For most of my 20s, I’ve been your archetypal hypochondriac (let’s just say a good old MRI really calms my nerves), but lately, my Woody Allen-like fear of the end has morphed into something even more frightful: the end of my youth. I’ll be 30 next April—a milestone I’ve been dreading since I turned 27 (which, let’s be honest, was traumatic enough). Most say the best is yet to come, but from where I’m sitting, my impending existential grapple with miniskirts has pushed me down a road of teenage wardrobe nostalgia where crushed velvet, neon and over-the-top everything reign supreme.
Fashion’s ’90s streak couldn’t have come at a better time. For me, the ’90s represent a period in my life when my biggest priorities were decorating my room with posters of Leonardo DiCaprio, sneaking into 14A movies like Cruel Intentions and The Craft and lining up outside MuchMusic to see The Backstreet Boys. Fast-forward to today and the ’90s couldn’t be more pervasive. Crop tops and Birkenstocks are street-style staples, witches are the new vampires and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is, well, fresh again. And while for many it may feel early for a ’90s redux, the evidence says otherwise: Cher Horowitz’s, like, totally important Alaïa moment happened 19 years ago. Aaliyah has been dead for 13 years. And Marc Jacobs’s infamous grunge collection for Perry Ellis? That was 21 years ago.
Your first time at any international fashion week will teach you a valuable lesson: You need a fur. And not just any Margot Tenenbaum style granny hand-me-down. A fur so intricately patterned, multi-layered and artificially coloured, that it has to be designer. Given its place at the apex of the top Fall 2014 trends, you’d think recessionary times were long gone—it’s virtually everywhere, from a hyper colour mink at Altuzarra to a fluffy red dress at Prada. Wear it with caution or as Dior prescribes, dangle it over your arm like it’s no big d. Let the fur fly, scruples or otherwise.
Ready to refresh your makeup bag? The beauty trends for Spring 2014 are all about colour, texture and letting your skin shine. Gone are last season’s moody berry shades, deep lips and velvet skin finishes. For Spring 2014, the top beauty trends include popsicle-orange lips, eyeshadows in every pastel shade under the sun and a whole lotta love for gold pigments. For those less inclined to pile on the product, good news: the no makeup makeup look is also trending this season.
The eyes, hair and nails have been making most of the beauty statements so far on the Fall 2014 runways at New York Fashion Week. Here are our favourite looks and the top beauty trends so far:
Russet lipstick as eyeshadow at Helmut Lang
Helmut Lang’s textured, masculine collection was complemented with a simple, pared down face punctuated by a soft wash of lustrous burgundy on the eye. “It’s very minimal and clean but with a hint of punk,” said lead artist Hannah Murray, who painted Nars lipstick in “Deborah Audacious” (coming this fall) onto the eye and pressed “Heat” bronzing powder over it to set. She skipped eyeliner, mascara and brow colour, and kept the under-eye area clean to avoid a “pink-eye” effect.
Alexander Wang Fall 2014. Photography by STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
Altuzarra Fall 2014. Photography by Peter Stigter
Chris Gelinas Fall 2014
Angel Haze at DKNY Fall 2014. Photography by Peter Stigter
Lacoste Fall 2014. Photography by Peter Stigter
1/5
Alexander Wang Fall 2014
Spectacles
It’s still pretty unclear as to why Alexander Wang set up shop at Brooklyn Navy Yard a.k.a. an hour’s trip out of the city, but boy did his mechanically-controlled stage of robotics, multi-snap pockets, neon windbreakers, chunky shearling-lined bombers and leather/nylon neon/neutral barrage deliver in the wow department. Not to be fun-outdone, Opening Ceremony designers Humberto Leon and Carol Lim closed the gap between their treats and those of Willy Wonka’s, with a wall of melting chocolate trickling down its runway wall.
2/5
Altuzarra Fall 2014
Technicolour dreamcoats
I’d like to that Joseph Altuzarra for making an Andrew Lloyd Webber reference possible with intarsia plaid mink jackets done in vibrant CMYK hues, shearling coats with magenta trimmings and cobalt wraps. And Alexander Wang, for bringing hyper colour back from the ‘90s with heat-activated coats that revealed swirling neon prints when put under the lamp. Elsewhere, Thakoon layered long puffers with Warholian floral panels and Prabal Gurung double-faced persimmon and tangerine on an outsized shawl coat.
3/5
Chris Gelinas Fall 2014
Ones to watch
Team Canada’s having a good run outside of Sochi too, with quite a few stellar shows from homegrown talent. Canadian-born Chris Gelinas showed a stellar futuristic yet vintage (and I know that makes sense cause I’ve seen Her) collection of sporty structural separates. Paris-based Calla Haynes finally made her scene-stealing chow Lilybear part of the business with a graphic effigy of the dog printed on trousers, trenches and more. Meanwhile, Kaelen played the monochrome game with a beautiful presentation of stiff gallerina coats in baby pink and power suit red.
