Paris Fashion Week: The top 8 trends of Fall 2015

by Randi Bergman March 12, 2015

Way back at the beginning of fashion month (it feels like years ago!), we did a bit of forecasting as to what might be the biggest trends for Fall 2015 from what we saw in New York. And given that Paris Fashion Week usually has a pretty definitive roll in finalizing the season’s biggest messages, here we regroup, re-analyze and present Paris Fashion Week’s top 8 trends for Fall 2015.

Yellow
Not since The Young Girls of Rochefort do I remember France embracing such a sunny shade—and with gusto, too! At Hermès, a single lemon yellow knit look was like a lightening rod in designer Nadege Vangee-Cybulski’s first collection for the brand. Miu Miu closed out the week with a collection chock-full of wantable brights, namely a patent croc coat in primary yellow, which tops our must-have list. Meanwhile, the entire Akris collection was made up of shades of grey—except for one yellow dress.

Fur
It’s probably easier to name the collections that didn’t feature fur this season because it was literally everywhere. From the mavens (Sacai embellished must-have winter coats) to the experimental (Valentino embroidered lace dresses) to the newly intrigued (Dior’s acid green masterpiece, anyone?), the shaggy stuff owned the week. So much so, that it even made an appearance on the runway of animal activist Stella McCartney (faux, of course) head-to-toe. And as if to put things in writing, Louis Vuitton’s first look, a fluffy cream teddy bear coat, is being heralded by many as “the definitive look of the season.”

Blanket coats and capes
Statement outerwear still reigned supreme, but Fall 2015 includes some unique riffs on the trend. At Céline, models wore painted duvets. At Vionnet, hooded robes were worn overtop sexy dresses. Meanwhile, most of Kenzo’s looks featured some sort of poncho, whether trimmed in sport finishes or floral printed.

Long arms
No, you’re not in the Big and Tall section, it’s just supposed to look that way. One of the more curious trends this season is arms of jackets (Vetements), sweaters (Acne) and dresses that hang past the wearer’s hands. Mmkay.

The new culottes
Fashion’s been feeling the culottes for years now, but Fall 2015’s version features a straight, rather than flared, leg and is made of thicker fabric. Isa Arfen showed versions in chubby corduroy, while Balenciaga’s featured faux spray paint down the side.

Straps and layers
While fashion’s ‘90s phase may have faded into seasons past, one trademark look of the decade is still kicking it: Straps over T-shirts (previously seen on the Prada runway in Milan) appeared at Christian Wijnats. New layers appeared elsewhere as well, from Dries Van Noten’s skirt-over-dress to Jacquemus’s sash-over-skirt.

Pseudo-sex
Much has been made of women owning our sexuality in the news lately, which came out on the runway in both subtle and overt ways. At Lemaire, all that was needed to communicate seduction was neck scarves. Meanwhile, Alexander McQueen and Givenchy took it a bit more historically, working bits of BDSM Victoriana into Fall 2015 with leather and lace.

Red/Orange
Fiery shades continue to dominate, making an impact everywhere from Carven to Chanel to Moncler to Nina Ricci to Lanvin. And the list goes on…