4 weeks, 4 attitudes
- Marina Alvarez
- Apr 29, 2016
- 3 min read
It may be in history that fashion started up as a necessity, but it has grown into an art form. A live form of art. It moves, revealing every human being’s past, hobbies and tastes. In fact, each artist captures into a human canvas their own understanding of reality. Indeed, during the different fashion weeks it is easy to discern the feelings that are brought out in every show.
Specially 2015’s spring/summer fashion shows have been much talked about. The most acclaimed may have been the Paris Fashion Week. We saw many new recognizable trends.
1. The main one has certainly been the use of a “neo-african” style. By mixing vague memories of Africa’s traditional ancient heritage, as well as colours and patterns.
The main house promoting the trend was Valentino, who resurrected Africa in Paris. They did it with the boyish, correct and "covered" brand-style. Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia used prints, feathers, tiny pearls worked at Masai’s style and hand-painted bags for their designs. Also brands like Balmain were inspired by the colours of the continent.
2. Meshes, nets and crochet: These conquered the show with silk, chiffons and lace simultaneously with the aim of fulfilling this season’s transparencies trend.
3. The main colours were different shades of blue, black & white.
Milan Fashion Week on the other hand was drowned in the different designs and patterns of Spanish fashion. Designers involved their outfits with bright and cheerful shades and flower patterns combined with flamenco reminiscences.
1. Bibs: to counteract the childish look a bib can create, the designers added a sexy tone. It was done by using hard transparencies and highlighting models’ waist lines. The trend reached its peak in Gucci’s parade but also other houses such as Stella Jean used it.
2. Red & white or red & pink: this combination was used in many shows. Mainly by Fendi, although some others put it on stage too: Max Mara, Giorgio Armani and Ermanno Scervino.
3. Furthermore, this season Milan captured a very feminine woman, who is simultaneously very independent and depicts power and strength. That is the reason why male suits and the army/military design were inculcated in the outfits. They were moreover adapted to women body curves. Some shows caught exploiting this look were Prada and Versace respectively.
New York Fashion Week gave us very few surprises about the personal style of each brand-name. They stayed very loyal to the conventional style; however they incorporated some new trends to renew the classics:
1. Crochet: one of the keys of New York shows is the 70’s reminiscence. That is why they have added crochets to their creations. Tommy Hilfiger served as a perfect example of this trend with their swimsuits, dresses and jumpers.
2. Bright colours to add freshness. For example, Ralph Lauren played with blues, reds and white; however Marc Jacobs took the look so far that the clothes actually had a circus appearance.
3. Naked shoulders. As we have seen, every fashion week had something in common this season, the aim of giving birth to a sensual and seductive woman. The off-shoulder trend was the main character in tops and dresses, as we saw in Diesel Black Gold, Tory Burch and ZAC Zac Posen.
4. Another sensual key was adding silk, giving a lingerie feeling to the most serious designs as was seen in the Calvin Klein Collection.
Probably the most surprising and unexpected is usually the London Fashion Week. It always gives us the key trends to get a way cooler outfit. It is not lead by the purpose of satisfying the needs of the conventional woman. But instead by the aim of showing to the world the designers’ vision of how women clothing should be ludicrous but simultaneously elegant.
1. The one that called the most attention was the X form. Designers chose crossing suspenders of every kind of shape to adorn their outfits. From directly printed on tops and dresses to made with two bags carried at the same time in both shoulders, or even being used as belts to point out the women’s chest, X-forms were seen frequently throughout the week.
2. Colour explosion. This effect has been expressed through multicolour lace looks during Christopher Kane’s show. Gareth Pugh also followed the colour explosion technique in which he transformed his models into Soho’s Saturday night party girls/showgirls. He turned risky, wanting to metaphorically represent the nightlife, sex and brave attitude of London’s heart.
3. No halfway sleeves: they are either voluminous, referring to the 17th century ones, or non-existent.
Consequently, how to define each fashion week in one word?
Paris, sophisticated.
Milan, Mediterranean.
New York, conventional.
London, explosive…
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