A brief history of angel wings in fashion Grunge icon, fashion fetish

Bianca Censori, spotted on the streets of Los Angeles with a pair of angel wings and her controversial new husband on her arm, is the spokesperson for a trend that is inspiring a revival with celestial colours from Heaven by Marc Jacobs to the eagerly awaited return to the Victoria Secret catwalk. Angel wings are not only a carnival accessory and a Tumblr girl fetish, but have also fired the imagination of fashion designers, who have repeatedly harnessed the celestial appeal of the feathered accessory with sculptural creations and scenographic dresses. At the same time, video clips by the most unexpected artists have embraced the angelic appeal of the feathered dress: from Kanye West's wife to Kurt Cobain, via Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet, Hunter Schafer in Euphoria and Kety Perry in Versace for the Met Gala with the theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. Here is a brief digression on the tangible legacy of the putti in fashion.

In the fashion world, Thierry Mugler was one of the first to experiment with celestial silhouettes on the catwalk: in 1984, a model with golden wings paraded in a serene white dress with cherubs in tow; in 1999, Alexander McQueen used the malleability of wood to create amazing wings in a truly wearable sculpture; and in 2006, it was John Galliano's turn to interpret the trend for Maison Dior in a flood of tulle and organza. But the primacy of wings in the collective imagination goes to the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the legendary catwalk on which the most famous supermodels, from Adriana Lima to Gisele Buendchen, have paraded as "angels" and which, after stopping in 2018, will soon return with an inclusive and contemporary cast. The cool kids, on the other hand, are wearing Heaven by Marc Jacobs' version, designed in collaboration with Anna Sui and available for $570 on the brand's e-commerce. This summer, the coolest accessory is not a bag but a pair of wings.