Surreal Landscapes: A Look Into René Magritte's Continual Inspiration To Fashion

For his recent Fall-Winter 2020-2021 men's show, Virgil Abloh unveiled "Heaven on Earth", a collection with surreal, Magritte accents. The scenography was a recreation of Magritte's landscape of cloudy skies ever-present in his work, to the Keepall bag, a star of the Louis Vuitton universe, together with the iconic Monogram LV available in the same colour gradient. 

In 2012, for his very first campaign within the house of Dior, Raf Simons joined forces wit famous Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre and played with the surrealist and poetic style of René Magritte, in details such as the cloudy blue sky seen from a window or the flowers placed around the model's feet. Both graphic and geometric, the campaign was a nod to the famous The Marches of Summer and The Land of Miracles canvases, for an aristic touch to a standout campaign.

In March 2021, the Belgian jewellery label Diamanti Per Tutti unveiled a new collection inspired entirely by the surrealist universe of Magritte. From "The career of Granite" to "This is not ..."and "The Great Family", the most famous works of the artist are adorned across rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

In 2014, Opening Ceremony joined forces with Manolo Blahnik, Birkenstock and Vans for a unique capsule collection infused with the artist's surrealist works. On the program: sneakers of course, but also ready-to-wear clothing that gives life to his most famous paintings. Faithful to the original work of the Belgian artist, the collection consisted of twelve of his most famous paintings in collector's pieces, like the painting "Scheherazade" revised in a dress and a bomber jacket embroidered with pearls.

Building on the success of their first collaboration, in October 2020, the American label and Vans came together again around two models of exclusive sneakers . The classic Slip-on model featured the work "Les Amants" (1928), and the Old Skool LX model was printed with the canvas "Souvenir de Voyage" (1961).

For his Cruise 2015 collection titled "This is not in Moschino", Jermey Scott paid a subtle tribute to the Belgian painter. Appropriating the most famous of René Magritte's paintings, "La Trahison des images" (This is not a pipe, 1929), the designer imagined a playful and offbeat collection made up of t-shirts, bags and iPhone cases announcing "This is not a Moschino t-shirt / toy".

In 2009, French label Comme des Garçons released a model of offbeat and resolutely fun shoes, inspired by the painting "The Red Model" from 1935, depicting shoes in the form of human feet. 

Earlier in 2011, Mary Katrantzou borrowed from Magritte for her “Ceci n'est pas une chambre” collection, referring to Magritte’s surreal pipe painting, which enabled her to create fantasy rooms inspired by various images from magazines. The collection consisted of sheer materials consisting of curtains and skirts.