With another season of fashion weeks drawing to a close, and despite the somewhat sombre mood that swept the fashion capitals from New York to Paris, the Autumn/Winter 2020 catwalks offered plenty of food for thought on how to get dressed come next autumn, with a wealth of trends unfolding fresh off the runway.

Leather

Leather is a winter wardrobe mainstay season after season, but a plethora of AW20 collections explored new styles and silhouettes. Coach offered a lesson is layering leather, with colour-blocked leather culottes, midi-skirts and button-down shirts worn under pastel cardigans, oversized trench coats and shearling jackets. Hermès horse-jumping-inspired show featured supple leather ensembles in buttery shades, while Gabriela Hearst’s foray into leather came in the form of a caramel-coloured puff-sleeve leather dress.

Fringing

Fringing appeared in generous measures on the catwalks at all four fashion weeks but was particularly prevalent in Milan, where pleats were chopped up into fringe at Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo coated black dresses with golden trimmings, while Boss and Jil Sander sent iterations of silk-fringed evening dresses down their respective runways. At Bottega Veneta, Daniel Lee – arguably the most celebrated designer in the industry today – unveiled myriad shredded designs, with dresses finished with acidic lime green tassels and an updated take on the brand’s coveted woven pouch bag featuring exaggerated fringe.

Capes

The outerwear option du jour, billowing capes were ubiquitous across the four cities, with generously-cut shapes bringing a sense of sartorial drama to the catwalks. Michael Kors championed blanket dressing with an abundance of cashgora cape coats served up in cosy fabrics and warming winter colour palettes, while at JW Anderson knitted capes and layers of tinsel-trimming belled out from the shoulders of dresses.

Checks

The collective infatuation among designers for checks was unfading this season, manifesting itself in abundant iterations of tartan, gingham and heritage checks. In New York, Claudia Li’s translucent vinyl pleated-midi and blazer combination came in punchy pink gingham, while Monse dipped into mismatched tartan with skirts secured by safety pins and worn with punkish lace-up boots. Across the Atlantic at London Fashion Week, Burberry returned to its roots with remixed heritage checks in innovative cuts, and Shrimps gave the print a regal touch in a potent orange, pink and green colourway.

Chocolate Brown

Brown is the new black – at least according to the AW20 runways. Chocolatey shades are solidifying their place in the sartorial stratosphere, firmly entrenching their place in the palette of neutrals that have dominated the catwalks and streets for the past few seasons. Chocolate-coloured outerwear seems to be emerging as an autumn/winter wardrobe essential, tackled with aplomb at Victoria Beckham and Emilia Wickstead, while A.W.A.K.E Mode offered a quilted velvet version with an exaggerated collar. At Jil Sander, a bell-sleeved leather shirt with matching pants was rendered head-to-toe in the shade, while Christopher Kane swathed a pleated bra-dress from the chest down in the sweet hue.

Equestrian Trappings

An affluent array of designers paid homage to equestrian style and turning out bourgeois tailoring this season, with Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski’s show for Hermès plunging into the brand’s heritage for a show centred entirely around the sport. Elsewhere, Hedi Slimane continued his three-season-running ode to the ‘70s bourgeois French girl at Celine, in the form of equestrian-style knee-high boots, horse-bit belts and gold-chain accessories, this time injected with a bohemian edge, meanwhile Shrimps’ regal-inspired show was populated with tartan Victorian jackets worn with riding pants and silk foulards.

Gothic Glam

A certain darkness hung over the collections at Valentino – where floods of black replaced last season’s explosions of colour – and Anna Sui – whose horror film-inspired collection gave way to burnout velvet and vampire-esque leather – as if to reflect the sombre shadow over fashion week of the Coronavirus crisis and the ongoing conversation around fashion’s negative impact on the environment. Showgoers at Paco Rabanne witnessed a procession of decadent embellishment, ornate tapestry dresses and a play on dress as armour in the form of chain-mail dresses in a collection that explored medieval dress codes. At Rodarte, gothic glam met romanticism in eerily beautiful silhouettes that married dark energy with delicate details from puff sleeves and tiered ruffles to floral-print silks and embroidery.

Iridescence

The runways were equally awash iridescence and sparkling ensembles to lift the winter mood and see us through the party season. Rejina Pyo gave high-sheen glamour an office-attire twist, pairing a pearly puff-shouldered blouse with a sleek wool midi-skirt and knee-high boots. Others presented an inundation of red carpet-appropriate attire and party-ready bedazzled ball gowns – Julien Dossena reinterpreted Paco Rabanne’s signature chain-mail silhouette with a thread of fantastical glamour; Erdem injected a dose of 1920s glam into a silver dress decorated with tiered embroidery; and Halpern wrapped models in shimmering metallics with statement sleeves.

