The Spring-Summer 2023 shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris arrived with a consistent message: stop hiding. The body is back at the centre of fashion’s attention, and the season’s designers — drawing on multiple decades simultaneously — have produced a collection of trends that are simultaneously eclectic, romantic, and direct. Lingerie remains dominant.
The cult of the physical body that drove last season continues, with designers from Miu Miu and Tom Ford to Maison Margiela presenting fashionable bras and bodices as complete statements rather than underpinnings. Alessandro Michele’s straps and suspender-belt references at Gucci add fetishistic detail to the conversation. Bright colours define the palette: periwinkle blue, lime, orange tangelo, beetroot purple fuchsia.
Oversized bags give way to colourful straw purses and crochet totes — beachy, adventurous, and deliberately casual. Cargo patch pockets have migrated from trousers to bras and skirts, particularly at Blumarine and Miu Miu, where they are set to become the season’s defining IT items. At JW Anderson, a fish-shaped object on the runway turned out to be a gown.
At Bottega Veneta, what appeared to be a flannel shirt was made of leather. The season’s intellectual games are a feature, not a bug. Classical minimalism runs through Dior, Givenchy, and many others — crop tops replacing blouses, clean silhouettes in quiet colours, the emphasis on tailoring rather than decoration.
Snake print arrives via Khaite, inspired by Nicolas Cage’s python jacket in Wild at Heart. Volume heels at Dries Van Noten and Off-White push into architectural territory. Bubble skirts return to catwalks for the first time in years.
Plissé, dismissed in recent seasons, makes a triumphant appearance in Peter Do, Rokh, and Loewe. And metallic fabrics — long confined to eveningwear — are showing up in daytime looks at Simone Rocha and elsewhere. The overriding feeling is of a season that wants to be noticed and is prepared to use every available means to achieve it. — Guzal Ergasheva, World Arabia Fashion Director