With a few months’ delay, the major trends seen on the catwalks during the Winter Fashion Weeks shows are now arriving on the shelves and in the streets. Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at the silhouettes we’re most likely to come across…
What will the fashion-conscious woman look like this Autumn-Winter 2024-25? Admittedly, the trends spotted on the catwalks of the major fashion houses and designers during last winter’s Fashion Weeks are not always followed to the letter by fashionistas and elegant women…
But the creations covered by the press should find their way more or less into stores, from mass market to luxury. And they’ll be making their presence felt on the streets, in our homes and at social and festive events in the last months of 2024 and the first months of 2025…
See red
This season, the color wheel is set on red, a warm color ideal for raising the temperature.
Designers have slipped it into numerous looks, whether in plain versions, in small touches or within tartans, a pattern that has made a noticeable comeback.
In its plain version, red lit up numerous catwalks, whether in Haute Couture or Prêt-à-Porter, at Gucci of course, declined by Sabato de Sarno via its burgundy hue baptized Red Ancora, which sublimates bags and skirts in patent leather, at Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Schiaparelli, Ferragamo, Jil Sander, Simone Rocha, Isabel Marant or Sportmax…
© Dior/Ferragamo/Isabel Marant/Sportmax
Red is everywhere, day and night, as an accessory or on dresses and coats, on knits and on warp and weft… Sometimes it can even be seen in a total look, as at Ferragamo, which plays with the triptych long red slit dress, high-heeled pumps and matching bag, all in the same beautiful tomato shade.
But it’s also a possible hue for check patterns, particularly tartan, a great classic that came back with a vengeance on many catwalks, from Dior to Chanel, via Burberry, Chloé, Loewe and Acne Studios. But while it’s made more sophisticated with embroidery, fringe and draping, it’s more reminiscent ofVivienne Westwood’s Punk-Victorian heritage than the kilt worn by the well-behaved girls of yesteryear.
Capes and pea coats
Fall-Winter 2024-2025 will have a cinematic “Quai des brumes” feel. Modern-day Michèle Morgan will drape herself in an elegant cape or…a pea jacket, no longer reserved for the descendants of Jean Gabin. As genres have become diluted in the water of the harbor…
Capes are shaping up to be the big trend this fall. They were in the spotlight on this season’s catwalks, with all kinds of variations, for day or night, short or long, classic or more original.
In the vein of everyday elegance, there was no shortage of models, from Chloé ‘s pelerine to Marni’ s classic cape, and from Balmain ‘s black, grey and white check to Carolina Herrera‘s wiser cape, with its round collar and metal buttons,
© Rabanne/Max Mara/Marni/Chloé
Original reinterpretations included Chloé ‘s under-bust mini-cape and Del Core ‘s lacy capes. Other versions, such as Bottega Veneta ‘s immaculate one or Marie Adam Leenaerdt‘s all-leather one, are aimed at those who are bold with distinction.
As for pea coats, while the trend was less assertive than for capes, the sailors’ flagship garment remains in the current wave. Proenza Schouler offers it in authentic dark blue or virginal versions. Prada freshens it up in beige or lemon wax or gives it a more playful look, with a long leather version, a material also adopted by Saint Laurent for a helium-inflated pea coat. Finally, Max Mara‘s coats honor the status of the Italian brand as queen of cashmere and wool, playing with the elegant sobriety of gray, in a six-button version.
Faux fur and…real leather!
Once again this season, the vegan movement is making its mark, but not everywhere.
Fur has more often than not given way to ersatz or hairy, wrap-around fabrics, while leather continues to assert itself as a desirable (and ecological) natural material that cannot be ignored…
In the faux fur category of the Fall-Winter 2024-25 catwalks, classic rubbed shoulders with fantasy. Maxi-coats were offered in mink with a fairy-tale hood by Balenciaga, sober black by Courrèges or contrasting beige with blue trim by Coperni. Michael Kors designed an XXL hooded anorak, while Louis Vuitton created a beige coat speckled with black. But the prize for the most spectacular piece undoubtedly went to Alaïa and its impressive dragée pink coat cut into several tightly-packed “layers”, looking like a cartoon bee dressed for winter!
In an equally audacious vein, but more cozy than chic, the often colorful long-haired skirts or dresses by Carven, Antonio Marras or Diesel also made their mark. These regressive pieces should be back in our own closets.
And while most designers and luxury houses have now generally banned fur from their collections, they have continued to use leather without restraint. In accessories, of course, bags, shoes and belts… But this material has also been used to dress models, whether at Hermès, Khaite or Acne Studios, in the form of bustiers, pants, coats, dresses and jackets. And you can even combine the two in style, as demonstrated by this total look from Ferragamo, featuring a jacket, skirt, long satchel bag and thigh-high boots in the same sensual ochre leather.
The nautical style is still being emulated, in the form of nautical caps (in blue wool at Emporio Armani, black velvet at Dolce & Gabbana or cognac corduroy at Prada) and boat shoes (Fendi). At Chanel, it inspired a herringbone-printed sailor collar for silk blouses.
Feminine
Called “coquette” or “précieuse” by some fashion critics at the Autumn-Winter 2024-25 shows, the trend was obvious in this modern world, where gender differences are predicted to be erased.
This woman is feminine and loves bows, lace and ruffles, transparency and lingerie that reveal her curves and even her nudity.
Casablanca, Courrèges, Coperni, Dior, Gucci, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Saint Laurent and Sportmarx, to name but a few, have paraded a host of nightie dresses all in transparent lace, or “slipdresses”, tight-fitting second-skin dresses.
But feminissime and…feminism can also go hand in hand.
Max Mara played both sides. Its Autumn-Winter 2024-25 show was inspired by the writer Colette, who enjoyed dressing as a man at a time when it represented a real transgression. And so the Italian fashion house offered both androgynous garments (coats and other chic, timeless jackets) and outfits for an assumed woman (with sensual slipdresses, draped tops and ruffles, or skirts and pyjamas embroidered with crystals…).
All that’s left for the fall season is to choose from these innumerable proposals, oscillating as always between baroque and classicism…
Read also > [Luxus Magazine] The preppy style, fashion’s trendiest school uniform
Featured Photo: © Versace/Max Mara/Chloé/Anne Demeleumeester
