After the last designers presented their creations at Paris Fashion Week, fashion month is now over in the four major fashion metropolises. This year’s program was peppered with much-discussed debuts and farewells, but what ultimately remains are some key impressions for spring/summer 2024. It was a season marked by journeys through the fashion worlds of the past, which paved the way for the trends of tomorrow. FashionUnited has summarized the most important trends for you.
90s minimalism and Y2K denim
New York Fashion Week was not only the starting signal for the fashion weeks in the four major cities, but also set the tone for one of the first trends of the season with the debut of Peter Do at the 90s cult label Helmut Lang. Not only Do was in the mood for the minimalism of bygone times, other designers in Milan, Paris and London also reveled in memories and simplicity.
The simple silhouettes of the 90s were taken up in combinations of tank tops and long skirts or slim, black suit trousers by designers such as Acne Studios Jonny Johansson or Svitlana Bevza from the label Bevza of the same name. The latter chose a transparent mesh fabric to give her black complete look depth, while 90s parade child Helmut Lang opted for a black jersey dress with thin straps and knee-high boots that is reminiscent of the spirit of icons of the decade like Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy .
However, 90s nostalgia is not enough to knock the Y2K trend, which has been omnipresent for several seasons, from its throne. This season, fashion designers paid particular attention to denim fabric and revived it in the look of the 2000s. Specifically, that means: wide trouser legs and low-slung jeans, where the hem can also drag a little on the floor.
The low-slung jeans are paired with crop tops or bra tops, ideally also on denim, to give the “Canadian Tuxedo”, i.e. the combination of two pieces made of denim, a sexy update, as Dion Lee and Di Petra do For a more everyday option, the trousers can be worn with a short baby T-shirt with a logo print and an open bomber jacket, like Didu.
Practical Magic
Practicality isn’t necessarily the first word typically associated with the collections of designers in the world’s fashion capitals, but for SS24, some of them are all about functional details and practical cuts. The resulting ‘utility trend’ gives workwear and items often borrowed from the military a fashionable update and turns functionality into a fashion statement.
However, a touch of Y2K is not far away from the ‘utility trend’, as the cargo trousers with their large, patch pockets, which are currently popular with designers, had their moment in the spotlight in the early 2000s. Now not only this model, but also so-called boiler suits or overalls are back on the catwalks of brands such as The Attico, JW Anderson and Saint Laurent, with designer Anthony Vaccarello proving how elegant functionality can be.
80s power suits
But the fashion look back doesn’t stop with Y2K or the 90s, because when it came to suits, many fashion designers for SS24 seemed to look to the 80s, or rather the shoulders of the 80s. Oversized tailoring has of course been a trend for several seasons, but next spring it will be the shoulders in particular that will be available in XXL format. This stylish exaggeration of the shoulder area gave outfits a self-confident, powerful aesthetic more than 40 years ago and was worn by many women as an expression of emancipation and professional self-confidence, qualities that are still of great importance today.
Designers in particular are relying on the trend, which gives them self-confidence. For her first collection at Carven, Louise Trotter showed a structured gray jacket in an XXL version with a pronounced shoulder area with a top of the same color and a slightly transparent skirt, while Stella McCartney dedicated herself to the trouser suit, also focusing on the wearer’s shoulders. But not only female designers, their male colleagues also underlined this trend; another jacket-skirt combination with emphasized shoulders was also seen in Matthew Williams’ collection for Givenchy, among others.
Micro shorts
Bringing a very specific part of the body into focus is also the aim of the micro shorts for SS24, because here on the catwalks everything revolves around the wearer’s (often endlessly long) legs. While the shorts, which were almost considered underwear last season, were still seen here and there this year, versions for SS24 are still micro, but a little more suitable for everyday use than their extreme predecessor models.
In particular, the new addition to Gucci’s creative leadership, Sabato De Sarno, is relying on shorts for SS24, whether in combination with blouses, bra tops or in burgundy leather with a casual hoodie with a logo print. A more elegant version was seen at Gabriela Hearst’s last show for Chloé, as the designer paired ultra-short black shorts with a leather-look bomber jacket, while Tom Ford debutant Peter Hawkings went for sex appeal and paired a cream-colored short with an open one of the same color Leather jacket and lots of accessories.
Navel gazing
The next trend for SS24 is also revealing, because it looks deep. This season, belly buttons have always made an unexpected statement, but not in the “traditional way” à la Y2K, thanks to crop tops or low-slung jeans, but thanks to sophisticated cut-outs that were the order of the day for many designers.
Designer Christopher Esber, who traveled to Paris from Australia, is known for cutouts and draping in his designs and sent a white bustier dress with a diamond-shaped cut-out at the middle down the catwalk for SS24. Alberta Ferretti, on the other hand, opted for a flowing red evening dress with a similarly small cutout that just barely reveals the wearer’s navel, while a white, long-sleeved bodysuit at Courreges was decorated with a long, oval cut-out below the chest up to the belly button .
Transparent skirts
The trend of transparent skirts, which were seen in droves on the catwalks of various designers, is also more covered in material and yet still revealing. What sounds wicked is, depending on the degree of transparency, not only suitable for everyday use but almost suitable for the office, as the combination of a slightly transparent skirt with a high-necked cashmere sweater from Coperni proved.
Of course, the good piece can be suitable for parties, as has been skilfully demonstrated with semi-transparent, sequined versions at N 21 and Proenza Schouler.
Feathers and fringed splendor
Not every trend is expressed in a specific item of clothing or an explicit vibe; sometimes it is recurring elements that leave a lasting impression at the end of a season and provide a groundbreaking foretaste of the trends of the coming season.
When it comes to SS24, there seems to be no escape from fringes and feather looks. In each of the four fashion capitals there were different presentations and variations of these elements, which adorned both evening and everyday fashion. While you have to look twice to see the feathers on a cream-colored, partly torn dress at Loewe, you can admire them in all their paradisiacal splendor on a floor-length dress at Bottega Veneta. Calcaterra went for a similar look to Bottega Veneta, but shortened the version and presented a cream-colored feather bandeau top with sherbet-colored wide-leg pants.
Anyone who thought feathers and fringes were more or less the same will be proven wrong in spring/summer 2024. Both elements are definitely visually related to each other, but achieve different impressions depending on their use. How versatile and changeable fringes can be became clear on the catwalks of brands like Akris and Burberry. Both relied on a variety of thin fringes for their dresses, but while the Swiss label’s dress was elegant, Burberry’s shorter version impressed with its casualness. Prada, in turn, colored the fringes silver and made the tinsel-like elements the focal point of the spring collection.