The death of the trend has been greatly exaggerated. Online and on social media, trends pop up almost everyday based around very niche subjects with specific sets of rules. Currently, the “mob wife aesthetic” of Carmela Soprano is content king, but in the stores there are no opulent fur coats (faux or otherwise) to be found; the 2020s version of restrained minimalism rules over all.
“Quiet luxury,” the trend borne out of a certain cadre of ultra-rich people who dress in a manner that telegraphs to the world that they don’t have time to think about fashion while wearing expertly-cut suits and at-first-glance simple sweaters made of the finest materials, has indeed become the defining look of our era. In the stores, it’s a sea of oversize blazers and matching pleated trousers in a strict color palette of black, white, and beige—gray is suddenly an accent color. It’s almost as if the mid-century version of a future in which everyone wears matching jersey jumpsuits came true, except everyone’s in relaxed tailoring instead.
It was refreshing then, to look at the couture shows, a craft tradition that’s completely supported by a certain cadre of ultra-rich people, and see an explosion of color and volume and texture (and… and…and…). Giambattista Valli can always be counted on to bring the exuberance that couture is known for; so it was with trepidation that I scrolled through the floofy tulle creations in beige at the start of his new collection; thankfully, they soon gave way to a purple and green floral print done up in a silk jacquard with sequin embroidery; a grape juice-purple pleated gown layered underneath a decadent shade of burgundy red; and ball gowns with roses in electric shades of ’80s lipstick pink. His purple-y fuchsias, deep magentas, and scarlet reds burst out of the little rectangles that contain the runway images.
At Armani Privé, Giorgio Armani indulged us with a classic take on women’s elegance that was never boring. The designer has a knack for creating a lightness with his palette that always seems to have come straight from a watercolor painting. There were bubblegum pink and grass green tie-dyed laces, and pleated and folded ball skirts in smoky shades of salmon pink or purple; but it was Signor Armani’s use of blue that felt almost transcendental. A shiny silk skirt in a shade of blue that can only be described as water-in-motion, so luminously did it catch the light, was worn with a Pepto pink little cropped jacket embroidered with abstract shapes. The models’ makeup embraced this same approach to color, with eyes that made full use of those eyeshadow palettes that have the same allure as candy to young girls.
Valentino’s Pierpaolo Piccioli may have left his Pink PP days behind, but he’s a designer who delights in working with color first, waiting to hear from it what shape best fits its energy. Especially at couture, he deploys this skill not unlike an abstract expressionist. A kicky ruffled emerald green mini dress worn underneath an ochre yellow jacket; a teal jumpsuit worn with a rich purple-plum jacket and salmon leather gloves; a neon orange sweater electrified by the terracotta trousers it was tucked into and the mint-gray floor length jacket it was layered under. Piccioli’s touch is so consummate , that in his hands, gray does become an accent color: a feathered gray chubby jacket worn over a dark charcoal gray chiffon dress was anything but hum-drum (and that was before you noticed the cheeky pair of neon hot-pants barely visible as the model walked).
So maybe we are living in a dystopian future not unlike the ones we’ve spent our life watching on television and movies and reading in books, and maybe it’s true that we are headed towards a certain flatness, a conformity that takes away the differences that make life worth living. But couture remains, as ever, a reminder of the little rebellions that color can bring to your life.
