Despite fashion shows being held across the world, from Copenhagen to New York and back to London, Paris and Milan over the past six weeks, one could be forgiven for forgetting almost every celebrity runway cameo, incredible street style moment and breakout trend seen before Hedi Slimane’s debut at Celine, a show which caused perhaps the biggest industry stir since Slimane’s last appointment, when he unceremoniously dropped the Yves from Saint Laurent (ring any bélls?).
Since then, the fashion crowd has been in a haze, moving from the front row to showings and on to after parties with just one topic on their lips: “what did you think of the Celine show?” While ‘Philophiles’ fought over the last remaining Pheobe Philo designs and mourned publicly on the Instagram account @OldCeline, others looked forwards, opting to see the spring/summer 2019 collections as a chance to hit refresh – short, latex dresses and all.
This season, designers didn’t shy away from a runway ‘moment’, many endorsing trends that were once considered a fashion faux pas (bike shorts, here’s looking at you) and delving even further into the archives, with cargo pants and bucket hats confirmed to time travel straight from the ’90s into 2019. Tie-die which resurfaced on the runway at a few shows during the spring/summer 2018 rotation, including Chanel, Michael Kors, Anna Sui and Attico, has made its full-fledged return, with Australian supermodel Gemma Ward making hers at the same time, dressed in a blue Proenza Schouler tie-dye button-down.
Below, seven of the biggest trends spotted on the runway.
Tie-dye
The print trend has reached its peak and, after a year of deliberation, tie-dye is officially in vogue. While Dior and Prabal Gurung opted for a safer variation of the bohemian print, R13, MSGM and Proenza Schouler dove straight in with bright blazers, tees and boilersuits soon to be spotted on the likes of Gigi Hadid. After some careful consideration, we’ve decided we’re all for it. Pass the paint.
Bike shorts
Eat your heart out, Kim Kardashian. After appearing on every Kard-Jenner sister and Instagram influencer’s feed, bike shorts have finally made it to the runway – and to the Chanel show, no less. Dust off those bicycles because what Karl Lagerfeld says goes.
Puffy sleeves
Go big or go home! ’80s style puff sleeves and romantic frills were a runway regular this season, so expect hundreds of variations to be popping up in store soon. Can’t wait? Here are four styles you can buy now.
All shades of yellow
Is yellow the new black? Last season, the bright hue was the street style set’s colour of choice and now, the trend has transcended to the runway, prominent in collections such as Oscar de la Renta and everyone’s favourite cool girl label, Tibi.
Short suiting
Power suits have been reimagined for summer with Australia’s Dion Lee joining international designers, such as Tibi and Maryam Nassir Zadeh, in sending matching short and blazer combos down the runway. Where do we sign up?
Cargo pants
Brace yourselves because cargo pants are officially on trend. That’s right: the multi-pocketed, loosely cut, combat-ready bottoms you wore in the early aughts while dancing to Destiny’s Child are back from the dead, and they come complete with Balenciaga, Givenchy, Prabal Gurung, and Jonathan Simkhai’s tick of approval.
Bucket hats
Move over, baker boys, because there’s a new hat trend in town. This season, John Elliott, 3.1 Phillip Lim Anna Sui and R13 cemented the return of another ’90s favourite: bucket hats. What’s better than a fashion trend that’s also practical for the Australian summer, you may ask? Nothing, that’s what.
