Top 10 trends from Paris Fashion Week

Polished dresses, slouchy sweaters, sleeveless power jackets and wild prints. With two days of shows to go, Karen Dacre scours Paris Fashion Week for the 10 French fancies you’ll be wearing next winter
4 March 2014

1. The new power jacket

Raf Simons’s vision of the working woman is not one who is content to blend in in the boardroom. She is a fashion consumer who means business. For this Simons prescribes a sleeveless version of Dior’s iconic “bar” jacket which could be well on its way to replacing shoulder pads as the working woman’s weapon of choice. Expert to wear it with tapered trousers and a roll-neck — or over a flippy pastel dress “à la” Dior.

2. The kick flare

The bootcut trouser is back. Phoebe Philo has decreed it. And as the Stan Smith-clad, oversized coat-wearing front-row at Philo’s Céline show on Sunday confirmed, no one dictates what goes into the fashion industry’s collective wardrobe quite like she does. Knitted rib trousers with flares of which any self-respecting Nineties teenager would be proud are among the designer’s stunning contribution to next winter (pictured). Proof of this new era for trousers was also seen at Balenciaga.

3. The wide leg crop

If there is one thing worth committing to memory from this season’s round of shows, it’s this trouser style. Showcased all over the Parisian catwalks and most masterfully by Swedish brand Acne, WLCs are available in a host of varying lengths, from mid-calf to just below the knee. Expect to see them all over the shops before the spring months are out. Always team with flats.

Trends from Paris Fashion Week

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4. The wearable sleeping bag

Certain to delight sleep apnoea sufferers and anyone who finds London winters too hard to take, heavy-duty quilting is next winter’s texture of choice, as found on oversized jackets at Stella McCartney, dresses at Balenciaga and coats at Kenzo (pictured). In their latest offering for Kenzo, design duo Humberto Leon and Carol Lim relied on the technique to add a touchy-feely dimension to a punchy offering in which zesty hues played a key role.

5. The luxe-leopard dress

In what promises to be the biggest comeback well, since leopard print last made a comeback, the really wild print was the toast of Paris this week. Updated for 2014 in a delightfully sophisticated form — even queen of taste Phoebe Philo made a nod to leopard print in her collection — the print appears on everything from cocoon coats to cocktail dresses next season. For ultimate evening glamour, make like Joan Smalls who modelled Givenchy’s oversized take on the trend (pictured) with epic results.

6. The grey skirt

Before you write off this trend as the most unremarkable in history, it’s important that you get a handle on its scale because the grey skirt is to become to winter 2014 what a wardrobe full of totally transparent clothes is to Rihanna: utterly essential. For Phoebe Philo this

means asymmetric knitted incarnations worn low on the hips while for Dries Van Noten (pictured) the skirt served as a means to offset punchy prints. NB: this trend is strictly below the knee only.

7. The boyfriend sweater

As a purveyor of ubiquitous fashion trends few come close to Isabel Marant. For next season the Parisian who blessed (or cursed, depending on your viewpoint) us with the wedged

trainer, has gone all out on slouchy knits. For young leggy things this means a winter spent wearing blanket mini-skirts along with their boyfriend’s favourite Fair Isle knit. For the rest of us, this trend brings the opportunity to wear your favourite “watching telly” jumper along with a pair of ripped jeans.

8. The oil slick dress

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Whether it’s cut from leather so buffed you can see your face in it or the most sumptuous midnight blue silk, the oil slick gown is next season’s hottest eveningwear option. Perfected by Alber Elbaz, who presented a memorable Lanvin collection which was the epitome of Parisian elegance, this high-shine frock comes in a host of incarnations. Expect to see strapless, voluminous and floor-length versions in the shops come Christmas party season.

9. The Posh Parka

The humble parka, also known as that jacket you fling on ahead of late-night off-licence/milk runs, is to take on new life next winter thanks to Alexander Wang, who has enlisted the coat into a world of supreme luxury. In his latest offering for Balenciaga, the designer relied on zips and an embossed cable-knit motif to breath new life into the style. 2014’s parka is a boxy breed that comes in buffed leather or plastic and in more courageous shades than just plain old khaki.

10. The high as you like boot

We’re not talking high as in heel-height here but high as in length. A long boot which falls anywhere between the knee and thigh is the only boot worth bothering with next season. Interpretations of Saint Laurent’s spangly style (pictured) are likely

to go down a storm with gig-going types, while their lattice-leather cousins, as designed by Roland Mouret, are for sensual types. Opaque tights (yes, they’re back too) are also essential.

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