2018: Now and Then As the English novelist and author Graham Greene told us, There always comes a time when the door opens and lets the future in.

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1 T H E F A S H I O N G R O U P F O U N D A T I O N P R E S E N T S F A L L / W I N T E R / T R E N D O V E R V I E W B Y M A R Y L O U L U T H E R N E W Y O R K L O N D O N M I L A N P A R I S DOLCE & GABBANA 2018: Now and Then As the English novelist and author Graham Greene told us, There always comes a time when the door opens and lets the future in. Is this that time? With drones on the runway, the Virgin Mary as a fashion heroine, Queen Elizabeth II on the front row, minis at Ralph Lauren and Chanel, apocalyptic revelations, #MeToo, fashion as a political force, oversize and bodycon on the same runway, the questions are: Is the power of the past more forceful than the chaos of today or the hope of tomorrow? And what do these ideas have in common? Nothing. And yet they say everything about fall/winter/now You could call it fashion s new theory of UN-relativity. The idea that disparate notions can coexist to create the semaphore of the season, if not its look. I believe that semaphore is individuality.

2 THE 80s. The decade women shouldered their way into the workforce, manning up. Marc Jacobs rejiggered the 80s without copying them. Giorgio Armani, who was the first to celebrate androgyny on the runway, revised his 80s originals to make them current. Joseph Altuzarra, Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior and the Olsen twins, Ashley and Mary-Kate, issued a runway sequel to John Molloy s Dress for Success playbook a veritable fashion bible of those times. On the Dress for Excess side of the decade, Virgil Abloh for Off White, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent went decorously flamboyant. By the mid 80s, the grunge movement became a fashion nirvana that started as a Seattle-based rock sound and continued as a fashion wellspring well into the 90s. Tomorrow s releases look Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love-worthy the new-plays at Alexander Wang, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia for Monse, Chitose Abe for Sacai, Chris Leba for R13, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, and Nicola Formichetti for Nicopanda. The amazing number of printed designs on fall runways especially the floral prints would seem to prove that fashion is getting more and more seasonless. Why not a garden print when it s spring somewhere in the world? Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino digs the culture of horticulture. His botanical bots are ground-breaking. Dots at Norma Kamali and Antonio Maras, stripes at Julie de Libran for Sonia Rykiel and Thom Browne, scarf prints at Versace and Christopher Bailey for Burberry, and print fusions at Anna Sui and Manish Arora all project a print-scape of indelible proportions. Fashion at the Crossbars. Today s tartans, which started in the third century with men in skirts, are multigendered. Clans take on never-before looks at Rick Owens, Simone Rocha and Alessandro Del Acqua for No. 21. Michael Kors tartans are especially bagpipe-worthy. 3.1 PHILLIP LIM ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SAINT LAURENT 2

3 LOUIS VUITTON TOM FORD MICHAEL KORS Clothes as Wearable Art. Body messaging pops up at Marques Almeida, Alexander Wang, Olivier Rousteing for Balmain and Miuccia Prada for MiuMiu. From the modern art looks at Adam Selman to the protest art from the late 60s at Dior by Maria Grazia Chiuri to the Goldilocks anime at Gucci by Alessandro Michele, some are assuredly off-the-wall. A special salute here to Christopher Bailey of Burberry for his homage to the Yorkshire artist and sculptor Henry Moore. Animalia. Leopards are spot-on at Tom Ford, Kors, and Gareth Pugh. Zebras earn their stripes at Dolce & Gabbana. Bengal tigers roar at Adam Selman and Proenza Schouler by Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Fur, Real and Imagined. Of all the amazing fur fantasias, the most memorable are at Thom Browne, where flowers are hand-crafted in mink. And the best make-believe furs are at Ford, Sui and Jeremy Scott. Dramatic Chromatics. Just as florals season-skipped into fall, spring colors hue into fall. Pink, for example, is everywhere. Or, as Manish Arora s model proclaimed: Pink is My Religion. Blue makes a major comeback. Red goes beyond the red carpet. Ultraviolet is Pantone s color of the year. Yellow is mellow. Orange crushes both the palate and the palette. Green is a go. Brown is historically strongest in stressful social eras. Gray is classic. The first cousin to Black. New Yorkers favorite color, black is the new black. It s not going away. White in the fall? You bet. Designers did. Black and white. Always right. Pop colors opt back from the 60s. Neons, day-glos, fluorescents all light things up again, shocking as they go. Ombré. Dégradé. Gradation elation shading into fall. Fabrics. Denim. Poplin. Satin. Lace. Velvet. Brocade. In addition to inspirational developments in each of these materials, the biggest breakthrough in fabrics came this season from Balenciaga, where a high-tech, computer-enabled process produced a new molded tailoring where fabrics from tweeds to velvet were bonded to a lightweight foam, creating what Sarah Mower of Vogue.com 3

