The Spring/Summer 2017 shows have drawn to a close and it can be said that it was a season filled with escapism, activism and storytelling. S/S’17 showed us a glimpse into the future of the fashion industry, as well as a glance back over at the bygone days of bold fashion theatrics. The sartorial range varied from wearable to wondrous or ‘see-now-buy-now’ to imaginative. Reflecting this adventure’s new mood, next season’s trends are quite diverse in nature, reeling back metallic and power shoulders from the ’80s and then indulging in a new wave of maximalist utility garments. Here are the top five themes and looks that resonated the most with the designers…
Statement Metallics
Metallics were all over the S/S ’17 runways, from silver lamé and polished brass, to molten gold; the trend was seen on the catwalks at Marques’ Almeida, MM6 Maison Margiela, Paula Knorr, Christopher Kane and Versus. While Marques’ Almeida opted for reflective bell-bottom flared trousers, Paula Knorr swathed her models in silver leather that offset her art-school prints. Meanwhile, Versus Versace featured mini-dresses with pleated silver lamé inserts. Sequins and sparkle were used at Kenzo, Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton. Christopher Kane went all out by putting shiny dresses with pleats on the runway as Maison Margiela used a subtle silver jacket.
Potent Pink
Pink has become fashion’s official favourite new colour, this season, beginning with the neon looks at NYFW, continuing throughout Europe and coming full circle at PFW. In the City of Light, however, the hue de rigueur at Balenciaga, Céline and Valentino, among others, was more of a take-charge magenta fuchsia. From Molly Goddard’s fluoro-pink, tulle-dress-wearing, ’90s New York City ravers, to Paul Smith’s Pepto-Bismol pink power suits – pink are trending. Valentino chose to mix the strong shade of pink with red on floor-length dresses as Givenchy mixed the two shades through styling with red shoes, Hermes lent the shade to casual jumpsuits and Céline offered a pastel pink palette.
Absolutely ’80s
The decade is still a major theme throughout the Spring ’17 shows, and Paris designers as Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent, Nicolas Ghesquière at Vuitton and Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga took it to the next level with puffy sleeves, ruching galore and embellishments. The catwalks were full of metallics, leather, 10-denier tights, stilettos and anything ruched. Vacarello’s collection for Saint Laurent had a lot of this, as did Balenciaga, along with leather trench coats. Isabel Marant’s collection had padded jackets, floral prints, frilly sandals but a short red metallic dress had the shot of sheen, Louis Vuitton added jackets with puffed sleeves and pants with cinched waists, Emanuel Ungaro sent out models in one-shoulder dresses with exaggerated sleeves.
Streetwear
Streetwear is back like never before-hoodies, sweat suits, T-shirts, sports-inspired silhouettes and deconstructed denim are the ‘It’ items, thanks to brands like Vetements, Gosha Rubchinskiy and Off-White, but for Spring 2017, designers mixed these streetwear staples in with high-fashion silhouettes and couture-like construction. For example, Virgil Abloh made track pants office appropriate with his ‘business woman’ themed collection at Off-White, and Fenty x Puma juxtaposed athleisure pieces with gowns and corsets creating a beautiful synergy between the two. Sacai styled a patch-worked bomber jackets on knee-length dresses and Junya Watanabe chose to pair shiny track pants with heeled boots.
Modern Utility
Introducing modern utility, the S/S ’17 trend, first spotted at the resort collections of Calvin Klein, Jil Sander and Jil Oh to name a few. Lightweight and belted are the only qualities that the summer jacket needs to achieve instant effortless style. Cargo pockets were everywhere, hooded nylon anoraks, bungee cord drawstrings. Utilitarian-inspired looks were seen at Stella McCartney with one-pieces cinched by drawstrings and fanny pack belts, Vetements who showcased simple jumpsuits boasting of oversized pockets and contrast piping, Balmain who designed short restructured dresses with flap pockets and in shades of brown. What felt noteworthy was how designers took that concept, and took it to new high fashion heights, this Spring.
