New year, new clothes. The best 2024 fashion trends are already emerging from spring runway shows and boundary-pushing red-carpet style—just when we were getting bored with our current ensembles.
The biggest fashion trends of 2023—Y2K and silent luxury—seemed to conflict. The latter favoured simplicity over dazzle and investment pieces over seasonal items. The other was nostalgia and joy. What do experts and runways predict for 2024?
In her fashion Substack “Shop Rat” column, Emilia Petrarca predicts that “quiet luxury” will last longer if luxury goods costs stay high. “Taking risks on pieces you might not like five or ten years from now is too expensive. Timeless objects may be superior investments.” Still, she doesn’t see a year of boring outfits. “People are interested in trying a timeless sort of elegance or opulence—not just a boring beige minimalism that’s perhaps safer.”
You can guarantee secondhand fashion will remain fashionable. But Petrarca thinks we’ll abandon Y2K designs. Substack writer Jenny Walton writes “Jenny Sais Quoi”. She says she’s waiting for a 1920s and 1930s long silk bias-cut dress rebirth. Walton (and everyone else on Instagram) wants one dress. “The only thing I’m focused on is how to get one of those flowing silk Prada dresses from the runway,” she says.
We listed 2024’s main fashion trends.
1. Sheer Layering
Dior, Proenza Schouler, Jason Wu, and many other runway collections suggest see-through apparel will continue to rule on and off the red carpet.
2. C-Suite Chic
Our favourite winter 2023 fashion trend was power clothing, and we anticipate to see more of it. Buy a fitted blazer or office-ready attire and act like you have your life together.
3. Nonbasic Basics
4. Prep School
Miu Miu’s spring runway seemed like a new episode of Gossip Girl (or a look at Saltburn students having fun), while several other companies showcased preppy, sporty models. Striped button-downs, polo shirts, academic blazers, and outdoor sandals will help us channel that comfortable, wealthy look in the new year.
5. Sequined Everything
6. Girlcore
7. Summer in Capris
On the Sandy Liang runway and on Gigi Hadid and Jennifer Lawrence, cropped trousers are back. And Petrarca wants them: “I’m buying leggings and ‘pedal pushers,’ big sunglasses, and flats.”
8. Shades of Green
Find out what will replace red in 2023 by looking at the opposite end of the colour wheel. Google’s head of editorial and creative for commerce, Aya Kanai, predicts green for 2024.
9. Kitten Heels
10. XL Bags
Succession calls them “ludicrously capacious bags,” yet Stella McCartney, Tibi, and Victoria Beckham added them to their spring collections. Exercise your shoulders, then get a big Coach or Tory Burch bag before your group chat starts.
