Jonathan Anderson took up a novel approach for his Spring/Summer 2020 collection. Rather than center it around a specific theme or narrative, the British fashion designer made it all about the gaze and watching the clothes themselves. The focus was a peculiar accessory, a figure eight or infinity symbol, that hung from the shoulders and looped around the breasts like armor—or perhaps was intended to outline one of the most sensual parts of the woman’s body. It appeared on the first look, over a drapey, asymmetrical, one-sleeved black dress, and appeared several more times throughout; jewel-encrusted over a spotted maxi dress, looking like fried eggs when placed over the daisies that decorated the breasts of a white sleeveless maxi dress, and even over a silver evening dress adorned with an embellished cutout at one hip.

Anderson placed these jeweled swirls throughout the collection, framing the cut-out of a minimal white dress, accentuating a beige suit jacket, and punctuating the bottom of a grey overcoat. The collection itself was playful and experimental, as Anderson placed cut-outs on the hip, hung fringe from suit jackets, and marked dresses with a single, poufy, superhero-like sleeve. Several leather pouches accented were hung from a belt and slung over the shoulder, while dainty knit minidresses were delicately jolted with silver threading. Structured, oversized trenches gave the collection an element of formalism. The JW Anderson Spring/Summer 2020 collection was indeed something to gaze at, question, and think about with wonder.