Roses lived up to their title as queen of flowers during the recent women’s runway season. Provocative, exaggerated, almost surrealistic applications were seen on shoes, accessories and jewelry, redefining how flowers can break the mold and appear in unexpected and alluring ways for spring, fall and winter.
Anush Mirbegian, Director of Footwear and Accessories at Fashion Snoops shows the accessory trends before the order season.
Beyond their botanical identity, roses evoke their deep resonance in society. With their sharp thorns, they represent intoxicating beauty, mystery and a little darkness. Symbols such as flowers, which grow and thrive tirelessly even in adverse conditions, are particularly poignant given the current global upheaval. Recent setbacks in the global rights of women and girls have further exacerbated the climate of gender injustice. In response, high-profile protests and campaigns such as the #TheWomenLifeFreedomt movement and the Global Alliance to Defend the Right to Bodily Autonomy for All People have emerged. These values-driven societal shifts are having important conversations about women’s issues and the female experience.
Alejandro Gómez Palomo’s collection for Palomo Spain, shown at New York Fashion Week SS24, brought to life the evocative theme of gender equality that deeply resonates with the cultural zeitgeist. Designed in collaboration with Spanish brand Bimba y Lola, the bags have been shaped into oversized leather roses. The jewelry was ornate and starkly surrealistic, with metallic flowers adorning the ears and looped into chokers. Sandy Liang continued her game of girly dress codes with silk rosettes hanging from satin belts. The aptly named designer Rosie Assoulin has long relied on roses as a recurring theme. Here, delicate red petals crowned her flat-soled Mary Janes and adorned the colorful looks with floral pins. Bronx and Banco showed off their artistic skills by presenting vermilion flowers in the form of dangling earrings.
In London, David Koma brought his subversive side to the diversity of the garden. The flowers were decorated with rhinestones and took shape on collars, necklaces and arm cuffs. Bold proportion plays were spotted in blown-up prints on knee-high boots, and thorns were also enlarged, separated from their stems and transformed into metallic hand-held clutches.
To close the season at Paris Fashion Week, Balmain showed off vermilion flowers on hourglass-shaped heels. Lifelike bouquets tumbled from leather bags and roses made from acetate and metal spikes framed red-lensed glasses that depicted a vision through rose-colored glasses. Rose stems are often thrown at the final curtain call of a moving performance as a gesture of recognition, and it seemed fitting that the blooms were also a thematic thread running through Sarah Burton’s final collection for Alexander McQueen. Replicas of English roses were featured on oversized, one-of-a-kind earrings, while silver rings wrapped around the models’ fingers. The flower, reminiscent of duality, could also have been interpreted as a symbolic farewell, as Burton’s departure meant that there would no longer be a leading woman at the creative helm of any of Kering’s brands, a fact that was highlighted when her successor, Seán McGirr, was announced , caused a stir on social media.
As the focus of modern girl culture shifts to what it means to be a woman in today’s world, the evolution of the sugary, pastel, flirty aesthetic with lace, beads and bows (which may have already become too much on social media) is maturing is) is approaching what could be described as a crucial moment of change. It’s no wonder roses associate with deep, sensual reds that are full of vitality and driven by emotion. Consumers are guided by feelings of uncertainty and are looking for a tantalizing sense of optimism during the fall and winter months. Red fulfills this feeling of longing, evokes awe and captures our growing need for experiential design. With the current women’s catwalk season FW 24/25, the appeal of this symbolic flower with its unbridled passion is just around the corner and is becoming bolder than ever.
This translated article previously appeared on FashionUnited.com