It’s New York Fashion Week once again, which means the style Gods have spoken when it comes to our collective sartorial fate for yet another season. This time around, it was spring/summer 2019 up to bat, and while us regular folk won’t see the concepts from these lines beginning to trickle down through to the Forever 21 masses for quite some time, you can still get a leg up on the incoming trends (all thanks to my diligent research, of course). Read on to find out what’s in, what’s out and everything in between.
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1. Bell Bottoms: The memo at NYFW SS19 shows was clear: The time for skinny jeans to shine is O-V-E-R. Rather it’s wide-leg pants — A.K.A. bell bottoms — that will soon be all the rage. Everyone from Michael Kors and Staud to Marcel Ostertag sent oversized, flared pant legs down the runway, each with its own spin: MK, for instance, fully embraced the ‘70s flower power of the retro silhouette while Marcel Ostertag opted for jazzed up tasseled embellishments and tiered designs instead. Quite frankly, they all looked a bit like clown pants to me, but hey, I’m just the messenger — in fact, I called this one months ago. If that’s your thing, I present these SheIn Layered Ruffle Bell-Bottom Pants without further commentary.
2. Massive Shoulders: Pants aren’t the only clothing item getting a supersized makeover for next spring: We’ve also got the expansion of shoulder silhouettes to ridiculous proportions to look forward to! This goes far beyond any shoulder pads you may remember from the ‘80s, folks — I’m talking structural oddities the likes of which you’ve never seen. Calvin Luo, for one, gives new meaning to the phrase “boxy” with its uber-wide tops while Kaimin — the same group behind fall 2018’s pubic wigs — took things up a notch with what can only be described as full-on bat wings. The lesson here? The bigger, the better, and this Bagatelle ruffled denim jacket is as good a start as any.
3. Fierce Fringe: While I’m personally batting a trend score of 0 for 2 here, I can’t hate on the strands of fringe that all but took over catwalks at Coach, Michael Kors and Marcel Ostertag. From cowgirl boots and bags that appeared to be straight out of the wild West to colorful, flapper-like skirts and frocks, the SS19 runway was packed with swingy threads. A quick journey through online shopping browser confirms the growing fad: Already, there’s fringed jackets, fringed jeans and even fringed sneakers (thanks, Katy Perry) to be found on racks, with no signs of slowing down.
4. Ruffles galore: I couldn’t quite tell if I was viewing photos from fashion week or a bad ’80s prom while sorting through the looks at Marc Jacobs, but either way, there appeared to be one very common denominator here: a f*ck ton of ill-placed ruffles. This, dear readers, was a case of fabric overload intense enough to make the Choies top above look like mere child’s play in comparison and leave me to wonder if the poor models would ever find their way out from beneath the layers. *Shudder*
5. Double Layering: Now that we’ve revived the ‘70s with bell bottoms and figuratively traveled back to the ‘80s, what with the big ass shoulders and heinous ruffles, it’s time to revisit the ‘90s. Easy enough, considering Paris Hilton strutted her stuff on the Namilia runway in tear-away pants (yes, you read that right). Anoraks and rain slickers were also out in full force, as was a dated combo I haven’t laid eyes on since my days of thumbing through dELiAs catalogs as a clueless teen: the elusive double layer. Spotted both on the runway (Maryam Nassir Zadeh) and on the street (I see you, Camila Caelho!), tanks (or are back, baby — love it or leave it?
What was your favorite NYFW SS19 trend? Spill your guts in the comments below.
Xo, Nicole
