Dijanna Mulhearn
The spring 2014 fashion collections are landing in stores around the globe and the beauty of living in Australia is that we get to try them out before anyone else. So here is a snapshot of the trends that will be on offer this season.
© Prada
A big influence was clearly the 1980s, both in shape and colour. Silhouettes reminiscent of the simplicity and volume of the eighties are present at most of the big shows. Balmain’s version has a sportswear bent, opening with a belted black and white hounds-tooth cardigan and going on to feature quilted denim and leather jackets featuring gold trim a la eighties Chanel without the shoulders sharp enough to take out an eye. Leather also continues to make its presence felt, this time in relaxed leather pants and pep-hem skirts that we knew had to come soon. Pep-hem is where there is a ruffle from the knee rather than the waist like previous seasons. These sculpted leather skirts feel at once prim and seductive.
Which brings me to the new sexy that offers sheer glimpses of flesh with strategically placed pockets, folds or clusters keeping us modest. Balmain’s collection includes midi (shin) length skirts featuring thigh high slits and sheers that suggest rather than show. Gucci’s sheer pieces are teamed with sporty silhouettes taking casual sportswear into glamourous territory. Burberry’s sheer English lace is ladylike in sweet pinks and blues came in pencils skirts, some amped up with sequins and teamed with long length cardigans or simple sweaters. These were joined on Burberry’s runway by soft and roomy coats drawn to suggest an unadorned body beneath.
The merging of art and fashion is not new however the intensity with which its presence is felt on the runway is impossible to ignore. Prada’s devotion to supporting new talent has been evidenced with their Fondazione gallery for many years. This season Prada made the connection between fashion and art more literal, with a touch of Mrs Prada’s political bent thrown in. The collection champions the strength and bravery of the female political groups featured in the venue’s mural art and echoed in the prints for this collection.
At Celine bold artistic strokes in brisk colours and strong sweeping shapes had me thinking of the eighties designer Linda Jackson with a smile. Long boxy tops sat over fine, accordion pleated skirts that danced along the legs again to midi length. Chloe also favoured the accordion pleat along with the hide and seek sheers in khaki, white and petrol blue. Gucci borrows giant Art Nouveau flowers glistening in mature red, orange and plum hues and worked them back with kimono style jackets and coats. At Chanel, Herr Lagerfeld adorned the walls of the show space with his own artistic offerings. Many of the silhouettes are a reproduction of the nineties reproduction of an early sixties silhouette in a palette that took pink from barely there to shocking in reworked tweeds that still cater to the die-hard Chanel traditionalists. The rest of the 90 strong show featured a more modern take.
So leather, lace, cleverly modest sheers, an eighties palette or an appreciation of art are key ways to take your wardrobe to high fashion heights right now. Make your selection based on what works back with your old-favourites and don’t try to do more than one trend at once. Choose something from the season that reflects your style, rather than something simply because it’s on trend, and it will take you through many seasons to come.
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