The fall fashion season is always the one that garners the most excitement among fashion fans; everyone from magazine editors to do-it-yourself fashionistas await the declaration of the new fall trends with a sense of anticipation.
This season, the fall runways gave us an interesting mix; among some of the more predictable fall trends like sweater dressing and fur, were a few unexpected turns. Here are four of our favorite emerging fall 2014 runway trends for the upcoming season.
Brights
Fall has traditionally been associated with rich, muted colors and heavy textures – think velvet, wool, and tweed in rich, autumnal colors. This season, however, many designers have decided to throw us a curveball and present us with a palette that you might normally expect in a spring collection.
Dior sent sculptural dresses down the runway in shocking shades of pink and green, Versace gave us a striking combination of deep red against cerulean blue, and deep violet separates were layered over bright neon yellow and combined with tribal accents at Balmain. All things told, it is a fresh approach to dressing-up a season that is traditionally a lot darker sartorially, and it promises to inject a sense of fun into our daily routines in the process.
Bold Prints
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While bold prints have been on the scene for a few seasons now, this is the first time we have really seen these graphic, op art creations on the fall runways. Tastemaker Dries Van Noten, a designer who certainly knows his way around a print, led the pack with bold graphic designs that were superimposed on tropical print backgrounds in shades of fuchsia, yellow, and navy.
Kenzo, another design house that is well-acquainted in the art of the print, also stepped-up the volume this season with bold separates in organic black and white designs on contrasting yellow and red backgrounds. When worn together, the effect of these separates was at once cacophonous and unified.
Never one to be left behind when prints are on show was Roberto Cavalli. Cavalli brought his signature brand of feminine sexuality and rock-chick edge and infused it with watercolor-like prints in deep hues. Notable in this collection was a crimson trench in what appeared to be a diluted zebra print, complete with an ombré full fur collar.
Sheer Panels
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Not since the ‘90s have we seen such an explosion of sheerness on the runway. This time around, the trend seems to be aimed at the after six crowd; mosaic evening dresses with sheer graphic cut-outs were seen at Mary Katrantzou, sheer tuille floated down the runway at Valentino, and Jason Wu channelled the ‘90s with sheer panelling on body-skimming, bias-cut burnout velvet gowns.
Normcore
In what is quickly becoming a new term in the fashionista’s lexicon, normcore is a term that describes the new “non-trend” of a trend of standing out in a crowd by blending completely in. Normcore is really the newest of the new, even if it happens to come to us by way of appropriating past trends and classic cuts.
Not to be confused with minimalism (which tends to bring a modern, streamlined design aesthetic to the mix), normcore is practically a study in half-measures; skirts that are neither too short nor too long (as seen at Max Mara), sleek, tailored separates in wardrobe-extending colors and fabrics (as seen at The Row), and above all, silhouettes that will be relevant for decades to come.
The secret to rocking the normcore look? Think of it not so much as a trend but as an investment; this is an opportunity to invest in something that you will be able to keep forever. Look for quality cuts and fabrics that complement items you may already have in your closet. If you are going to try to achieve this “middle of the road” look, it needs to look polished, sophisticated, and most of all expensive.
While in and of themselves, most of the aforementioned fall trends have been down the runway before at some point in the past, what perhaps makes them unique this season is the new freedom and whimsicality in which some of these techniques are applied. This fall, color, print, and texture have truly combined like never before to give us a trend season worth watching.