The Fall-Winter 23/24 season arrived on the catwalks with a clear set of preoccupations: femininity, romance, and a particular kind of unapologetic sensuality that does not require justification. Guzal Ergasheva, World Arabia Fashion Director and co-founder of Russian Social Club, tracked the key developments. The maxi skirt extends its summer dominance into autumn and winter — a practical choice that allows any footwear underneath and reads as genuinely elegant in cold weather.
Pairing with cropped bombers or long coats makes it versatile across contexts. Leather returns in force: jackets, full looks, layering. The hourglass silhouette is officially the season’s defining shape, supported by massive belts at Louis Vuitton and Chanel, which balance broader shoulders by emphasising a narrow waist.
XXL bags continue to dominate. Suits — trouser sets, skirt sets, and shorts combinations — remain a core investment rather than a trend: timeless, precise, always correct. Transparency has now been present for several seasons and is not leaving: in autumn and winter, sheer details work particularly well for evening.
Thigh-high boots are back as the season’s main footwear statement, stretching the silhouette and working with everything from skinny jeans to voluminous skirts. The centrepiece of the season for Ergasheva is Armani Privé. Giorgio Armani, now 88, presented a collection she describes as the standard of elegance and luxury in high fashion.
The theme was the red rose — embroidered in sequins, three-dimensional in chiffon, conceptual in patent leather. Armani’s long, classical silhouettes, his sense of understated glamour recalling old Hollywood — these qualities remain consistent regardless of season. The collection was, in her view, the apogee of luxury and femininity for AW23/24.