Why Are People So Mad About the Fake Boobs at Paris Fashion Week?

It’s not like bare breasts are that unusual to see online, but the internet became fascinated with one pair of boobs in particular following a Paris Fashion Week show. Designer Duran Lantink closed his show with a male model wearing a pair of large, silicone breasts in lieu of a top, and it’s sparked some discourse.

Here’s everything you need to know, in this edition of TL;DR.

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Immediately after Lantink’s silicone-boob top made its runway debut at Paris Fashion Week, videos and images of the moment began going viral on social media. Some people applauded the designer’s audacity, while others found the stunt offensive.

Wait, I need more. What’s the background here?

Lantink, a Dutch designer who is reportedly in the running to be Jean Paul Gaultier’s next creative director, has a well-established penchant for playing with nudity and genitalia in his designs. For instance, he created the “vagina pants” that Janelle Monáe wore in her 2019 “Pynk” music video. His 2025 show, which ended with the male model wearing silicone breasts, also began with a female model wearing a similar latex top, designed to look like a male chest.

“It’s about cosplay, it’s playing with bad taste, it’s about form. Every season, we’re trying to sort of surprise ourselves with how can we change an original piece into something that we find interesting,” Lantink said of the collection in an interview with WWD. “And we’re gonna do whatever the fuck we want because we’re free.”

That said, there were those who didn’t appreciate this kind of “cosplay.” Notably, Dilara Findikoglu, the designer behind Julia Fox’s sheer Oscars after-party dress, seemed to call Lantink out on Instagram without mentioning him by name. “Disappointed to see mockery of the female body by a young male designer that I actually loved and respected,” she wrote in an Instagram story, per The Cut. “Honestly it’s so tiring to see men still using our bodies in this medieval mindset.”

Part of the problem could be that, as many in the fashion world have noted, the prosthetic boobs felt like a cheap shot at internet virality that distracted from the actual clothes.

What does the internet think?

As might be suspected, the internet’s opinions are divided. Some found the gimmick “dehumanizing,” while others praised Lantink’s creativity.