FashionUnited has rounded up the key womenswear trends from the SS27 fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, which established several distinct trends for the upcoming warmer seasons.

Modular fashion

Instead of complete, and inherently more expensive, ‘total looks’, designers overwhelmingly focused on breaking down outfits into individual separates. “We have taken our iconic silhouettes, dresses, and necklines and reinvented them as tops and bottoms,” said designer Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli. Victoria Dartigues, Director of the Womenswear and Leather Goods Buying Department at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, said styling and mix-and-match are becoming almost as important as the product itself, citing Celine and The Row.

The skirt as the season’s key piece

The skirt dominated the runways in various shapes and lengths, according to Elodie Abrial, Commercial Director of the Le Bon Marché group. At Chanel, it repeatedly appeared just below the knee, a length known as “the Chanel length”. In Milan, Prada focused on the skirt, with Miuccia Prada commenting: “The skirt is a contemporary object; it is flexible and adaptable. It invites contradiction.”

The exposed bra

Lingerie featured heavily, particularly bralettes worn alone or under a jacket. The bra appeared in lace paired with fur at Dolce & Gabbana, while in London, Dreaming Eli built its show around nostalgic lingerie. At Fendi, Maria Grazia Chiuri let the bra, a black-embroidered satin triangle, set the sensual tone for most of her silhouettes.

The ASMR palette

A soft colour palette is emerging with “colours that soothe and lower cortisol levels: butter, lavender, sage”, according to journalist Pascal K. Douglas, as seen at Dries Van Noten, Ester Manas and Gundi Studios. Soft tones also appeared at Victoria Beckham and Icicle in Paris, and at Ashley Williams in London. Diesel paired a mint-green skirt with a bubblegum-pink jacket, while Bottega Veneta showed light-yellow pleated trousers with a bright pink jabot blouse.

Puffed up

First imagined by Christian Lacroix in the mid-1980s, the ‘pouf’ skirt, a voluminous piece with a puffed or bubble effect, is making a return. Loewe and Dior made it a key silhouette, Miu Miu and Zimmermann offered it in a very short version, and Comme des Garçons made it its centrepiece, including in denim as a voluminous sculpture.

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