4/5
DKNY Fall 2014 Angel Haze
Common People
DKNY played its hometown’s heartstrings once again, with a cast of “real people” walking the runway which included gender-bending model Andre Pejic, It girls Hannah Bronfman and Chelsea Leyland and hip hop hype man A$AP Illz. Rising rap star Angel Haze, who also modeled at DKNY, has been making quite the fashion week rounds, from Helmut Lang to Alexander Wang. Oh, there was also a streaker at Prabal. Cause YOLO. (He must have thought to himself)
5/5
Lacoste Fall 2014
Ones to watch
Seeing red
Head-to-toe monochrome has been a big thing on the runways, especially with red. At Lacoste, a redhead model made for the best burgundy bomber/trouser/toque match, while at Prabal Gurung, another was wrapped in a scarf/sweater and asymmetrical skirt.
I just licked chocolate off the wall… isn’t that just the best ever fashion metaphor? Here at New York fashion week, there’s a show every hour on the hour. Sometimes on the half hour. It’s a perpetual carousel of Fall 2014 treats, treats we’re mean to synthesize, analyze and tell stories about. So hey, here’s your first batch of the 5 trends and cool stuff you need to know about from New York Fashion Week Fall 2014—including the chocolate bit.
Compiled by Nancy Won, Randi Bergman, Zeina Esmail and Bernadette Morra
Fashion week is a little like Groundhog Day, isn’t it? Just as you get used to this season’s It bag, you’re thrust into the eye of another must-have storm. A month before we prepare to do it all over again, we look back at Spring 2014 and recount the best looks, most memorable moments and juiciest gossip from the front lines of fashion week. From Chanel’s selfie-primed runway space to Alexander Wang’s logomania, here are the 25 things you’ll need to know from New York to Paris and back again.
With the end of fashion week in Toronto marking the close of Spring 2014 show season, it’s time we looked back at all the trends that emerged. As much as the runway sets the pace for what’s to come for the top Spring 2014 trends, the streets play a major role as show-going trendsetters give us the relatable breakdown of how to wear what’s hot next season. Prints take two spots on our top Spring 2014 trends list through those with a painterly quality and those influenced by international cultures. At Hérmes, Rousseau-inspired water lily florals were printed on luxurious fabrics while at Diane Von Furstenberg, dresses and skirts depicting an African wilderness roared. As for fashionable time travel, prepare to keep reminiscing about the youthful 1990s, which haven’t ceased to get reincarnated season after season. Designers like Rodarte, Balmain and Jason Wu have reinvented the decade’s essentials yet again. To help with your daydreaming of long sunny spring days we’ve compiled the ultimate gallery of top Spring 2014 trends as dictated by the runways and our favourite street style stars in New York, London, Milan, Paris and Toronto! Feel free to let this be your guide to budgeting and creating closet space for next season’s must have pieces.
With Paris Fashion Week ending our month long preview of all things Spring 2014, it’s time we gushed over the shoes that accompanied all that we are dying to wear in the coming season.
Femininity reigned supreme on the runway through Balenciaga, Dior and Roland Mouret’s take on the stiletto. Dior’s complexly inter woven straps would make any shoe addict salivate. At Balmain, our impending full coverage boots will shed a few layers and appear as heeled boots with varying dotted sheer and embellished cage finishes. While we saw Saint Laurent’s fall styles embrace the studded and spiked appeal of punk’s aesthetic, Junya Watanabe clung onto the trend for his Spring 2014 shoes with a menacing ankle boot. Enviable green snakeskin heels and platform chunky heels were seen at Gucci and Michael Kors respectively. Spring is incomplete without feather embellished flats as seen at Rochas.
Coats on coats on coats. Fall’s necessary evil has turned especially trendy with Fall 2013’s many very cool takes on the must-have weather protector. Whether pink and girlish is your thing (and this season it most definitely should be) or borrowed from the boys items run rampant in your closet, we’ve got 43 coats and their essential accoutrements.
The nails at New York Fashion Week were right in tune with the ’90s minimalism style we saw on the Spring 2014 runways. Sheer is in, colour is out and the nail art trend seems to be winding down. The bare and buffed nails of last spring are still going strong for 2014, with designers like Altuzarra, Alexander Wang and Jeremy Laing opting for pale shades of pink, lavender or beige instead of punchy pastels and neon brights.
A couple days into New York Fashion Week, we were pretty sure crop tops were trending for spring, and now that we’re more than halfway through the week, well let’s just say it would almost be easier to list the shows that didn’t cop a crop on the runway this season. We continued to see model midriff everywhere from Tibi, Tommy Hilfiger and Prabal Gurung for ICB to Vera Wang, Narciso Rodriguez and Rodarte. Just to name a few!
