Males models walk the runway with fake pregnant bellies in controversial fashion show
![Xander Zhou shocked at his spring summer 2019 London Men's Fashion Week show. [Photo: Xander Zhou]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/rg7FYe74F_7_ae_tiW.5CA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD03MjA-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/f81c6b7b80ebaa6c39f82f4c2951f852)
It’s fair to say that standing out in fashion is decidedly harder these days.
With the proliferation of social media and ‘shareability-factor’ of garments holding almost the same importance as wearability, the more weird and wacky your work is the more likely you are to get noticed.
More and more, up-and-coming fashion designers (and the established ones too – hello severed heads at Gucci) are employing shock-factor techniques to wow their audiences.
Good examples of this are Thibaut’s thong jeans which caused a social media storm, and when Rick Owen sent models down the runway with their penises out.
So it will come as no surprise to learn that a Chinese fashion designer has sent his male models down the runway with pregnant bellies.
Sure!
A post shared by Xander Zhou (@xanderzhou) on Jun 11, 2018 at 12:15am PDT
Controversial designer Xander Zhou shocked at his spring summer 2019 London Men’s Fashion Week show by sending his male models out with prosthetic baby bumps.
His collection, aptly named ‘New World Baby’, featured slogan tees, tank tops, denim and Zhou’s signature clean-cut shapes.
Models walked with their tops rolled up to expose their fake bellies, while one model even walked with his arms protectively cradling his stomach, you know, just in case anyone was confused about the maternal theme.
In an Instagram post, the brand said: “At Supernatural, Extraterrestrial & Co., we’re prepared to welcome a future of male pregnancy.”
Naturally, the surreal show left a lot of fashionistas scratching their well-groomed heads, and the people of Twitter felt the same.
Views were mixed:
What an insult to women who carry babies for 40 weeks to have Xander Zhou parade men (and I use the term lightly) down the runway with fake pregnant bellies! What universe are we in? Is this the twilight zone?
— Vonda Everett (@VondaLEverett) June 12, 2018
The pregnant runway trend is deeply interesting. Recuperated, the pregnant body as it is lived remains abject – it’s about representing hope for the future, what (and whom) will survive and reproduce https://t.co/mEhfGQUv8p
— Hannah McCann (@binarythis) June 12, 2018
#malemodelwithfakepregnantbellies#XanderZhou.. how sick and ridiculous. What the hells wrong with the designer. MAYBE he’s run out of ideas?
— JustGammaw (@JustGammaw) June 12, 2018
the transphobia that’s running rampant on that xander zhou pregnant male model moment is so digusting i’m so upset
— (@yixingtwt) June 12, 2018
It’s not the first time we’ve seen pregnancy glamorised in fashion: last year, brands like Eckhaus Latta and Opening Ceremony feature pregnant bellies on the runway, albeit real ones on pregnant women.
Confused? Us too.
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