We’re living through a period of late-stage postmodernism, one in which change happens ever more slowly. And as the lines of succession at heritage houses only grow longer, allowing for remixes of remixes, show watching has become a sort of spot-the-reference memory game.
With so much attention on the season’s 15 designer debuts, this was a kind of inside-baseball moment, which allowed designers to mostly avoid engaging with the unpleasantries of the world. As this is spring and summer we’re talking about, there were clothes to imaginarily transport you to Madonna’s La Isla Bonita, where you might want to don a pair of the loose jupe-culottes, or balloon-legged pants, that are trending. Alternatively there were collections that encouraged you to stay snuggled up in bed, and still more that would tempt you to take a more active role in the bedroom—or wherever the mood strikes. While it’s unlikely that cruising will replace swiping right, designers are proposing skin and hip bone reveals, transparent bottoms, and exposed bras, as well as for the slightly less bold, an undone, caught-in-the-act look that suggests rather than actually reveals.
As for character dressing, both Marie Antoinette and Daisy Buchanan made cameo appearances. Likewise, the influence of designers who were pro-curves, like Charles Frederick Worth and Christian Dior, were as much in evidence as those who endorsed straight-line silhouettes, such as Paul Poiret and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.
With military references and all imaginable shades of khaki, the idea of trusty uniform dressing was turned on its head; similarly the notion of dressing for (women’s) work was addressed through the surprise return of aprons, frilly and functional. This comes as female autonomy is being questioned and TikTok has flattened the idea of the suburban housewife, a fixture of American literature whose complexities have been mined by the likes of John Cheever, Betty Friedan, Richard Yates, and John Updike, into the surface-oriented tradwife aesthetic.
Speaking of tradition, nothing gives a bit of flourish to a look like a printed foulard scarf, a square building block of a classic look. These were tied around waists and necks, and the patterns expanded to encompass whole outfits. Less familiar was the way designers used wires, horsehair, tulle, and other supportive materials to counter the laws of gravity with skirts, sleeves, and bodices caught in a state of suspended animation. The “away-from-the-body” concept took various shapes; there were seemingly miss-fit garments that fell away from the human form in ways suggestive or awkward and then there was an explosion of feathery fringe, made of silken thread, recycled fiberglass, etc., that introduced a mesmerizing sense of materiality and motion.
Less dramatic, but perhaps more reflective of the times was the way that designers used materials, mainly movement-friendly jerseys and nylon, to create garments with a sense of control and release. Some of these seemed to channel the kinds of clothes Martha Graham and Pina Bausch performed in, and they speak to (bodily) freedom, which cannot be taken for granted these days. Below, a dozen themes that will shape how you dress going forward.
La Isla Bonita
Sun and fun are synonymous with the spring/summer collections. To capture that OOO vibe, designers incorporated aspects of scuba and surfwear into their collections (see Loewe, Chloé, Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier) as well as tropical prints (Dries Van Noten) in bright colors reminiscent of beachside cocktails.
Not Just Hot Air
Some of the fantasy elements in the spring collections might have been inspired by the Paul Poiret exhibition in Paris. The King of Fashion, as he was once known, not only claimed to free women from corsets, but inspired by the Ballets Russes, looked to regional dress for inspiration and a brilliant color palette. In 1911 Vogue reported that the designer’s “distracting jupe-culotte” was “the spring sensation in Paris that is causing a veritable war of chiffons.”
Pillow Talk
Accessing the dream world through sleep, designers did more than continue the pajama party that started at the men’s shows. Sheet-like white cotton was magicked into dresses that wrapped around the body with an offhand elegance, some featuring the textile equivalent of bed head: wrinkles. As if keeping in mind Charlotte Brontë’s reminder that “a ruffled mind makes a restless pillow,” designers opted to soothe and swaddle.
Flesh for Fantasy
Versace’s Dario Vitale and Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello both imagined a pre-right swipe world in which clandestine amorous meetings were conducted in public places. At Schiaparelli a dress displayed skin through tears, while angular hip bones, and more, were revealed by bumsters at Sean McGirr’s McQueen. And then there were the garments that created the illusion of opening up and revealing (somewhat in the teasing manner of the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album cover) Sex appeal? More like sex a-peel.
Let Them Eat Cake
In what can only be described as fashion synchronicity, the spring collections abounded with panniers, petticoats, and pretty rococo flourishes just as a “Marie Antoinette Style” exhibition opened at the V&A Museum in London.
All That Jazz
This year the world marks the 100th anniversary of both Art Deco and the Jazz Age novel, The Great Gatsby. Drop-waisted dresses worthy of the book’s heroine Daisy Buchanan were revived as was the full-skirted robe de style, the rococo flourish of the flapper generation.
Club Khaki
One of the best ways to be ready for action is to adopt a uniform style of dressing. That’s what Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons suggested in Milan, and what Olivier Rousteing did at Balmain, albeit with a more bohemian slant. Who knew there were so many shades of khaki?
A Jill of All Trades
What constitutes women’s work? The range of options has long since expanded beyond the limited confines of Levittown as Miu Miu acknowledged by sending both decorative and functional aprons down the runway, perhaps as a reminder that clothes are a tool for living.
Square Roots
At Celine, Michael Rider exploded the idea of the foulard as a building block of a classical wardrobe by adapting scarf prints to full-body proportions. Scarves of all types, bandanas, and Spanish shawls were transformed into garments. Taking things a step further, designers like Ralph Lauren and Sarah Burton at Givenchy incorporated the gesture of knotting a scarf into their wrapped garments.
High-Wire Acts
At Anrealage tech-friendly designer Kunihiko Morinaga used wires, enabling clothes to move on their own accord. Others, including Courregès’s Nicolas Di Felice, Gucci’s Demna, and Melitta Baumeister, used metal, horsehair, and other supportive materials to create garments that defied the rules of gravity.
Fringe Benefits
Sashes, streamers, trains, and fringe—lots of it—floated down the spring runways. At Bottega Veneta, Louise Trotter’s recycled fiberglass tops looked like sea urchins. Softer was Rachel Scott’s silky fringe at Diotima, while at Chanel there was a feathery aspect to Matthieu Blazy’s embellishments.
Free Rein
Jersey, which both contains the body and moves with it, was cut into dance-like dresses that conjured the elegance and strength of choreographers like Pina Bausch and Martha Graham.
