The spring 2024 fashion trends—both macro-and micro—that emerged during the collections number almost as many as the shows Vogue Runway covers. The 11 here tell stories that link clothing to culture—the idea is that they will speak not only to what you want to wear, but maybe also get at the collective why.
The goings (Sarah Burton, Gabriela Hearst) and comings (Sabato de Sarno, Peter Hawkings, Peter Do, Louise Trotter) of designers generated as much news as their creations. Each of these artistic leads is connected to a heritage house, with some following the breadcrumb path of their predecessor(s) more closely than others. Nostalgia and anemoia (the longing for things never known)—particularly for the ’90s—continue to exert a powerful pull on the industry. And it’s not too difficult to understand why: The grunge-to-glam aesthetic reflects our competing desires for comfort and clickable content, and, seen from a distance, the “come as you are” era can seem idyllic, especially compared to today’s divisive atmosphere.
Times are tough, and designers responded to that with a palette that was predominantly black and white. Safe? Yes, but also pragmatic; everyone is aiming to stay out of the red and these tones are trend resistant. Just as important is the way they are used symbolically. Numerous designers were after a feeling of “lightness” in contrast to the pull of gravity (and the dark seriousness of the world situation). And so the ethereality of pretty white dresses, many of them diaphanous, was balanced by more grounded (and often tailored) black looks, some shrouded (see Rick Owens, Issey Mikaye, and Undercover) that tended towards the serious, or more understated.
Designers’ most cited inspiration was summer, which might sound basic but is anything but. With climate change setting record temperatures, and the world seemingly on fire (who can forget the apocalyptic darkening of smoke-filled skies?), the carefree summers of yore are starting to feel like Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” song, a cherished memory. As if to combat the heat, designers built a sort of air-con functionality into their garments, opting for mesh, eyelet, lace, and other openwork techniques to offer ventilation. In contrast to these breezy looks were others that were slashed. And for those getting their hands as “dirty” as their jeans, by shredding and cutting, there are a good number of protective, and decorative, aprons.
There’s no escaping the hot topic of AI. While some designers worked with this new tool on various levels, perhaps the most powerful response was a reassertion of the hand, with materials being crunched and sculpted into beautiful tactile volumes. Moving things in another direction were designers who elongated the silhouette, by raising (Jonathan Anderson at Loewe), or dropping the waistline (Burberry), or filling in the midriff gap (Duran Lantink).
Next summer in Paris athletes will be stretching their limits at the Olympics, but designers are already vying for gold, silver, and bronze with their use of metallics. Evoking a different kind of sportiness was the polo shirt, which is to the spring season what the tank was to resort.
Also typical of the season are florals. Groundbreaking? Well, designers weren’t so much planting gardens as tending roses. These thorny beauties are heavy with symbolism, being associated with the Tudors (Britain does have a new king), the Madonna, Gertrude Stein, and, among many other things, Shakespeare, who spoke of the rose in Romeo and Juliet. Baz Luhrmann’s ever popular version of this tragic love story plays into ’90s nostalgia, and visually seems to relate to all the feathery touches fluttering around as the world moves forward on a wing and a prayer.
Sheer Delights: Diaphanous White Dresses
The white dress, in various levels of transparency, is a key spring 2024 fashion trend, one that manifests designers’ quest for a feeling of lightness. At Prada, where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons were aiming for “an absolute freedom of the body,” models appeared among curtains of slime in gossamer dresses made of mille-feuille layers of floaty fabric. While the form might be revealed through gossamer materials or draping, the effect is not a sexualization of the body as much as a classical take on it. More like the three Graces in Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera than Victoria’s Secret.
Summer Elegy: Serious Black
Lacking wings, people are earthbound. The predominance of black on the runways seemed to acknowledge the human condition while at the same time showing us how the imagination can soar, even in times of sadness. “He feels like he’s stuck in the world, but he wants to release himself,” said an interpreter backstage at Jun Takahashi’s Undercover show, which featured tulle-wrapped suits and luminous dresses that were temporary homes for butterflies. Shrouded looks also appeared at Issey Miyake and at Rick Owens.
Air Con: Open-Work Materials
Taking functionality beyond cargo pockets, designers created lots of looks that had a cooling effect by virtue of the fact that they were made using openwork materials. These ranged from pom-pom embellished mesh at Bottega Veneta to a fine net at Proenza Schouler, and from artful cut-outs at Valentino to a lattice of shells at Versace.
Edward Scissorhands: Slashes and Shreds
Not all holes in clothes were related to ventilation. Spring found designers slashing (see Peter Do and Courregès)—in the manner of Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale artworks—or shredding it for a timely “come undone” vibe.
Under Cover: Aprons
The utility and protection associated with workwear has made its way into the ready-to-wear. While cargo pockets continue to sprout like mushrooms, what felt newest were aprons of all varieties—butcher, bib, waiter, hostess—which showed up at Christian Dior, Hermès, and The Row, for starters. In addition to these pop-overs, be they functional or decorative, some designers borrowed the garment’s simple square neckline and applied it to easy summer outfits.
A Show of Hands: Sculptural Volumes
As the world becomes ever more digital, the materiality of clothes grows in importance. One way to read the sculptural tactility of the spring collections—such as Glenn Martens’s wired pieces and Junya Watanabe’s collages—is as a response, or riposte, to the glossy perfection of AI. Showing that “designers matter,” creative directors and their teams sunk their hands into fabric, crushing, twisting, and molding it into wonderful, evocative volumes, some of which evoked the sculptures of John Chamberlain.
A Bit of a Stretch: The Elongated Silhouette
Hems used to make headlines in fashion, but in this age of pantsless dressing the waistline has become as variable as the stock market. Mostly it’s going up. At Loewe and Alexander McQueen the waistband rose to Empire heights for men and women both. This tendency for a Giacometti-like attenuation was also seen at Alaïa, in the form of the must-have high-rise pant. But that’s not the only way the torso was stretched, there were dropped waists aplenty, as well as peplums, and, at Duran Lantink, body stockings that filled in the gap where a bared midriff would be.
Olympic Medals: Metallics
Paris will soon be home to the 2024 Olympics where athletes from all around the world will compete. Those who push past their limits will receive medals as coveted as Oscar statuettes. As if in anticipation of the Games, designers dug into the metallic trend, expanding beyond gold and silver to include bronze as spring 2024 fashion trends.
Pop Goes the Collar: The Polo Shirt
This season’s tank is the polo shirt, an icon of preppiness that was revived and given a summer-camp vibe at Miu Miu. It was also remixed by such anti-establishment brands as Y/Project and Vaquera, taking popped collars beyond the fraternity house.
In the Name of the…Roses
The rose is the reigning monarch of flowers. As beautiful as it is commanding (those thorns are prickly indeed), this flower is as redolent with fragrance as it is symbolism. When Sarah Burton used it at McQueen the reference was to the Tudor rose, a sign of royalty. At Balmain, the nod was to Gertrude “A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose” Stein, a friend of Pierre Balmain (who was present at and wrote up the couturier’s debut for Vogue in 1945). The flower appeared as a print (see the chintz at Erdem), and was otherwise embellished and appliquéd in a 3D manner on all sorts of garments, but Simone Rocha and Rolf Ekroth took the abstraction out of the equation and used fresh cut blooms instead.
Wings of Desire: Feathery Touches
Nineties nostalgia continues undiminished for spring 2024, and was present in garments and on moodboards. Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet—angelic wings and medieval armor—seemed to be a cross-season reference. The message seems to be the same as that voiced by Real Life in 1983: “Send me an angel / Right now.”