Women’s S/S’16 Style Tips to Keep You on Your Toes

The spring Fashion Month of the “Big 4” in couture is just around the corner. The New York, London and Milan Fashion Weeks are wrapping things up while Paris is the only one left, attempting to put the icing on this year’s fashion cake. So, seeing as they are finished, let’s take a look at the trends you definitely need to keep your eye on in 2016, as seen on the world’s biggest stages.

Lingerie

Givenchy // Alberta Ferretti

Undoubtedly one of the sexiest and most romantic trends presented this year, lace lingerie has made a comeback. And it’s right out of your fairytale vintage dreams. Amazing lacy numbers were presented on the runway, along with some beautiful, long, flowing satin and silk ones. The camisoles, chemises, baby-dolls and nighties have been reimagined and rearranged in powerful statement nude numbers. Looks like this summer’s look is an erotic one, as night time wear descends into the dusty streets.

The Prairie Dress

If you’ve ever been a fan of the retro vintage look, with a deep flowery feminine touch, 2016 is your year. Big designers have brought the prairie dress back into the spotlight. It’s long, free-flowing and comfortable, but be careful! The prairie dress has a bad reputation of being somewhat “costumey”. Slipping off the wagon and looking like you actually belong in a school play is very easy. Luckily for us, Erdem comes to the rescue once more and shows us how to do it. 

Either you buy the Erdem original or you find a similar replacement as far as shape and colour go, you will need the right accessories, because a prairie dress can be overwhelming on the eye. As Cavalli house suggests, big bold earrings (another trend to watch for spring/summer 2016, see below) and a small bag are the right way to do it when it comes to this style. You could also wear it with a large vintage canvas backpack, for an even more courageous rural look.

Statement Earrings

2016 is the year when you can finally wear all the bangles and brasses you want, without being called “bold as brass”, pun intended. The spring/summer trend almost dares you to wear big, rhinestone studded jewellery, in all the shapes and colours you can think of. The statement earrings are cool and fresh and they’re going to make you look like a veritable rock-star. Prada presented disco-ball-like earrings, Alexander Wang had really long chains and Oscar de la Renta had some amazing deep forest green tassel earrings reaching down to the collarbones.                                                 

Bare Shoulders

Giambattista Valli Spring 2016 // Christopher Kane Spring 2016

Clothes items that bare your shoulders will be a major event next summer. No, it’s not about one shoulder dresses and shirts anymore, nor about Kate Moss’s spaghetti straps. 2016 is the year when we create and sport the perfect neckline and we bare both shoulders, to expose as much neck and cleavage as we possibly can. But all in an artsy manner. Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, Ermanno Scervino and Cavalli have all created a very architectural and square naked shoulder line, while they revealed nothing else, in order to give this look some much needed class.

Frills

Ryan Lo // Erdem

If you need to show off and don’t know how, the spring/summer 2016 season will teach you. Frills are making a huge comeback in order to get us back in touch with our can-can selves. You can keep it sweet and delicate, with nice little pastel dresses with a few ruffles and frills, or you can go full Moulin Rouge on it and drape yourself in frilly numbers.

The London Fashion Week, for example, saw an abundance of them. Ryan Lo brought us a short, bubble-gum pink dress completely covered in frills, which kind of looked like a short version of Little Bo Peep’s dress, if she were sluttier. Erdem kept it classy in a beautiful black, flowery silk dress complete with the ruffles we expected, while Mother of Pearl channeled the 20s, with a frilly white blouse and high waist blue skirt, complete with a version of the Eton hat. Maison Margiela combined the frills with pants. The look was interesting, bringing together a pair of ivory masculine trousers, a beautiful baby blue corset with ruffles and a silver sweetheart neckline and white frilled sleeves.

While some of these you might already have in your dresser, like a frilly dress or a pair of over-the-top earrings, some you might not, so make sure to get them all.

Dana Hughes