February and March offered an almost nonstop procession of runway shows. Certainly New York Fashion Week, which took place the second week of February, gets a lot of attention, as do the shows immediately following that in London, Milan and Paris. However, smaller events, such as Copenhagen Fashion Week, Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo and Shanghai Fashion Week, have given the fashion industry a broader, global view of how trends can morph and adapt as they circle the globe.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the international fall-winter 2024 shows.
Extra Cozy
Geo-political unrest may be what’s pushed designers to want to envelop everyone in over-the-top softness and oversized everything, especially when it comes to knitwear.
Super-chunky knit cardigans were on display at Kunihiko Morinaga’s first menswear collection for Anrealage Homme in Tokyo, and massive loops of yarn were turned into cowls, capes, ponchos and bags at Stella McCartney in Paris. Also in Paris, Seán McGirr made his debut for Alexander McQueen by showing face-engulfing fluffy jackets and cowled sweaters. At JW Anderson’s London show, models wore minidresses that looked like they’d been knit on gigantic needles.
Meanwhile, at Sprayground’s Shanghai show, the idea was taken to its natural extreme with a sweeping cape made entirely of the brand’s signature stuffed animals.
Animal nature
Fur — both faux and real — made a dramatic, if controversial, return to dozens of runways, cementing the mob wife aesthetic for another winter.
In Copenhagen, Acne Studios showed fur coats, jackets and accessories nearly as wide as the runway over leather outfits. Meanwhile in Milan, Miu Miu offered up short fur jackets, and Diesel presented jackets practically bursting with fur linings. Yellow and pink fur also showed up in accessories for creative director Ibrahem Kamara’s first Off-White show in Paris. Meanwhile in London, Burberry had faux fur jackets, coats and trim. At Saint Laurent’s Paris show, models in transparent nylon clothing exchanged fur for feathers, and wore or carried piles of frothy maribou.
Twisted basics
Wearable clothing doesn’t have to blend into the background, as seen on multiple runways this season.
Dries Van Noten, who just announced he’d be leaving his design duties at his namesake label, showed quiet luxury pieces in Paris that were draped and folded to add subtle shaping. In Tokyo, Mister It showed ruffled blazers, pants and button-downs made fanciful with attached tulle and capes. Bottega Veneta offered draped suiting separates and roomy coats in Milan, while AO Yes showed sharply tailored, draped suiting paired with skinny ties and sweet bows in Shanghai.
Chemena Kamali made her Chloé debut in Paris by showing 1970s-inspired festival essentials, including wispy blouses, figure-forgiving chiffon dresses, slouchy pants and faded jeans.
Not quite neutral
While pops of color still showed up — notably red, yellow, hunter green and baby blue — the runways were awash in neutral tones that nevertheless felt edgy.
At Pierpaolo Piccoli’s swan song for Valentino in Milan, appropriately titled “Le Noir,” every piece was black, from sheer tops and gowns to suiting separates. In Paris, Hermès took an equestrian-meets-biker-chic turn and mostly filled its runway with brown and black leather. Also in Paris, Coperni showed space-age minidresses, bodysuits and jeans in beige, black, white and blue paired with shocks of silver. Leopard, which walks the line between nature and neutral, also made a comeback at Marni and Versace in Milan, and at Dior in Paris.
Broad shoulders
Musician David Byrne’s suit in Stop Making Sense is the obvious predecessor, if not the literal inspiration, for fall-winter 2024’s widest-reaching trend: comically big shoulders.
In Paris, they got rounded at Celine, fluffy at Louis Vuitton and cartoonishly inflated at Vetements. Edward Crutchley also went as big as possible in London. Hebe Tian’s version in Shanghai was slightly more toned down, but nonetheless effectively conveyed the enormous fun designers were having as they played with proportions.
