Street style trends of fall season

02 Oct, 2020 - 00:10 0 Views
Street style trends of fall season

eBusiness Weekly

It’s been nearly 100 years since fashion shows became the pre-eminent way to see designers’ new collections, and just 15 since we began digitally archiving what everyone wore to see them.

So much has changed on both fronts — the clothes in the shows, the people in the front row, and what those people are wearing — but one thing that’s remained a constant is the notion of trends.

While it no longer feels modern for a designer to flit between arbitrary references from season to season, it’s inevitable that certain themes, items, and silhouettes will converge to form a season’s overarching message (or several messages, as we’ve noticed lately).

Our survey of street style in the 2010s revealed how certain years were clearly defined by specific, identifiable trends and items, like 2013’s Balenciaga sweatshirts or 2015’s Vetements jeans. But as the years go on, the question of what “everyone” is wearing becomes harder to answer. Some women are embracing Hedi Slimane’s bourgeois elegance in head-to-toe Celine; others are embracing the new era of “sexy” à la Gucci and Saint Laurent; and some continue to ignore capital-F fashion entirely to evolve their own eclectic personal aesthetic.

Taken together, they all paint a compelling picture of not just where fashion is right now, but how it’s factoring into our real lives — emphasis on real.

Street style was one a place for wild statements and multiple outfit changes, but in the face of climate change, a contentious US election, and the threat of the coronavirus, people are moving away from such conspicuous excess in favour of simpler, more practical clothes. A relaxed suit worn with sneakers or boots was such a popular look this month that we can’t even call it a trend; it’s simply what everyone packed!

Below, we distilled 906 of Phil Oh’s street style photos from New York, London, Milan, and Paris down to the eight biggest trends.

The year-round white dress

Rain? What rain? Even in gray and gloomy Paris, a sheer, floaty, feminine white dress became the uniform for many women, inclement weather (and red wine) be damned.

For most of them, these dresses are hardly a trend, nor are they really new; a breezy summer dress has become a wardrobe staple just like jeans and T-shirts. The trend for white dresses in particular is curious, though, and not just for fear of dirt and grime; a few years ago, we might have considered a lacy white dress “too bridal,” but it doesn’t even cross our minds now. In fact, similar non-wedding wedding dresses were all over the fall 2020 runways, designed for the bride who wants to say “I do” in Loewe as well as the girl with zero plans to walk down the aisle.

Forever eclectic

Often our favourite street-stylers are the ones who don’t quite fit into any “trend” or category — people like Michelle Elie, Mykki Blanco, and Alton Mason. They’re Phil Oh regulars with their own distinct, highly personal tastes, and they likely don’t much notice what others are wearing, let alone care.

They’re a reminder that no matter which way the pendulum swings, we can always rely on a contingent of eclectic rule breakers with style that’s just as inspiring.

This season, the common denominator for most of them was an abundance of mixed prints, bold colours, and unlikely combinations; consider it the opposite of a contrived “total look,” and a riposte to the effortless ease of tailoring.

The long and short of it

Hemlines continue to rise and rise both on and off the runways. This season we saw some of the tiniest skirts yet, often styled without tights despite the winter chill. After years of midi-skirts and flowing, romantic gowns, it was only natural that the opposite would suddenly look fresh, but it might also have something to do with the bold new kind of sensuality we’ve seen on the runways of Gucci, Mugler, and Christopher Kane. As we inch toward spring and summer, it’s fair to expect that more and more women will embrace this leggy, liberated look.

Colour stories

In the absence of thematic trends like ’60s mod and ’90s grunge, a common approach to getting dressed this season was to simply choose one colour and layer it from head to toe. In many cases, it was more tonal than monochromatic: Consider Indira Scott’s shades of white and ivory, or Candace Marie’s palette of kelly green and emerald. Another showgoer expertly mixed chartreuse and saffron, while Jordan Roth made the case for a single shock of cherry red. It’s an eye-catching, relatively easy formula for getting ready in a hurry without resorting to neutrals like black or camel.

The only boots that mattered this season

The bourgeois look quickly trickled down from the runway to the streets last year, and while we’re still seeing plenty of blazers and pleated skirts, the most lasting contribution of the trend is the knee-high boot.

After years of stacked-heel ankle boots and sensible lace-ups, virtually everyone packed a suede or leather knee-high style this season.

They’re a no-brainer trick for winterising a summer dress — a friend recently explained how much warmer you are when your shins are encased in leather! — but several women tucked jeans or loose trousers into their riding boots, too. Even better, there’s a knee-high boot for virtually every taste, whether you’re more into an equestrian vibe or want something a bit kinkier, like skin-tight patent.

Animal spots, stripes, and scales

Remember when leopard coats became a trend back in, say . . . 2014? They’re still going strong on the streets (and the runways), but lately we’ve been seeing other animal kingdom motifs too, like zebra stripes and snake prints. Dries Van Noten’s zebra coats came in trippy acid shades, while Riccardo Tisci brought his signature more-natural-looking deer spots to Burberry via puffers and handbags. What’s really new about the trend is that men are beginning to embrace it too.

50 shades beige — and brown

A year and a half ago, the spring 2019 runways were so awash in beige that the color occupied an entire category in our seasonal trend report.

Beige was still everywhere this season, leaning bourgeois or minimalist depending on how it was styled.

But the best looks had a richer, earthier feeling to them with darker hits of chocolate, caramel, and cognac. The real takeaway is that there’s no one shade of “nude” out there; every woman can find the colours that work best for her.

Leather ladies

The fall 2020 menswear shows feel like they ended months ago, but in reality it’s hardly been six weeks.

Men’s and women’s trends continue to hew closer together, and one that’s already overlapped is head-to-toe leather. The glossy jackets and matching trousers we saw on guys at Rick Owens, Lemaire, and Alexander McQueen proved just as inspirational to women, who experimented with bolder colours and textures on the streets.

Like some of the other trends presented here, there’s serious utility in an all-leather kit: It’s a two-step outfit that looks sleek and a bit tougher than what we’re used to.

It’s worth pointing out that the timing of our leather obsession is a bit odd, given the concern for climate change and fashion’s impact on the planet. As a by-product of the meat industry, which is responsible for extremely high carbon emissions, leather’s carbon footprint is significant. Let’s hope some of these looks were vegan, and that designers will bring us new, non-animal alternatives next season. — www.newsbreak.com/amp

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