Office-ready attire was top of mind for fall as designers put an emphasis on sharp suiting and sweeping maxi coats to outfit people returning to in-person work.
And whether the job is corporate or creative, customers will have a broad range to choose from to get it done. A common theme? The shoulders will be equally as broad.
Most closely associated with power-dressing of the ’80s when women made strides in the workforce, larger-than-life shoulders are often used as a way to send a message of confidence by physically taking up space.
Clothes that get noticed were a key takeaway from Raul Lopez’s Luar collection titled “Calle pero elegante,” or “street but elegant” inspired just as much by the Wall Street types he saw strutting down Fifth Avenue as the “Brooklyn “gangstresses,” or women who commanded respect through style and attitude, that he observed while growing up in New York,” wrote WWD’s Misty White Sidell in her review.
“As Lopez expands his commercial footprint, he placed a new focus on outerwear,” she continued, with “boulder shoulders…applied to floor-grazing peacoats, blazers and a sleek run of elongated ski jackets.”
Where Lopez played with construction with droops and drapes, Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vacarrello stuck to precision with a collection of 50 looks, almost every single one of which featured a big-shouldered jacket, usually worn with a pencil skirt.
As international editor Miles Socha explained, “Vaccarello is an extremely meticulous designer… so what this show lacked in variety he made up for with finesse — the way those ramrod shoulders held firm, while the rest of the jacket swayed.”
The designer sought “to combine tailoring and flou in each of those linebacker blazers,” he told Socha backstage, where “YSL chief executive officer Francesca Bellettini was wearing one of Vaccarello’s sharp-shouldered smokings, and she looked every inch the boss,” he reported.
Meanwhile, Stella McCartney zoomed in on tailoring with an equestrian spin, observed executive West coast editor, Booth Moore. “Showing British check and pinstripe boyfriend blazers with the season’s exaggerrated shoulders and looser trousers,” the designer counterbalanced a domineering silhouette with bare midriffs.
The trend extended to after-hours dressing as well, with domineering-shoulder gowns worthy of Joan Collins’ Alexis character from “Dynasty” seen at Erdem, Thom Browne and Balenciaga, where Demna referenced couture shapes alongside inflatable motorcycle gear as well.
Source: WWD