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From intimate collections to the return of “big feminine energy,” as our associate director of special projects, Kristen Nichols, called it, there’s so much to dissect and discuss from fashion month.
“What we were seeing at the beginning of fashion month in New York were these more intimate collections,” Nichols said.
This trend extended throughout fashion month, with designers like Louis Vuitton scaling back their shows.
“Louis Vuitton was a lot smaller this season, and then a lot of designers also stuck to more intimate guest lists for their debut collections,” Nichols said.
As Nichols noted, we also saw the emergence of “big feminine energy.”
“There were conversations throughout fashion month centered on ideas about femininity and fashion, both in terms of the actual clothes on the runways and then the collections that were presented by female artistic directors leading the fashion houses,” Nichols said.
For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Nichols shares her biggest takeaways from fashion month, the top trends on the runways, and more.
For excerpts from her conversation with Editorial Director Lauren Eggertsen, scroll below.
We had our New York Fashion Week podcast episode together, which was really fun. I feel like I got the real-time download on everything that happened that week, but can you remind me some of the things that we talked about and your predictions and if you feel like they kind of held up for the rest of the month?
What we were seeing at the beginning of fashion month in New York were these more intimate collections.
Kallmeyer comes to mind. It was a really small and intimate show and brought together a lot of people that are close to the brand, and there were other designers that did this as well.
I think we saw this just kind of continue throughout fashion month happening in a few ways.
I think a lot of big designers scaled back on their shows. Louis Vuitton was a lot smaller this season, and then a lot of designers also stuck to more intimate guest lists for their debut collections.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
Whether that was Sarah Burton at Givenchy or Haider Ackermann at Tom Ford and Julian Klausner at Dries Van Noten, I think just that sense of intimacy was really present at fashion month.
I feel like nostalgia was another element that was definitely a running theme for fashion month.
It was very clear to me, especially at brands like Givenchy, where Sarah Burton literally turned to the archives and referenced the 1952 debut collection of Hubert de Givenchy.
There were a lot of obviously modern takes, but it really felt like it dug into the archives and championed some of those beautiful silhouettes from the ’50s.
There was a lot of looking back, which was interesting.
I think what people look forward to so much from London is that creativity and innovation. They’re always just pushing the boundaries. In terms of bigger industry moments, what were some standouts for you? What was everyone talking about?
The last night of London Fashion Week and the last show of London Fashion Week is Burberry, and there was a lot of excitement around Burberry.
I was curious to see what editors would think and everyone was really just buzzing that it was Daniel Lee’s strongest collection yet.
He really just took the Burberry house codes to another level and examined the brand through this lens of British countryside style.
It’s always an amazing cast. Models like Naomi Campbell were walking.
There was really great outerwear. I loved the outerwear overall but especially wanna steal some pieces from the men’s looks. They were so good.
What trends have you identified as emerging this season overall now that we’ve like wrapped up everything?
The first one that I think really stood out to me kind of goes back to what we were chatting about with the idea of femininity at Prada and Miu Miu. It’s kind of what I’m calling “big feminine energy” in the sense.
There were conversations throughout fashion month centered on ideas about femininity and fashion, both in terms of the actual clothes on the runways and then the collections that were presented by female artistic directors leading the fashion houses.
At Miu Miu, the collection was actually titled Femininities.
In the collection, she examined these emblems of women’s wardrobes.
As I mentioned, stoles and cone bras and broaches, and they were presented in this very exaggerated way at Miu Miu and in a similar manner at Prada.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
Then for Sarah Burton’s debut collection as Givenchy, she paid homage to the atelier’s origins through a distinctly female point of view.
As we said, the clothes made it clear—especially a lot of the elegant eveningwear and some of these looks—that they were really designed for women.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
Even at Schiaparelli, even though this is a house led by a man, it was a collection that was centered around women, and Daniel Roseberry reimagined Old Hollywood glamour through a very female lens.
One interesting thing that we saw a lot of on the runways was fur.
A lot of designers are doing this with faux fur and have committed to that, but there were just a lot of these very furry pieces on the runways.
We saw this—even at the very beginning of fashion week—at Altuzarra and Tory Burch, where there were these beautiful shearling jackets that dominated the runways and a lot of editor shopping lists as well.
In Milan, it appeared at Prada, Fendi. Armani in Paris. Miu Miu, Chloé, Valentino.
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
(Image credit: Launchmetrics)
I think it was maybe a year ago we were talking about the mob wife and those big coats. This time around, it’s anything from a stole to a collar to even these kind of charms tied to handbags.
It was just interesting to see it appear in so many collections this season.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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