4 called models looking like a cast of post-humans in some futuristic Bond-movie ski scene. (I love the allusion of bonding to Bonding.) Knitwear. Sweaters are big literally. Cables send messages. And the new twinset is the sweater with matching scarf. At Calvin Klein, Looney Tunes characters, Wile E. Coyote and The Roadrunner are jacquards that appear on sweaters worn inside out. Missoni s breathtaking knitted coats and Stella McCartney s knit purview are needle-works par excellence. Leather/Shearling. From jean jackets to pants, skirts, even dresses, leather is the hide to seek. The pending patents shine. And if you re feeling sheepish? Shearlings are there for you. Day for Night/Night for Day. The mergers continue. Men and women on the same runway. Gender blending wardrobes. And now The clothes once considered day wear and/or evening wear have been sharing time zones. Now, the intermingling has inspired some truly new looks at Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera, Sally Lapointe. Shine. Pvc, vinyl, patent leather they re all part of the plastic now wrapping people as well as food. From shiny plastic, we segue to shiny glitz. Silver is sterling (yes, silver when it s cold). And gold is the standard. Sequinerie puts the spark in sparkle. Paco Rabanne s sequins magnify the paillette, making it a major force for glitz and glitter. Details. Asymmetry is the latest slant on tops, dresses, sweaters, even coats. Diagonal slicing is especially apparent on necklines and hemlines. Draping forms the shaping on many new silhouettes. Pleats are once again a fashion feat. Fringe continues to binge. Feathers are nest-working, notably at Van Noten. And ruffles are gathering momentum. PHILOSOPHY OSCAR DE LA RENTA ALEXANDER WANG 4

5 BALENCIAGA SALLY LAPOINTE YEOHLEE The Pant. Any length goes. Even hotpants are sacrosanct. Pleat-front trousers from his side of the closet are now on her side. Flares are bellringers. Printed pants and painted pants are impressive. The pencil looks sharp. And the cigarette, aka the vaper, is smoking. It s a real Juul. The pantsuit regains fashion status. The pantlegs on one of my favorites are tied with bows at Simone Rocha. Jumpsuits hit the high bar. Tops. The shirt leaves the Wild West for parts unknown. The blouse is in the house, and the one with a big, loose neck bow looks meaningfully fresh. Dresses. Print dresses, another item usually limited to spring and summer, leave a definite impression. A gentle easing is comforting, and right-out oversizing is big. Skirts. Yes, you can wear a mini. Age doesn t matter. Legs do. Yes to above-the-knee skirts, ideally one with a high-rise waistline. Yes to mid-calf, especially if it s the new pencil. Yes to the shoe-top, especially if it s full. And yes to the full skirt, a gift from the 50s. Jackets. Sizing up the jacket. Big-shouldered. Inside out. Collaged. Longer. Tailored to curve at the waist. Coats. There s a big new coverup ahead. It s the coat the coat with the most new permutations in years maybe decades. The trench left the trenches for the streets more than a century ago. Its ancestors abound. Belts are the transformers of almost any design and look purposeful as self-sashes or buckle-ups on coats. Double-breasted coats and blazer coats lend a manly tilt and many of the decorated coats are jewels. Comforters. It started with the quilt long a Chanel handbag signature now appearing as quilting in pants, jackets and coats. Now known as puffers, the new bubble wraps take shape and go on to inflationary volumes. The blanket, the poncho and the shawl have meaningful appearances as new, no-size cover-alls. So does the spacious, capacious cape. 5

6 Sportswear. You know what warm-up and varsity jackets, jogging pants, football jerseys, ski pants, yoga pants, jodhpurs and sweatshirts look like. So the newest thing about the new sportswear is the insignia. The emblems of sport are courting the street and beyond. Layering. Or: How to be your own thermal regulator. At Balenciaga, some models were covered in up to seven pieces of bonded outerwear. The original layers the shirt, the jacket, the dress, the pants, the coat abound, but the newest layering comes with the dress on top. Him And Her. Women have been wearing men s clothes forever. The sexes have shared clothes before. This season, 5l brands showed coed shows, many with males and females wearing identical outfits. Accessories. They say that clothes make the man. Accessories make the woman. The long dangling scarf is the accessory of the season. Belts, too, new and renew. Jewelry is about making statements the statement necklace, statement bracelet, statement earrings. Logo handbags will be trending soon, hands-free belt bags and fanny packs are now re-envisioned as crossbodies, and neck bags, backpacks and rucksacks get updated. Crocodile bags, no longer on the endangered list, have new fashion bite, and the transformable inside out bag looks like a winner at Behno by Shivan Punjya. Hats. Big brims lead the way. Balaclavas, ski masks, are part of the protective movement. Gloves. Many are meant for texting, as in open-fingertip gloves. Many are long. And many have logos. Beauty. The artifice of tomorrow s hair and makeup? Looking natural. Starting with the bare face, the blank canvas for the artistry to come, the brows are the focus. Then the eyeliner extends onto the lashes. Silver flashes the inner corners. Crystals bring bling to cat eyes. Then the lips take stage. Red lips are pursed dramatically. Glitter is applied carefully, then literally glitter-bombed for an allover look-at-me moment. Redheads are important. Afros are important. Braids, including cornrows, are important. Asymmetric cuts recall Vidal Sassoon. High hairdos are definite dos. BRUNELLO CUCINELLI FENDI VERSACE 6

7 Buzz For The Buzz Cuts. The politics of hair. Parkland student/gun control advocate Emma Gonzalez, and Gurls Talk founder, model Adwoa Aboah, bring on the shaved heads pioneered by Sinead O Connor in the 80s. MAISON MARGIELA MICHAEL KORS ISABEL MARANT BEST BETS The Belted Coat Capes Blankets Ponchos. Skirts: The Mini The High-Rise Pencil The Fuller Skirt Pants: The Cigarette Pantsuits Sweaters: The Cable The Oversize. New Day / New Night The Long Scarf The Belt Bags: The Logo Shopper The Belt Bag Shoes: The Chunky Sneaker Boots: The Western Hats The Wide Brim Jewelry The Statement Necklace. The Fashion Group Foundation s Trend Overview has been generously underwritten by Donna Karan supported by Urban Zen Foundation The Kors Le Pere Foundation A complete version of the FGI trend presentation is available on DVD and DVD-data. Please contact The Fashion Group to purchase: telephone: fax: