The most talked-about collection at the spring/summer 2024 fashion shows was the one that wasn’t there. Phoebe Philo, yet to unveil the first fruits of her eponymous line, which had been originally slated to debut online in September some six years after she departed Céline, dominated the fashion news cycle throughout the month. As the spring/summer 2024 fashion trends piled up, designers waited nervously to see if their collections would be eclipsed by a spontaneous digital drop from a woman many revere as fashion’s messiah.
Short shorts
If you can coolly observe the trend for short shorts https://saloncandnailspa.com/ without your mind immediately replaying that ‘1957’ song by the Royal Teens (or the Homer Simpson homage), well, you’re more culturally robust than we are. Micro shorts pumped down the catwalks in Milan – most memorably opening the new-look Gucci show, now under the direction of Sabato de Sarno – and filtered into Paris, too, at Chanel, Alexander McQueen and Isabel Marant. Think of it as the logical conclusion to autumn’s no-pants predilection.
White noise
Will you say yes to the white dress? Ranging from diaphanous and sheer to embroidered and densely-worked, designers signalled a clear shift away from the euphoric shots of colour and frothy pastels that come around every spring with a bevy of swan-white dresses.
High-rise trousers
Trust Jonathan Anderson to define the season’s silhouette. At Loewe, the designer celebrated his 10-year anniversary at the Spanish house by ushering in a new super-high-waisted trouser shape – so high, in fact, that the trousers came with an in-built corset to hold them in place under the bust. The good news: they’re an instant leg-lengthener, as Anderson’s contemporaries at Alaïa, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Saint Laurent will attest.
Smell the roses
Romance was in the air at Simone Rocha, where fresh, pale pink, long-stemmed roses were trapped between layers of tulle that comprised the prettiest of party dresses. That rose theme curiously persisted across fashion’s four main cities for spring. Olivier Rousteing, feeling philosophical after most of his Balmain collection was stolen several days before his show, quoted Gertrude Stein’s 1913 poem ‘Sacred Emily’ with its famous line “Rose is a rose is a rose” ahead of a floral-bedecked outing;
Polo club
If Mrs Prada says the polo shirt feels right again, who are we to disagree? With Miu Miu riding high as one of the most influential fashion shows on the calendar, prepare to see a lot more of the humble collared cotton style, which was styled with everything from men’s board shorts to ruffled micro-mini skirts, gold brocade shift dresses to sequin-embellished blouses. That country club mood persisted elsewhere, with rugby shirts making an appearance at Dries Van Noten and DSquared2, and flip-flops and spa towels accessorising looks at Chanel and The Row respectively. The key to making it feel effortless? Just remember to muss up your hair. No one likes a prim prepster.
