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Photos: Burberry, Hermes, and Dior Men
Fashion has long been a bellwether of culture at large. For Fall/Winter 2023, designers continue to explore topical themes of gender and dressing, or what it means to strip things down to their essence. But even in a changing world, classic motifs — the colour red or time-tested plaid — hold their own, bridging the past with designers’ visions of the future.
1. Red Haute
Credit: Hermes, Valentino, Zegna
For many women, chopping off their hair can be a major event. It might also have inspired the Fall/Winter 2023 collection by Hermes’s womenswear artistic director Nadege Vanhee-Cybulski, who had recently taken scissors to her long auburn locks. Featuring tones ranging from fire reds to coppers and dark browns, her layered looks paid tribute to human hair in its many shades (both natural and out of the box) and fluidity.
The fiery hue is also stopping traffic in the world of menswear. At Zegna, artistic director Alessandro Sartori used vibrant wine reds to enliven earthy tones such as dark brown, mid-grey and dusty yellow. Used on tailored fleece separates or a padded jacket, red added a powerful and unexpected dimension.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in a season so replete with the colour, red — being synonymous with Valentino in the fashion world — also made its mark on the brand’s runway. And it did so in surprising ways, too — think suits, dresses that looked like suits, or a dress made of a lattice of bows.
2. Less is best
Credit: Balenciaga, Loewe, and Prada
Paring back was a common theme in the Fall/Winter 2023 showcases. There were different reasons for this. Typically known for its elaborate show-staging, involving dystopian landscapes filled with “snow” or mud or typically inaccessible locations such as the New York Stock Exchange, Balenciaga surprised onlookers this season by holding its presentation in a stark Parisian space containing just neat rows of black chairs.
Having recently weathered a controversy relating to one of its campaigns, the brand’s creative director Demna wanted to put the focus on his love of making clothes. His collection was centred on techniques like deconstruction and the manipulation of volumes, with waists inverted to become hems or inflatable forms sewn into the linings of jackets.
At Loewe, creative director Jonathan Anderson explored reduction using unlikely materials and techniques. His men’s pieces included single-piece jackets actually sculpted from metals such as copper, while his women’s collection featured seamless, moulded leather jackets that had been vacuum-formed. Peeling away the superfluous has never been a simple exercise, and these latest streamlined looks prove just that.
3. Well plaid
Credit: Zegna, Givenchy, and Burberry
Following a successful stint at Bottega Veneta, Daniel Lee made an impression at his first outing for Burberry by focusing on the British heritage brand’s icons — think the brand’s signature plaid and Equestrian Knight motif. Varying looks drove home the versatility and multiple cultural meanings of plaid: In some cases, the criss-cross pattern was presented in bold blue or red on luxurious tailoring, blanket coats, and knits. In other cases, plaid kilts and trousers anchored grunge-inspired ensembles.
Speaking of grunge, the ‘90s subculture has been a major influence on fashion in recent years. The Fall/Winter collections see designers continuing to embrace the theme: At Givenchy, multi-layered looks straight out of the era included flannel — a favourite material of grunge icons like musician Kurt Cobain — as well as other “patterned tropes of Americana”, such as camouflage and sporty grey marl.
Offering a more cheerful and just as luxurious take on everyday flannel, the collaboration between Zegna and Los Angeles-based cashmere specialist The Elder Statesman included what might be our favourite plaid pieces this season: Shirt-jackets and coats woven from super-soft cashmere in dusty hues inspired by sun-bleached Southern Californian flannels from another moment in time.
4. Boy-meets-girl tailoring
Credit: Fendi, Dior Men, and Valentino
This season, Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli was inspired by his teenage daughter, who had taken it upon herself to wear one of his black suits, a white shirt, and a black tie for a night out with her friends. That was the starting point of the brand’s fall collection, which revolves around tailoring that walks a fine line between genders. As the press notes elaborate, “The shirt and tie fuse, morphing into diverse permutations of dresses and gowns, while those garments are worn with long or short skirts by men and women alike.”
Another creative director skilfully subverting traditional notions of gender in tailoring right now is indubitably Kim Jones. Boy-meets-girl tailoring is explored in his creations for both Dior Men as well as Fendi womenswear. At Dior Men, he continues to explore the use of the house’s couture motifs and silhouettes in men’s tailoring; for fall, jackets were softened and rounded, falling just slightly off the shoulder, and adorned with delicate floral motifs.
For Fendi womenswear, Jones’s muse was fourth-generation Fendi family member and designer Delfina Delettrez Fendi, citing the “chicness but perversity to the way she twists Fendi” in her personal style. Subverting the “ladylike sophistication” of the Fendi aesthetic, Jones introduced “masculine tailoring and traditional fabrics, twisted into feminine forms”.
5. Strong shoulders
Credit: Balenciaga, Gucci, and Miu Miu
In the 80s, hulking shoulder pads were often used in women’s jackets, presumably to bolster their presence as they made unprecedented strides in the workforce. Following the pandemic, which has been found to have a disproportionate socio-economic impact on women, the strong-shouldered silhouette makes its presence felt in many womenswear collections.
At Bottega Veneta, creative director Matthieu Blaze reimagined the women’s power suit with a jacket with exaggerated shoulders but sans the usual front opening, collar, or lapels. Over at Miu Miu, Miuccia Prada sought to exaggerate shapes and play with proportions, maxing out jackets with volume and substantial shoulders while shrinking feminine twin-sets.
Putting his signature avant-garde spin on otherwise pedestrian forms, Balenciaga’s Demna gave floral-print plisse dresses extra-long sleeves and accentuated shoulders. Inspired by Balenciaga couture, the pronounced shape is almost unnerving when juxtaposed with the exaggerated lengths and deliberate off-kilter styling. It’s elegance the way we like it: With plenty of edge.
