It has been a crazy month in the fashion industry – designers have been working through the night, models have been poked and prodded as they are dressed, journalists have been frantically dashing from show to show across the globe, I’m sure that even the A List FROWers have been agonising over what they’ll be wearing… but it is finally over!
And breathe…
There have been so many shows that you’d be forgiven for being a little confused, so here at Designer Ladies we have compiled a little guide to the biggest trends coming our way in Spring/Summer 2012…
Mullet Skirts
These sound appalling but are actually a lot better than you’d imagine. The name is awful, but it pretty accurately describes these skirts which are short at the front and longer at the back. These were featured heavily by Marchesa, Jason Wu, Vera Wang and Oscar de la Renta amongst others. Wear a mullet skirt with heels and watch heads turn!
Pastel Colours
These featured in different styles for each show – Issa in London went for girly summer dresses, Alice Temperley went for floaty maxi dresses, and Marni and Marc Jacobs used theirs on 20s style flapper dresses. However you choose to wear them, pastels suit everybody.
Florals
Nobody did this look better than the Mulleavy sisters at Rodarte who were inspired by Vincent Van Gogh and used his iconic sunflowers as a starting board for their collection featuring beautiful, bold prints. Others were more subtle – Erdem featured their florals amongst lace embroidery, and Christopher Kane was brazen in their use of bright wild flowers which lent a sort of Disney-eque feel to areas of the collection.
Ankle skimming trousers
Ankle skimmers are fantastic because they are masculine enough to work the androgynous look whilst at the same time lending a feminine touch to the look. Paired with heels you can’t go too far wrong, which is exactly how they were featured during the Michael van der Ham show. These will be perfect for Spring and those April showers.
Girly
Wherever you looked at each Fashion Week location you couldn’t escape the ultra-feminine atmosphere hanging around the collections. Loose fitting pieces featured at Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta, whilst Rodarte featured figure forming layers and Sunday school-girl type hems, and Issa owned the knee skimming sun dress. Viktor and Rolf went for ball gowns and Lanvin went vampish with sheer skirts with black fitted bodices. Some of the collections looked as though they could have walked out of a Disney sketchbook and onto the runway. One of my favourite trends.
Metallic Shoes
From those amazing Marc Jacobs two-tone cowboy boots to Jill Stuart’s gold strappy platforms, metallic shoes were all over the runways and will be a big feature of S/S ’12. Gold, pewter, silver; whatever colour or style you want there will be something for everyone.
Lace and Embroidery
Delicate laces and hand stitched embroidery will be another huge trend come next season. Wear these as extravagantly as you wish and use them to create so many different looks – from Victoriana gothic to red carpet glamour.
Tribal Prints
Burberry helped us all to fall in love with African tribal prints at LFW. Terracotta shades mixed with blues and greens to give us clothes that looked like they had been lovingly hand made. So much detail went into these that you could almost imagine that they were authentic. Another of my favourite looks.
Yellows and Oranges
From Matthew Williamson to Alice Temperley and Dior, it seemed like everyone was featuring yellows and oranges in every shade imaginable. So grab those sunglasses because S/S ’12 is going to be bright!