Rodarte Spring 2014
2/10
Tommy Hilfiger Spring 2014
CROP TOPS
Tommy Hilfiger Spring 2014
3/10
Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2014
LIQUID METALLICS
The metallics trend comes back every year but this season the approach is less edgy futuristic, more silky, sheeny and sophisticated. Gold and silver lamé skirts at Altuzzara dressed up body hugging henleys, and a shiny lace print skirt and jacket look was pure uptown elegance at Tory Burch. Meanwhile, a psychedelic oil-slick effect upped the interest on a shiny metallic coat at Marc by Marc Jacobs.
Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2014
4/10
Atuzarra Spring 2014
LIQUID METALLICS
Atuzarra Spring 2014
5/10
J Crew Spring 2014
DAY GLOW BRIGHTS
J Crew Spring 2014
6/10
Oscar de la Renta Spring 2014
DAY GLOW BRIGHTS
Oscar de la Renta Spring 2014
7/10
Prabal Gurung Spring 2014
DAY GLOW BRIGHTS
Vivid pastels and chalky brights are lighting up the runways for spring. DKNY showed outfits in highlighter hues of pink, yellow and turquoise, Jeremy Laing took inspiration from sidewalk chalk for his collection of Malibu-ready looks, and Prabal Gurung and Oscar de la Renta pumped up the volume on pastels for posh eveningwear. Even J.Crew and Calla got into the act with surf-inspired, California brights.
Prabal Gurung Spring 2014
8/10
Vera Wang Spring 2014
ATHLETE’S WORLD
Sport luxe has been in the air for the past couple of seasons but with so many designers embracing the athletic look, consider Spring 2014 it’s official coming out party. At DKNY windbreakers, racer tanks and track pants raced down the runway, while VPL went all the way active with running tights, technical t-shirts and workout gear constructed from water-repellant wicking fabrics. Even Vera Wang dabbled in sport chic with crop tops, technical mesh and zip-up track jackets.
Vera Wang Spring 2014
9/10
DKNY Spring 2014
ATHLETE’S WORLD
DKNY Spring 2014
10/10
Tory Burch Spring 2014
:ASER TAG
From sheer materials and mesh fabrics to open weave sweaters and frosty latex layers, designers are hinting suggestively at skin for spring. At the intricate end of the spectrum, laser cut details gave designers another more embellished way of exploring the idea. Tory Burch layered lattice-cut leathers over spring knits, Alexander Wang lasered his own name onto everything from pleated skirts and dresses to jackets and gloves, and Threeasfour laser-cut complex geometrical shapes into layered silks to create a 3D effect.
Tory Burch Spring 2014
Hold on to your Homies T-shirts, New York Fashion Week is still in full swing for Spring 2014 and we’re seeing so much we already can’t wait to wear. Here are the top 5 trends that are getting us excited for spring.
Between Alexander Wang and DKNY, the two pace-setting New York designers are taking the logo to the next level. In an over-the-top throwback to old school New York streetwear, both designers went all out, think in-your-face prints at DKNY and laser cut everything (skirts, crop tops, coats, gloves) at Wang.
2/5
Spring 2014 Crop Top Trend Rag Bone
CROP TOPS
Time to renew that Pilates membership because toned abs and crop tops are cropping up once again all over spring runways. From halters at Rag & Bone and athletic brights at DKNY to structured with lace at Jill Stuart and laser-cut mesh at Alexander Wang, these new crops aren’t for the faint of heart.
3/5
Spring 2014 Sheer Trend Jeremy Laing
SHEER
When designers weren’t endorsing bare midriffs with full on crop tops, they were hinting at it with suggestively sheer fabrics. We saw sheer stripes at Peter Som and Tibi, see-through layers at Jason Wu and Jeremy Laing, and sheer fabrics remixed with prints and patterns at Rebecca Taylor and Ostwald Helgason.
4/5
Spring 2014 Minimalism Trend DKNY
‘90s MINIMALISM
Designers are still stuck in the ‘90s for spring, but this season grunge and punk have given way to the crisp, clean minimalism of the late ‘90s. Delicate spaghetti-strapped slip dresses ruled at Jason Wu and DKNY, while Helmut Lang and Rag & Bone endorsed the season’s new minimalism in seriously simple suits and separates.
5/5
Spring 2014 Sage Green Trend Lacoste
SAGE GREEN
Signaling fresh spring renewal, we’re spotting sage green all over New York runways. Jason Wu did it in a pale sage short suit and organza dresses, while Ruffian’s silk cotton pantsuit played up the shade’s ocean-y undertones. Meanwhile, Lacoste toned down it’s signature shade for tennis court-ready looks in preppy pale green.
The first half of New York Fashion Week Spring flew by in a flurry of silk chiffon and pretty prints and although it’s still early days, we’re already noticing some key looks emerging on runways. Here are the top 5 trends on our radar for Spring 2014 so far.
