The more or less long, wide-cut blazer, worn with a skirt, trousers or shorts, is the unmissable trend for the Fall/Winter 2023/2024 season. The trend can be found across the fashion market, from luxury houses to fast fashion brands, which as always are quick to adapt a bestseller.
As is so often the case, the origin of the silhouette lies with Yves Saint Laurent. Not with the brand, but with the man. Saint Laurent was inspired by the androgynous look of model Betty Catroux, whom he met in a nightclub, to popularize the pantsuit in the 1960s. “American women will want to burn their wardrobes when they see this. […] Saint Laurent’s new cloth men’s suits are the sensation of the season in Paris,” wrote industry newspaper Women’s Wear Daily in 1967 the day after the show.
Inspired by men’s wardrobe, this new look gives women power: power over their bodies but also financial independence. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that this look really hit the streets. The era of the ‘working girls’, which is perfectly illustrated by the costume worn by Melanie Griffith in the film of the same name and which Dolly Parton memorialized with the song ‘9 to 5’, had begun. Many years later, the aesthetic ideal of the power woman is now making a comeback.
The working girl look
On the social network Instagram, which often acts as a fashion compass, the hashtag #tailleurfemme (i.e. women’s costume) gathers almost 55,000 posts from young girls to middle-aged women alike. The hashtag on TikTok is similarly successful. Does the working girl trend come from the streets? This question arises considering that women’s costumes are already widespread at Zara, as the photos of the Spring/Summer 2023 collection show. The image with a green jacket and mini shorts is reminiscent of the Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2023 show. Who gets inspiration from whom here?
It is also striking that the fast fashion brand Shein opened a so-called ‘Creative House’, a new space for creativity, in the second arrondissement of Paris at the end of February 2023. Part of this creative hub is the Bizwear collection, which “reinterprets the classic looks of working girls with bold and unexpected colours. Here the office uniform is modernized and can now be worn for any occasion,” says the ultra fast fashion brand.
Another example are the collection texts of the spring/summer 2023 collection of the mass-market brand Don’t Call Me Jennyfer: “The suit is a synonym for power, it is worn by women as a sign of equality with men, to show their seriousness to the outside world show. Chic, comfy and casual, it’s the perfect outfit for combining a day at work with an after-work party with friends.” For spring and summer 2023, Don’t Call Me Jennyfer has therefore brought out a spring tailoring collection that ranges from the classic three-piece suit to colorful models.
From the office uniform to the privileged social classes
Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent elevated the suiting trend to sacrilege on the catwalks of Paris Fashion Week with his Autumn/Winter 2023/2024 collection. The magazine Numéro headlined: “The costume, more fatal than ever on the catwalk of Saint Laurent”. Broad shoulders, blazers, plain or pinstriped, slit pencil skirts, plunging necklines – the tone for next season is set.
After leaving last winter’s candy pink behind, luxury brand Valentino is rethinking the notion of empowerment: “the power of the individual to influence the social, economic, political or environmental conditions they face”. The style argument used for this is the suit and tie. For the Fall/Winter 2023 season, Pierpaolo Piccioli puts the black tie at the center of a collection revolving around everyday pieces.
“As an instrument of social conformity, uniformity becomes a lens that enhances humanity in order to emphasize personalities,” says Valentino. Rather than suppressing individuality, homogeneity can provide a framework for each human being that emphasizes similarities and differences and amplifies their nuances. “Like the meaning of the black tie broken up and reassembled in a new definition. This is how our perception of formal wear is reconsidered and conventions are broken”.
Perhaps the most surprising element of this new aesthetic was the Balmain Fall/Winter 2023/2024 show. Though creative mind Olivier Rousteing had often invoked the image of warrior women, he had never delved into the Pierre Balmain archives to unearth the famous “Jolie Madame” look: narrow waist, broad shoulders, perfect pleats, ingenious volumes – which established the success of the fashion house in 1945.
When stars and influencers wear tailoring for women
Finally, and this is the biggest surprise, the images of luxury brands’ red carpets and events, which tend to be even more viral than the catwalk images, showed that many stars and influencers are embracing this trend. Alexandra Pereira (2.3 million followers on Instagram), Christine Sun (59 million followers) and Didi Sun (1.6 million followers) showed up in Balmain, while Lena Mahfouf (4 million followers ) chose Dior and Chiara Ferragni (29 million followers) and Emma Stone (656,000 followers) bet on Louis Vuitton. Carla Bruni (773,000 followers), on the other hand, showed up in Saint Laurent. When so many stars and celebrities discover the costume or suit for themselves, it must be the must-have for autumn and winter 2023/2024.
This article was published on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