Layering, Volume, Tough, and Fur.
Indeed. These four trends dot the pages of every fashion magazine dealing with Fall/Winter 2006 trends.
Let me now provide a look-see into each of these trends:
I. LAYERING
It's all over the place. For fall and winter, keeping warm is essential to keeping healthy and alive. And what other way to do it than to do it fashionably? Fall/Winter 2006 is all about piling on the fabrics without worrying about looking like something out of Galliano's Dior S/S 2003 haute couture collection. Instead, it's all about looking chic.
Master of urban-grunge chic Marc Jacobs shows us how to layer clothing without looking like an exfoliating rock. Here, layering is all about showing the right bits of the lower layers as seen in the picture on the top, where a cosy grey cashmere sweater peeks out of a chic khaki coat. Layering is also all about contrasting the sombre with the shocking - in the outfit at the bottom, a loud leopard print pair of shorts is worn over a solid khaki pair of pants. This season, layering's all about What Lies Beneath To Peek At Or Shock You.
Jean-Paul Gaultier at Hermès shows us how to layer and still manage to be elegant and classy at the same time. The key here - layer in pastel tones and vary the darkness of the pieces. Also, keep to earthen shades such as copper-red, brown or light brown bordering grey - but avoid green, of course. The first outfit shows how tying a scarf of a light fabric around the neck helps to soften the look and make it more elegant. The second picture shows how keeping the layering simple and without excess texture or patterns can maximise the classiness (and to some people, the primness) of an outfit.
II. VOLUME
Alongside layering, volume is another trend this coming Fall/Winter 2006 season. The most memorable silhouettes this season come in all sorts of inflated shapes - bubbles, poofy dresses, outcroppings that exaggerate the figure, etc.
At Alexander McQueen, volume is an element of the heavy classic and traditional costume theme of the collection. It is a throwback to the crinolines that dominated the dress of the classic Victorian, even Edwardian woman, as seen in the picture on top. The puffy volume of the dress is given an illusory boost by cinching the waist with a belt. It is the shapely woman alright, but in an exaggerated way that is hinted at by very smooth and wide curves rather than a blatant hourglass figure. Another possible reason for volume being trendy might be how it makes a woman seem much more imposing - take the McQueen dress above, in the bottom picture. The addition of a cape gives the outfit more impact. Perhaps it is linked to the Tough look trend, which I will look into later.
Similarly, at Balenciaga, volume works as a throwback to an earlier period of time. Nicolas Ghesquière based his Fall/Winter 2006 collection for Balenciaga almost entirely on the great couturier's most memorable silhouettes. Indeed, both outfits shown above have their roots in Cristóbal Balenciaga's original creations. Assuredly, however, volume here isn't merely used as a time-travel device - a skirt with an exaggerated volume (especially around the hip area) juxtaposed with a cinched waist (or narrowly-cut one) creates the illusion of a smaller waist and hence more feminine figure - this is seen in the example in the second picture.
III. TOUGH
This coming fall/winter season, it is no longer fashionable to be girly, soft and cute. Instead, the tough look is in, manifesting itself in various forms on the runway. Fall/Winter 2006's tough girl includes the rocker girl and the military-attire-decked girl.
Rocker-chic in its various forms. From top to bottom, they are from Christian Dior, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Versace respectively. It's quite clear that rock'n'roll this season has many manifestations, depending on the mood and theme of the collection. Dior by John Galliano has gone for full-on rock'n'roll, with red lighting, bandanas, and sunglasses going with practically every outfit. Rock at Dior is grunge-heavy, almost gothic; colours used are very traditional rock / goth colours, including blood-red juxtaposed with black, purely solid-black pieces, various hues of brown and grey, and a lot of angsty broodiness in general.
At Gucci, however, the mood is a little less sombre. It's still rock'n'roll, but more of glam-rock rather than goth-rock. Gold, psychedelic purple, techno red, etc. - it's all about neon colours and metallic materials (polyester as an example, I believe. Leather too, of course).
Alexander McQueen's rocker girl, strictly speaking, isn't a rocker girl at all - she's more of your typical rebellious teenager. What makes this "rocker" girl look rock at all is her unapproachability - she looks like an innocent schoolgirl, but the fact that she's wearing a pair of plaid pants rather than a girly ruffled skirt says otherwise. Furthermore, she is secure in a large black suit that would've been stuffy if it wasn't for the fact that it fits her form almost perfectly, gently nipping into the waist and then moving outwards in a smooth curve that subtly accentuates the hips. She's unapproachable alright, but very alluringly so.
At Versace, Donatella's tough girl goes retro. The palette is made up almost entirely of black, dark purple, and varying shades of a slightly muted psychedelic blue. The outfit shown above carries with it a little bling-bling factor (just look at that belt SHINE!) that just barely reminds us that it's not really the 60s. The retro-rock girl look here is further toughened by accessorising the clothes with leather boots and gloves. Together with the sunglasses, you get a retro version of Dior's angsty rocker combined with Gucci's glam-rock girl - not exactly suis generis, but the look is strong enough to be recognisable as part of this F/W 2006's Versace RTW collection.
The military look is another form of the Tough look trend this coming season. One of the most characteristic features of all military-attired-based pieces for Fall/Winter 2006 would be the [generous] use of large brass / copper / any other flashy metal buttons. Most military-influenced pieces are coats (either cropped, normal-length or trench - i.e. in every possible form a coat can be in) or boots (which is a staple accessory for this fall/winter season). The coat and any accompanying apparel pieces should fit the body snugly, or at least enough for there to be minimal wrinkles or gathering of the fabric - being prim and neat governs nearly all military looks sent down the runway this season.
IV. FUR
Fur this coming Fall/Winter 2006 season is no longer just an accessory or decoration. This season, fur constantly presents itself as being integral parts of clothing - especially lining the edges of coats or around the collars. Fur is no longer a luxurious white elephant someone carries around on the shoulder or neck; it IS the clothing itself.
On top, we have Burberry Prorsum by Christopher Bailey while in the bottom picture, we have Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs. At Burberry, fur has a lot more practical purpose - it is used to line the edges of coats or used to cover skirts entirely. Fur is clearly no longer solely for decorative purposes - it CAN be literally part of the clothing. The fur used is a dark grey tainted with varying hues and shades - it is very luxurious, but somewhat grungey. At Louis Vuitton, however, the use of fur is still somewhat random, popping up at places in shapes that one would least expect them. As shown above in the picture on the right, the fur's light colour creates a striking contrast with the overall grunge-and-grey urban-chic mood of the whole collection. Fur is still in the stage of being a playful embellishment; it lacks the stability and practicality of the fur used at Burberry. Clearly, fur is very flexible and able to convey different moods and overall themes, including opposing ones.
And having just finished my little insight into fur for this season, my exposition of what I believe to be Fall/Winter 2006's four biggest trends is completed. Hope my comments have been useful! Feel free to tag on the tagboard or comment using the comments link below this post.
