyway?’
‘Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection [saw artist] Goshka Macuga’s conceptual installation [wrap] the runway in a symbolic printing press, asking the audience to question truth in a post-factual world.
‘There was … a newspaper waiting on the guest’s seats inside the venue, and when you scanned the QR code on it, it took you to an essay titled, “We’re in the Endcore now” by Shumon Basar, the British author known for his 2021 book, The Extreme Self. The essay dove into the unsettling concept of “Endcore” – the feeling that everything we once thought of as permanent is now slowly disintegrating, yet the apocalypse never quite arrives.’
Take a look at the video on Miu Miu’s Facebook account, here.
The Fashionography wrote, ‘As guests settled on steel benches, they were enveloped by the sights and sounds of whirring conveyors and rolling printing presses displayed on giant screens’.
‘Overhead, freshly printed newspapers dangled, bearing cryptic headlines like “Archaeologists Digging for Answers Unearth Questions” and “Humanities Leader Says Man Should Follow, Not Lead” as Macuga’s work delved into … the overwhelming flood of information in today’s world.’
On its website, Miu Miu explained how, as part of her artistic intervention, artist Macuga produced ‘The Truthless Times’ to explore ‘ideas of truth, misinformation and manipulation’.
‘The audience is seated within a representation of printing presses – machinery of information, presumed fact – the plurality of elements within the space both proffering tools to dissect and decipher the concept of truth, and underscoring the profusion of information that characterises contemporary reality.’
#voguearabia described the set which told the story of two characters who live as undercover researchers in an effort to promote truth in the media.
A conveyor belt carrying newspapers, courtesy of the , was the star of Miu Miu’s ponderous SS25 showcase at Paris Fashion Week.
Artnews said that ‘subtle subversions of mundanity’ seemed to be the intention of Turner Prize–nominated artist Macuga through the ‘backdrop that shouts its warning from underwater: “Endings Unending As Future Moves To Past” ‘
‘A cynic’s take would be that the news, busted and bloody as it stays, deserves either decisive commentary – not likely in a fashion show – or to be left out of the conversation.’
‘Amid this thought-provoking setting,’ said The Fashionography, ‘models stepped out wearing looks that blurred the lines between childhood innocence and adult sophistication.’
Hypebeast told how ‘stars like Willem Defoe and Hilary Swank walked down the aisle in decidedly understated looks … [while] the artwork invited viewers to reflect on society’s accepted norms amidst the disorientating realities of the present’.
‘The casting, a high-wattage mix of creative individuals … strutted down the runway not as performers, but as “truth-tellers” in their own right … the line between real and unreal blurred, and the garments as much about what they said as how they deceived.’
