Have you seen these before? It’s ok to laugh, I’m laughing. They are called hotflops. They first appeared in 2008 when Barack Obama was running for President. People who favored Obama actually bought them as a sign of support!

But really, who’d want to wear these? It would be strange to have Obama’s face mingling with my toes.

Do you know these flip flops sold for 30 dollars a pop? And, they were very popular, many people bought them.

Believe it or not there is a growing market for effigy fashion. Statement t-shirts on Instagram really got the ball rolling. But the t-shirts are super tame in comparison to the Obama hotflops. The flip flops are more modern in a way. They are a sort of footwear meme – “create your own slogan” should be embossed on the sole.

That brings us to the Leandro Cano fall/ winter 2018-19 collection. The designer pours statues, carvings and figurines from social, political and religious themes onto garments creating a series of looks that can only be called moving art.

The collection at a conceptual level demands a thesis level explanation. I can only imagine the amount of work it took to pull all the ideas together, the time needed to create each piece, and wow, there are at least a dozen different textiles – it’s extraordinary. The collection belongs in a museum.