2010 may well only be a week old but with next season’s Fashion Weeks just over a month away, it’s safe to say that the design houses are already working hard on what you’ll be wearing in 2011.
Us mere mortals perhaps don’t need to think that far ahead but by stocking up on a few little bits and bobs that hint at next season’s trends you can at least be ahead of the game for spring/summer 2010.
Marc Jacobs
Underwear as Outerwear
Not since Madonna pranced around in a conical bra has the fashion world been so excited about the concept of wearing lingerie (or lingerie-inspired garments) for all to see. This isn’t an excuse to flaunt your saggy, greying bra though, so whether you opt for a flirty burlesque take on the trend with corsets and waspies, a more sporty twist with modernist sports bras and chunky bandages of elastic or choose the Parisienne lacy, opaque, frou-frou option, it’s time stock up on some new undies – and a nice big coat to keep you warm.
If the idea of walking the streets in your lingerie is a little too much to handle, look out for lace, opaque fabrics, moulded busts on dresses and tops and hook and eye fastenings on just about everything.
Felder Felder
Fringing
Last season was all about 1920s-esque delicate, elegant fringing on dresses, skirts and lots of gorgeous evening jackets. This spring the trend takes the logical next step to chunkier cowboy style. Forget delicate swathes of multicoloured thread, this time we’re revisiting the 90s with cowgirl/rocker style leather and suede fringe on jacket sleeves, boots and skirts. I am aware that for many people this is about as gross as it gets, but personally I’m all over this one. Just stay away from the beads and dreamcatchers that so often accompany this look. Wolf t-shirts, on the other hand, are still doable. As with last season, the longer and more dramatic the better; just watch yourself on escalators and around automatic doors.
Louis Vuitton
Clogs
Proving that the 90s is still hanging around, the Clueless footwear of choice is back, baby. Clogs are pretty frightening; they’re fucking ugly, they’re not so flattering and they make you walk funny, but since when have any of those things bothered fashion people? Louis Vuitton showed a massive array of the things, in guises including clog boots, clog heels and plain old cloggy clogs.
I feel with some certainty that by summer I’ll have eaten my words and be stomping around in a pair of Louis Vuitton knock-offs, but let’s just wait and see what the high street comes up with. On a related note, lots of shows opted for lower heels this season, perhaps finally signalling a death knoll for the super high platforms of yore? Last season’s attempt at making ‘evening flats’ happen didn’t work, but maybe the catwalk decision to embrace a more wearable heel will be more successful. Fashion; we thank you.
Chloe
Ruffles
On a related note to the lingerie trend, fancy frills are the girly girls finish of choice for spring/summer. Wear with caution. Not only can frills make you look like an enormous overgrown eight year old at a birthday party, they can also make you resemble the furniture in a bedroom of a particularly naff bed and breakfast, valance, doily and all.
Done right, you could resemble this particularly angelic vision at Chloe, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Head to toe white ruffles don’t really fall into the ‘wearable everyday’ category. Stick to blouses and details on dresses and keep those ruffles long and grown up, not pouffy and children’s party dress-esque.
Gucci
Sportswear
In the fickle world of fashion, sportswear, of course, has nothing to do with sports at all. Don’t be so ridiculous! Chanel might make skis, rugby balls and helmets with their logo on, but no-one would suggest you actually used them for any kind of sporting activity. In much the same way, when trend reports tell you that ‘sportswear’ was popular on the runways, they aren’t referring to models slouching along in jogging bottoms, trainers and breathable crop tops.
What it actually means is that a few designers have used mesh, neoprene and other traditional sports fabrics to create their usual dresses and unwearable drop crotch trousers. How could you think anything else? Still, I’m no spoilsport and it’s nice to have intelligent fabrics and interesting new textures to look at. Just don’t try and get in on this trend by wearing your old adidas track jacket, ‘cos that’s pretty much the opposite of what it’s about.
Bottega Veneta
Yellow
Not since the days when they tried to make orange happen has a colour so divided the fashion community. The unfortunate truth is that yellow is a pretty hard colour to carry off by just about all skin tones. It’s not flattering, it doesn’t go with much except white which is also pretty hard to carry off and it’s also so bright and cheering that, personally, I don’t want to waste it on a day at the office.
I have a few yellow dresses that do seem to work and the only times I want to wear them are when I’m on holiday somewhere hot and semi-exotic, not slumped in front of a computer in a concrete tower block in East London. Still, yellow is here and no doubt I’ll end up buying something citrusy just to pretend I’m on holiday and it’s sunny. Ho hum. This Bottega Veneta dress is a case in point. Just looking at it makes me bipolar; I want it! I love summer! I hate it! It will never be warm enough to carry it off! Ho hum, such is fashion.
All pictures c/o Vogue.co.uk