Words by Ruby McAuliffe

Graphics by Katie Janes

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Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend, clearly hadn’t imagined what was to come in the footwear department in the 21st century. From stud embellishments at McQueen to fisherman boots at Maison Margiela, Voir has taken delight in shortlisting 5 of the season’s finest, to deliver the top styles you should be obsessing over.

1. Alexander McQueen

2. Marc Jacobs

3. Dior

4. Celine

5. Maison Margiela

The post Editor’s Eye: 5 Stylish Shoes for Summer appeared first on Voir Fashion.

daytime trend.

We have all had that gut-wrenching feeling when we have woken up, looked at the clock and realised you are already late for work. Panic mode! Clearly you know you’d be lying if you said you haven’t wished you could just hop out of bed in your pj’s, pulled on a pair of your most uber cool boots, and be boardroom-ready in an instant!!

Now you can, well, kind of! This SS17 nightwear IS daywear. Take inspiration from the likes of Lanvin, Vionnet and Ashley to embrace one of the quirkiest trend mash-ups we have had in a while, and be prepared to take on the ‘I woke up like this!’ attitude.

The post Trend Alert: Day for Night – From Boudoir to Boardroom appeared first on Voir Fashion.

Fashion writing comes in all shapes and sizes, but anyone who opens a trend analysis with

“Move over Pretty, there’s a new girl in town and she’s riding the crest of cool…..”

has in my eyes, already entered the vaults of fashion eloquence.

Step forward Voir’s very own Sarah Holden, gifted in the art of trend journalism, and poised, ready to deliver seasonal trend reports to the eager fashion devotee. Autumn/Winter 2013 was a memorable season, and rather than dissect Ms Holden’s offering, here is the entire article uncut for you to savour.

Hip&Runway

Move over Pretty, there’s a new girl in town and she’s riding the crest of cool….

There’s been a definite shift in the fashion mainstream this season whereby functional became cool again, street became catwalk and an unprecious approach to dressing up took pole position. Cool is the new chic, grunge is the new polished and sultry femininity took a master class from the boys.

His and hers

Unisex cuts both ways this season. Whereby his was only formerly hers, oversized unisex sweatshirts and bomber jackets seen at Kenzo, Givenchy and Saint Laurent marked a style revolution for both men and women. Not just confined to street couture the trend worked it’s way through the androgynous tailoring that stormed the same catwalks where even the most masculine of cuts boasted a feminine allure from the skinny zipped leathers at Saint Laurent, the outsized frock coats and tux jackets at Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney and the sporty-luxe tailoring at Elizabeth and James.

Tartan Army

Tartan, plaid and fantasy checks marked a mood shift from minimal to maximal as fashion’s new tartan armies took charge of the catwalks this season.

The traditional McQueen tartan was reworked with a contemporary spin whilst Stella McCartney and Céline cut an oversized silhouette from colourful combinations of Tartania. More than a fleeting trend, check-mania was also a firm favourite on the catwalks for spring and summer 2014 cast in zesty palettes on the catwalks of Céline and Carven and contrasted with painterly prints, bold graphics and feminine florals.

All Weather Leather

‘Leather forever’ is the style mantra of the fash pack each and every season and autumn winter’s offerings came in their edgy droves- zip embellished mini skirts from Saint Laurent, stretch-leather skinnies from Les Chiffoniers and those to-die-for suede and leather trousers, sheepskin coats and biker jackets from Isabel Marant and Balenciaga, worn with the lightest of chiffon layers, sultry lace and heavily embellished counterparts for evening.

Fast-forward to spring and summer and all weather leather was hitting fashion’s highest notes thanks to modern advancements in leatherworks – think pastel shades and feather-light options guaranteed to add a grunge-luxe edge to even the most polished of looks.

Great Lengths

Designers went to extreme proportions this season to deliver those great(er) lengths, mini and maxi proportions. Supersized knits versus super skinny trousers, hemlines hit the calf, jeans were given the crop and even accessories came under and oversized.

As heels came down, tops went up to reveal a fashion’s newest erogenous zone – the midriff, another style keeper to ‘bare’ in mind for SS14 and the biggest trend in arm candy came from the ‘mini’ bags that emulated their supersized predecessors seen at Givenchy, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga to take from day to night • Sarah Holden

To enjoy more from AW13 season, click here

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