Fall/Winter Fashion Week 2016 Trends: Milan Edition

2016/03/14

When you go to Milan Fashion Week, you are there as much for the shows as you are for the street style and culture. Milan is so eccentrically beautiful and complex for the most part, but in quieter moments, it’s demure, elegant and luxurious. It’s often a debate on the maximalism vs. minimalism argument in the fashion industry and we’re so happy to see maximalism won the MFW crown for Fall 2016. This time around isn’t just about loud, flamboyant statements, but rather unconventional updates, nuanced iterations of what we currently love and own (read: sportswear, ruffles and animal prints are getting a major reboot) and ingenious styling tricks that tug at our fashion heart strings and actually catapult our longing for winter to come. And that’s quite a feat considering we’re currently begging for this season to end. But that’s the Milan effect. All that ostentation, drama and eccentricity is chicken soup for the fashion soul. And next season you’ll be thanking these brilliant designers for upping your fashion game once again.

Smells Like Team Spirit – All that athletic apparel you saved from high school might finally get it’s chance in the spotlight again, thanks to team inspired looks from the likes of Versace and Marni. Perhaps the most notable was the varsity themed sweater at Gucci, which is why we’re willing to bet this is just the start of a new wave of sportswear.

Zootopia – We saw it in the spring shows and it showed up again for fall. Animal kingdom apparently reigns supreme in Milan. The A/W twist is going beyond subtle embroideries and prints by making bolder, more in-your-face statements. A sequined serpent belt, fairytale mice imagery and a crystalized spider brooch, to name a few.

Audacious Accessories – Elbow lace gloves? Floor sweeping scarves? Arm warmers? Red hiking boot laces?!?! Accessories were the talk of the catwalks. So much so, in fact, that even accessories for your accessories is becoming a thing (yep, a belt over your corset and a wallet for said belt, a la Prada). This fabulously confusing paradox left us riddled with the irrevocable desire to jump on the accessory train immediately.

It Comes in Waves – Ruffles were all over the runways in NYC and London, but they received the Milan treatment with subtle changes like trimming the edges on boots, skirts and sweaters as well as punctuating details on sleeves at the elbow, wrist and shoulder.