Sitting in the audience of show after show, your brain begins to keep a running dialogue of the congruency between collections. Perhaps those twisted gauze dresses I spotted at Proenza Schouler reminded me of similar shirts at Helmut Lang. Or The blobby sleeves at Khaite channeled the bubble hems at Altuzarra. Inevitably, fabrics repeat, silhouettes resurface, and concepts replicate. This season—as they always manage to do—some overarching themes emerged.
The pent-up pandemic-induced urgency for ostentation reduced to a steady simmer, giving way to real clothes. Though I hope never to hear the phrase “quiet luxury” again, many designers favored wearability over superfluity—but did not embrace minimalism in a commercialized, boring manner. Oddity, creativity, and sex appeal came through more subtly this season, best exhibited in the case of one designer. Tory Burch emerged as a winner of the week, reminding audiences that the logo-embossed ballet flat is merely child’s play compared to what the eponymous designer can create when the guardrails lift.
Generalizations aside, the overlaps between collections allow us to analyze the season’s values—my favorite part of fashion. Below, we’ve rounded up the seven most prominent ideas we clocked over the past week for you to pick apart and apply to your wardrobe whenever you see fit.
Shirt or Sheet
Gabriela Hearst
Bedsheet dressing is our favorite trend to emerge this year, and it cemented its prowess on the Spring ‘24 runways. Crispy white poplin (in which you’d want to cocoon yourself) took the form of shirting at Bevza, sheaths at Fforme, dresses at Altuzarra, skirts at Tibi, trousers at Proenza Schouler, and jackets at 3.1 Phillip Lim.
Bad Romance
Coach
“I want your love, and all your lovers’ revenge.” Lady Gaga would definitely approve of the moody yet romantic spin many designers put on their collections this season, whether that was dark floral at Puppets and Puppets or black lace at Eckhaus Latta—it was giving Marc Jacobs at the Met Gala in 2012.
Swathed
Luar
Mummy-dressing meets Greek goddess in these swathed confections. In cases like that of Proenza Schouler and Helmut Lang, designers selected gauzy mesh fabrics and draped them around the models’ bodies. Luar and Tibi opted for heavier fabrics that achieved similar effects.
Hipster
Jason Wu
Though it is odd how the industry picks body parts to make trendy, it seems they’re turning attention towards the hips this season. Designers like Jason Wu and Phillip Lim exhibited their take on a modern peplum, while Carly Mark of Puppets and Puppets and Adeam exaggerated the proportions of that section of the body.
Blob Dressing
Brandon Maxwell
The antidote to power dressing, blob dressing prioritizes comfort without sacrificing luxury. This blob-like approach emerged in two fashions this season. First, Altuzarra and Khaite embraced bulbous bubble hems. Fforme and Tibi subtly embraced all-over washes of one color in oversized silhouettes in a more subtle take.
We All Want to Be Helmut
Coach
All eyes were on designer Peter Do as he reinterpreted the Helmut Lang archives for the first time, but a few other brands added that imagery to their moodboards, as well. Lang’s iconic weird and edgy take on ‘90s minimalism emerged in the collections of newcomer Grace Ling, Dion Lee, and Proenza Schouler.
A Bra is A Shirt Is A Bra
Altuzarra
As proved in the first category on this list, the concept of a “shirt” is subjective. Budding for the past few seasons, bras have now taken residence under this umbrella category, as exhibited in the collections of Prabal Gurung and Altuzarra. For those who feel hesitant about baring all, take a note from the styling of Khaite and Collina Strada and allow yours to simply peek out from beneath a garment.