The groundhog has spoken that spring is coming early this year, and what better way to celebrate that than by revealing what spring fashion has in store for us? 2023 brought some unique fashion trends (looking at you, MSCHF Big Red Boot) and while few have made it out alive, it seems like others might be sticking around. After seeing what the great designers at the Spring/Summer 2024 Fashion Week have shown us, here’s what we’re predicting the trends will look like for this upcoming season.
Nearly every designer showed off some elegant white pieces for this season. A key note to this is that the white is intended to feel light, airy and free, as Prada designers said to Vogue. Long, unstructured white pieces will be all over the market this season, more than likely in the form of sundresses and wide leg pants. White was sprinkled all over the business casual fashion of the season, as well, with lots of trousers, button-downs, and collared shirts. Yes, you read that right—collared shirts. Ralph Lauren has decided that this season we will be returning to collared shirts and business casual to offset the unstructured, flowy white pieces that we’ll see. Celine also featured several collared business casual pieces during their presentation of their spring/summer collection. Expect to see blazers, white button downs, and wide leg pants.
True to the coquette trend that’s been flooding TikTok this past month, Fashion Week showcased designers’ usage of flowers, lace, and pearls. Balmain and Simone Rocha both featured some delicate pieces with roses, using them to form 3D bows as well as patterns. Open knits or mesh that we frequently see on the runway were replaced with soft lace and open-concept patterns like Ganni’s white lace-knit cardigan that respects with the flowy white trend as well. Pearls were flaunted all over the runway this season, much like Balmain did last FW23, and it should be expected to see pearl-studded pieces and pearl jewelry all spring. The florals, lace, and pearls are screaming coquette and the color trends for this season don’t stray from that.
Delicate Pastels & Sensual Reds
Giorgio Armani showed off all the best colors of the season with his models draped in soft pinks, purples, and blues. The girly colors spanned through all designers on the runway, showing off the feminine touch that crafted this season’s clothes. Pinks, purples, and blues were the most common pastels, but they weren’t the only ones. Designer ApuJan featured all of those as well as some gentle yellows and corals. Deep, seductive reds and blacks also slithered their way into the show to add a touch of femme fatale to the flirty coquette. Sandy Liang nailed the coquette pastel look with her Virgin Suicides movie inspired dress featured puffy sleeves, an elongated torso, pink gingham, a lace bottom and a pearl necklace.
While many of the other fashion trends of the season were consistent with one another, formalwear took two distinct paths. Designers like Alexander McQueen and Ralph Lauren produced sleek metallic looks that featured tight gowns and golds, bronzes, and silvers. Contrarily, others like Rodarte and Christian Siriano pushed out fluffy floral dresses in pink and white. The ruffles look like they will be an important trend for this season of formalwear. To me, the tight metallic dresses seem more reminiscent of fall/winter trends than spring/summer, so it is an interesting choice to bring it in for this early season.
This season is going to lean heavily on femininity and girly aesthetics, which is a huge win for pink and lace loving girls like myself. Obviously, we won’t all be buying from Dior and Valentino, so interpreting the trends into everyday wear will be important. Colors will be huge since that’s easy to get from any clothing store. Along with that, finding pieces with lace, pearls or delicate patterns to accentuate the girliness will show off the trends. Pearl necklaces will definitely be having a comeback and flowy sundresses will be a summer staple. Short-shorts are in and collared shirts are cool again. This is going to be a season of early 2000s clothes mixed with the girly coquette style, and I’m all for it.